Once upon a time, there lived a poor tailor who had a son named Aladdin – a careless, idle boy who spent his days playing ball in the streets with other idle children. This behavior saddened his father so much that he died of grief. Yet even after that, despite his mother’s tears and pleading, Aladdin refused to change his ways.
One day, as he was playing in the street, a stranger approached him and asked his age and whether he was the son of Mustapha the tailor.
“Yes, sir,” said Aladdin, “but my father died a long time ago.”
Hearing this, the stranger – who was actually a famous magician from Africa – threw his arms around Aladdin’s neck and kissed him.
“I am your uncle,” he said warmly. “You look just like my brother. Go tell your mother I’ll be visiting you today.”
Aladdin ran home and told his mother about the uncle he never knew he had.
“Yes, child,” she said, “your father had a brother, but I thought he died years ago.”
Still, she prepared dinner and asked Aladdin to go find him. The man returned with fruit and wine, kissed the place where Mustapha used to sit, and told the widow not to be surprised she hadn’t seen him in so long – he had been away for forty years.
Then he turned to Aladdin and asked about his trade. The boy hung his head, and his mother began to cry. Learning that Aladdin refused to work or learn a skill, the man offered to set him up with a shop and goods. The next day, he bought Aladdin fine clothes and showed him around the city, returning him home at night – much to his mother’s delight.
The following day, the magician led Aladdin out beyond the city gates into some beautiful gardens. They sat by a fountain, and the man shared a cake from his belt. They walked further, all the way to the mountains. Aladdin grew tired and asked to return, but the magician enticed him with stories and pressed on.
At last, they reached a place between two mountains.
“We will go no further,” said the false uncle. “Here lies something wonderful.”
He asked Aladdin to gather sticks while he lit a fire. Then the magician threw a powder into the flames and spoke magical words. The earth trembled and split open to reveal a square stone with a brass ring.
Aladdin tried to run, but the magician grabbed him and struck him down.
“What have I done, uncle?” cried the boy.
“Fear nothing,” said the magician more gently. “Beneath this stone is a treasure meant for you. Only you may retrieve it, so do exactly as I say.”
Hearing the word “treasure,” Aladdin’s fear vanished. He grabbed the ring and repeated the names of his father and grandfather, as instructed. The stone lifted easily, revealing steps below.
“Go down,” said the magician. “At the bottom, you’ll find three halls. Tuck up your robe and pass through without touching anything – or you’ll die instantly. Beyond them lies a garden and, in a niche, a lit lamp. Pour out the oil and bring me the lamp.” He gave Aladdin the ring and sent him down.
Aladdin followed the directions, picked some of the glowing fruits in the garden, found the lamp, and returned to the entrance.
“Give me the lamp!” cried the magician.
But Aladdin refused until he was safely out.
Furious, the magician threw more powder into the fire and chanted. The earth closed, sealing Aladdin inside.
The magician fled Persia, revealing he was no uncle at all, but a wicked sorcerer who had read in his books about a magic lamp that could grant immense power – but could only be touched by another’s hand. He had chosen foolish Aladdin to fetch it and meant to kill him afterward.
Trapped underground, Aladdin wept for two days. In despair, he rubbed his hands in prayer – and accidentally brushed the ring. Instantly, a terrifying spirit rose from the earth.
“What is your command? I am the slave of the ring.”
“Get me out of here!” cried Aladdin.
The earth opened, and he emerged into the daylight. He stumbled home and fainted on the doorstep. When he recovered, he told his mother everything, including the lamp and the glowing fruits – which were actually precious gems.
“Do we have any food?” he asked.
“Nothing, child,” she said, “but I’ve spun some cotton I can sell.”
“Keep it,” said Aladdin. “I’ll sell the lamp instead.”
She began polishing it to raise its value – and instantly, a terrible spirit appeared.
“What is your command? I am the slave of the lamp.”
She fainted. Aladdin seized the lamp.
“Bring us food!” he commanded.
The spirit returned with silver dishes full of rich meats, silver goblets, and bottles of wine. When his mother recovered, she asked, “Where did this feast come from?”
“Don’t ask,” said Aladdin. “Just eat.”
They feasted all morning, and Aladdin explained about the lamp. His mother begged him to sell it and have nothing to do with spirits, but Aladdin insisted.
“Now that we know its powers, we’ll use it – and the ring too, which I’ll always wear.”
As they finished the spirit’s provisions, Aladdin sold one silver plate at a time. When they were gone, he summoned the spirit again and got more. They lived well for years.
One day, a royal decree announced that everyone must stay inside and close their shutters as the princess – the sultan’s daughter – would pass to and from the bath. Aladdin was seized by the desire to see her face. He hid near the bath and caught a glimpse through a crack in the door. When she lifted her veil, she was so beautiful, Aladdin fell in love at once.
He returned home so changed that his mother was alarmed.
