each of these you will see four large brass cisterns placed on
each side, full of gold and silver; but take care you do not
meddle with them. Before you enter the first hall, be sure to tuck
up your robe, wrap it about you, and then pass through the second
into the third without stopping. Above all things, have a care
that you do not touch the walls, so much as with your clothes; for
if you do, you will die instantly. At the end of the third hall,
you will find a door which opens into a garden, planted with fine
trees loaded with fruit. Walk directly across the garden to a
terrace, where you will see a niche before you, and in that niche
a lighted lamp. Take the lamp down, and put it out. When you have
thrown away the wick and poured out the liquor, put it in your
waistband and bring it to me. Do not be afraid that the liquor
will spoil your clothes, for it is not oil, and the lamp will be
dry as soon as it is thrown out."

After these words the magician drew a ring off his finger, and put
it on one of Aladdin's, saying: "It is a talisman against all
evil, so long as you obey me. Go, therefore, boldly, and we shall
both be rich all our lives."

Aladdin descended the steps, and, opening the door, found the
three halls just as the African magician had described. He went
through them with all the precaution the fear of death could
inspire, crossed the garden without stopping, took down the lamp
from the niche, threw out the wick and the liquor, and, as the
magician had desired, put it in his waistband. But as he came down
from the terrace, seeing it was perfectly dry, he stopped in the
garden to observe the trees, which were loaded with extraordinary
fruit, of different colors on each tree. Some bore fruit entirely