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 he stopped in the garden to observe the trees, which were loaded with extraordinary fruit of different colors. The white were pearls; the clear and transparent, diamonds; the deep red, rubies; the paler, ballas rubies; the green, emeralds; the blue, turquoises; and the purple, amethysts. Aladdin, ignorant of their value, would have preferred figs, or grapes, or pomegranates; but he resolved to gather some of every sort. Having filled the two new purses his uncle had bought for him with his clothes, he wrapped more up in the skirts of his vest, and crammed his bosom as full as it could hold.
Aladdin, having thus loaded himself with riches of which
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