notice of her. She went every day for a week, and stood in the
same place. When the council broke up on the sixth day the Sultan
said to his Vizier: "I see a certain woman in the audience-chamber
every day carrying something in a napkin. Call her next time,
that I may find out what she wants." Next day, at a sign from
the vizier, she went up to the foot of the throne and remained
kneeling until the Sultan said to her: "Rise, good woman, and
tell me what you want." She hesitated, so the Sultan sent away
all but the Vizier, and bade her speak freely, promising to
forgive her beforehand for anything she might say. She then told
him of her son's violent love for the Princess. "I prayed him to
forget her," she said, "but in vain; he threatened to do some
desperate deed if I refused to go and ask your Majesty for the
hand of the Princess. Now I pray you to forgive not me alone,
but my son Aladdin." The Sultan asked her kindly what she had in
the napkin, whereupon she unfolded the jewels and presented them.
He was thunderstruck, and turning to the vizier, said: "What
sayest thou? Ought I not to bestow the Princess on one who
values her at such a price?" The Vizier, who wanted her for his
own son, begged the Sultan to withhold her for three months, in
the course of which he hoped his son could contrive to make him a
richer present. The Sultan granted this, and told Aladdin's
mother that, though he consented to the marriage, she must not
appear before him again for three months.

Aladdin waited patiently for nearly three months, but after two
had elapsed, his mother, going into the city to buy oil, found
everyone rejoicing, and asked what was going on. "Do you not
know," was the answer, "that the son of the Grand Vizier is to
marry the Sultan's daughter tonight?" Breathless she ran and told