“I love the princess,” he confessed. “I must marry her or die.”
His mother laughed at first, but Aladdin convinced her to speak to the sultan. She wrapped the magic gems from the garden in a napkin and presented them at court. For six days, she stood silently before the throne, ignored. On the seventh, the sultan finally asked what she wanted.
She explained her son’s love for the princess.
“I tried to stop him,” she said, “but he threatened to harm himself if I didn’t ask you for her hand.”
The sultan asked about the napkin. When she opened it, the dazzling jewels took his breath away.
“Should I not give my daughter to one who values her so highly?” he asked his vizier.
Wishing his own son to marry her, the vizier requested a three-month delay to prepare a greater gift. The sultan agreed and told Aladdin’s mother not to return until then.
Two months later, Aladdin’s mother went to the market and heard joyous news:
“Tonight, the princess is to marry the vizier’s son!”
Breathless, she ran home. Aladdin was shocked, but quickly rubbed the lamp.
“The sultan has broken his word,” he told the spirit. “Bring the bride and groom here tonight.”
At midnight, the spirit transported the wedding bed, bride and groom to Aladdin’s room.
“Take the groom,” said Aladdin, “and leave him in the cold.”
He then lay beside the terrified princess, but promised not to harm her. In the morning, the spirit returned the groom and the bed to the palace.
The next night, it happened again. Finally, the princess confessed all to the sultan, who asked his vizier’s son if it was true.
“I love her,” he said, “but I’d rather die than endure another such night.”
The wedding was annulled.
When the three months had passed, Aladdin sent his mother to remind the sultan. But now, the sultan wanted a new test.
“Tell your son,” he said, “to send me forty basins of gold, filled with gems, carried by forty black slaves, led by forty white ones in rich dress.”
Aladdin summoned the spirit, and in moments, the house and garden were full of splendidly dressed servants and golden basins. They processed to the palace, and the sultan, overwhelmed, declared:
“Tell your son I await him with open arms.”
Aladdin requested a royal bath, fine clothes, a noble steed, servants, and ten bags of gold for his arrival. As he rode to the palace, slaves scattered gold coins. Those who had played with him as a child barely recognized him – he had become so handsome.
The sultan embraced him and threw a grand feast, but Aladdin asked for one more night to build a palace worthy of the princess.
That night, he asked the spirit for a palace of marble, gold, and jewels, with a grand hall of twenty-four windows, each inlaid with diamonds and rubies – except one, to be finished by the sultan himself.
By morning, the palace stood complete. A velvet carpet stretched from its gates to the sultan’s. Musicians played, and the princess, richly dressed, was carried there on the carpet. When she saw Aladdin, she smiled.
“Princess,” said Aladdin, “if I’ve offended you, blame your beauty.”
“I obeyed my father willingly,” she replied.
They feasted and danced all night, and the next day, the sultan visited the palace. When he saw the unfinished window, Aladdin said:
“I left it for you, to complete with your own jewels.”
The sultan called the finest jewelers, but even using his personal gems, they couldn’t finish the window. Aladdin asked the spirit to do it instead – and it was done instantly.
Aladdin became a hero to the people, a general in the sultan’s army, and a beloved prince. He lived in peace and honor for years.
But far away in Africa, the wicked magician discovered that Aladdin had survived, married the princess, and gained great power. Furious, he traveled to China, disguised himself, and offered new copper lamps for old ones.
The princess, unaware of the magic lamp’s value, sent a servant to exchange it. That night, the magician summoned the spirit and had the entire palace and princess carried away to Africa.
The sultan, finding the palace gone, ordered Aladdin arrested. He was nearly executed, but the crowd loved him too much, and the sultan relented. Aladdin begged for forty days to find the princess.
At the end of his rope, he knelt by a river to pray – and accidentally rubbed the ring.
“Take me to my wife,” he told the ring’s spirit.
In a flash, he was in Africa, beneath her window. The princess, overjoyed to see him, confessed her mistake and the magician’s lies. Aladdin devised a plan.
She invited the magician to dinner, asked for African wine, and swapped his cup with one Aladdin had laced with poison. He drank – and dropped dead.
Aladdin took the lamp from his vest and ordered the spirit to return the palace to China. It was done, and the sultan rejoiced.
But danger lurked again. The magician’s younger brother, more evil than he, came in disguise as the holy woman Fatima. The princess invited him to stay, and he suggested she hang a roc’s egg from the hall’s ceiling.
Aladdin innocently asked the lamp’s spirit to fetch one – only to be told in rage that such a request was blasphemy. The spirit revealed the truth:
“This is a trick from the magician’s brother. He plans to kill you!”
Aladdin acted quickly. He lured the imposter close, stabbed him in the heart, and told the princess the truth.
From then on, Aladdin and his wife lived in peace. He became sultan when the old ruler died and ruled wisely for many years, leaving behind a long line of kings.
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