This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

his mouth than the genie transported him into a bath of the finest marble of all sorts of colors; where he was undressed, without seeing by whom, in a magnificent and spacious hall. He was then well rubbed and washed with various scented waters. After he had passed through several degrees of heat, he came out quite a different man from what he was before. His skin was clear as that of a child, his body lightsome and free; and when he returned into the hall, he found, instead of his own poor raiment, garments the magnificence of which astonished him. The genie helped him to dress, and when he was done, transported him back to his own chamber, where he asked him if he had any other commands. “Yes,” answered Aladdin, “bring me a charger that surpasses in beauty and goodness the best in the sultan’s stables; with a saddle, bridle, and other caparisons to correspond with his value. Furnish also twenty slaves, as richly clothed as those who carried the present to the sultan, to walk by my side and follow me, and twenty more to go before me in two ranks. Besides these, bring my mother six women slaves to attend her, as richly dressed as any of the Princess Buddir al Buddoor’s, each carrying a complete dress fit for any sultaness. I want also ten thousand pieces of gold in ten purses; go, and make haste.”


“Behold, Sire, day has returned,” said Scheherazade, “and

180