t with a large silver
tray, holding twelve covered silver dishes filled with tempting
viands, six large white bread cakes on two plates, two flagons of
wine, and two silver cups. All these he placed upon a carpet, and
disappeared before Aladdin's mother had come out of her swoon.

When she was herself again, they satisfied their hunger, and still
there was enough food for the rest of that day and two meals on the
next. This they put aside, and Aladdin's mother made him tell of all
that had passed between him and the genie during her swoon. The simple
woman thought it all a dangerous and wicked business, and begged
Aladdin to sell both the lamp and the ring; but he persuaded her to
let him keep them both, on the condition that she should have nothing
to do with genies again.

When they had eaten all the food left from the feast the genie
brought, Aladdin sold the silver plates one by one to a Jew, who
cheated him by paying but a small part of their value, and yet made
the boy think himself rich. The tray he sold last, and when the money
it brought was spent he rubbed the lamp again, and again the genie
appeared, and provided the mother and son with another feast and other
silver dishes. These kept them in funds for some time longer,
especially as Aladdin had the good fortune to meet with an honest
goldsmith, who paid him the full value of the metal. Aladdin, all the
while, by visiting the shops of merchants, was gaining knowledge of
the world and a desire to improve himself. From the jewelers he came
to know that the fruits he had gathered when he got the lamp were not
merely colored glass, but stones of untold value, the rarest in the
city. This, however, he had the prudence not to tell to any one, even
his mother.

III

One day, as Aladdin was walking about the town, he heard an order
proclaimed that the people should close their shops and houses and
keep within doors while the Princess Buddir al Buddoor, the Sultan's
daughter, should go to the bath and return. Aladdin was filled with an
eager desire to see the face of the princess, and contrived to place
himself behind the door of the bath. When she was a few paces away
from it she removed her veil, and Aladdin saw for a moment one of the
most beautiful faces in the world. When she passed by him he quitted
his hiding-place, and went home thoughtful and grave.

"Are you ill?" asked his mother.

"No," he answered, "but I love