," said Aladdin, "but thou canst take me to the
palace, and set me down under my dear wife's window." He at once
found himself in Africa, under the window of the Princess, and fell
asleep out of sheer weariness.

He was awakened by the singing of the birds, and his heart was
lighter. He saw plainly that all his misfortunes were owing to the
loss of the lamp, and vainly wondered who had robbed him of it.

That morning the Princess rose earlier than she had done since she had
been carried into Africa by the magician, whose company she was forced
to endure once a day. She, however, treated him so harshly that he
dared not live there altogether. As she was dressing, one of her women
looked out and saw Aladdin. The Princess ran and opened the window,
and at the noise she made Aladdin looked up. She called to him to come
to her, and great was the joy of these lovers at seeing each other
again. After he had kissed her, Aladdin said: "I beg of you,
Princess, in God's name, before we speak of anything else, for your
own sake and mine, tell me what has become of an old lamp I left on
the cornice in the hall of four-and-twenty windows, when I went
a-hunting." "Alas!" she said, "I am the innocent cause of our
sorrows," and told him of the exchange of the lamp. "Now I know,"
cried Aladdin, "that we have to thank the African magician for this!
Where is the lamp?" "He carries it about with him," said the Princess.
"I know, for he pulled it out of his breast to show me. He wishes me
to break my faith with you and marry him, saying that you were
beheaded by my father's command. He is forever speaking ill of you,
but I only reply by my tears. If I persist, I doubt not but he will
use violence." Aladdin comforted her, and left her for a while. He
changed clothes with the first person he met in the town, and having
bought a certain powder returned to the Princess, who let him in by a
little side door. "Put on your most beautiful dress," he said to her,
"and receive the magician with smiles, leading him to believe that you
have forgotten me. Invite him to sup with you, and say you wish to
taste the wine of his country. He will go for some and while he is
gone I will tell you what to do." She listened carefully to Aladdin,
and when he left her arrayed herself gayly for the first time since
she left China. She put on a girdle and head-dress of diamonds, and
seeing in a glass that she was more beautiful than ever, received the
magician, sayi