Quoth Dunyazad, "O sister mine, an thou be other than sleepy, do
tell us some of thy pleasant tales," whereupon Shahrazad replied,
"With love and good will."--It hath reached me, O King of the
Age, that when Alaeddin's mother heard his words and what had
befallen him from the Maghrabi, the Magician, she said, "Yea,
verily, O my son, he is a miscreant, a hypocrite who murthereth
the folk by his magic; but 'twas the grace of Allah Almighty, O
my child, that saved thee from the tricks and the treachery of
this accursed Sorcerer whom I deemed to be truly thine
uncle."[FN#108] Then, as the lad had not slept a wink for three
days and found himself nodding, he sought his natural rest, his
mother doing on like wise; nor did he awake till about noon on
the second day. As soon as he shook off slumber he called for
somewhat of food being sore anhungered, but said his mother, "O
my son, I have no victual for thee inasmuch as yesterday thou
atest all that was in the house. But wait patiently a while: I
have spun a trifle of yarn which I will carry to the market-
street and sell it and buy with what it may be worth some victual
for thee." "O my mother," said he, "keep your yarn and sell it
not; but fetch me the Lamp I brought hither that I may go vend it
and with its price purchase provaunt, for that I deem 'twill
bring more money than the spinnings." So Alaeddin's mother arose
and fetched the Lamp for her son; but, while so doing, she saw
that it was dirty exceedingly; so she said, "O my son, here is
the Lamp, but 'tis very foul: after we shall have washed it and
polished it 'twill sell better." Then, taking a handful of sand
she began to rub therewith, but she had only begun when appeared
to her one of the Jann whose favour was frightful and whose bulk
was horrible big, and he was gigantic as one of the