ade him
from his design, and after he had weighed her representations replied:
"I own, mother, it is great rashness in me to presume to carry my
pretensions so far; and a great want of consideration to ask you to go
and make the proposal to the sultan, without first taking proper
measures to procure a favourable reception, and I therefore beg your
pardon. But be not surprised that I did not at first see every measure
necessary to procure me the happiness I seek. I love the princess, and
shall always persevere in my design of marrying her. I am obliged to you
for the hint you have given me, and look upon it as the first step I
ought to take to procure the happy issue I promise myself.

"You say it is not customary to go to the sultan without a present, and
that I have nothing worthy of his acceptance. Do not you think, mother,
that what I brought home with me the day on which I was delivered from
death may be an acceptable present? I mean those things that you and I
both took for coloured glass: but now I can tell you that they are
jewels of inestimable value. I know the worth of them by frequenting the
shops; and you may take my word that all the precious stones which I saw
in the jewellers' shops were not to be compared to those we have, either
for size or beauty; I am persuaded that they will be received very
favourably by the sultan: you have a large porcelain dish fit to hold
them; fetch it, and let us see how they will look, when we have arranged
them according to their different colours."

Aladdin's mother brought the china dish, when he took the jewels out of
the two purses in which he had kept them, and placed them in order
according to his fancy. But the brightness and lustre they emitted in
the daytime so dazzled the eyes both of mother and son, that they were
astonished beyond measure; for they had only seen them by the light of a
lamp; and though the latter had beheld them pendent on the trees like
fruit beautiful to the eye, yet as he was then but a boy, he looked on
them only as glittering playthings.

After they had admired the beauty of the jewels some time, Aladdin said
to his mother: "Now you cannot excuse yourself from going to the sultan,
under pretext of not having a present to make him, since here is one
which will gain you a favourable reception."

Though the good widow did not believe the precious stones so valuable as
her son estimated them, she thought such a present might nevertheless be
a