"One thing led to another, in her case; and the last thing she wished
for was heaven. And then she died."

A great wind roared through the forest and died away in a sigh.

Presently Aladdin spoke again: "And another great trouble about getting
what you wish for is that in most cases when you get a thing you find
that you didn't really want it, after all. It proves to be not quite
what you thought it; or else it came too late."

This statement was completed in so mournful a tone that Everychild felt
constrained to say, "Why shouldn't you throw the lamp away, if it makes
you unhappy?"

"It isn't possible," was Aladdin's rejoinder. "There is only one way
in which I can be rid of it, and I haven't been able to find that way
as yet."

Everychild was so greatly puzzled by this statement that Aladdin
explained: "I can never be rid of the lamp save on one condition. When
I have wished for _the best thing of all_ the lamp will disappear and I
may rejoice in the thought that it will never be mine again."

"The best thing of all?" mused Everychild.

"You see how difficult it is. Who can tell what is the best thing of
all? And so I must go on owning the lamp and being unhappy."

But Everychild found much of this simply bewildering. "Just the same,"