Page:Sinbad the sailor & other stories from the Arabian nights.djvu/187

 of people talking of Aladdin and the splendour of his state, he approached a young man, and, saluting him with feigned graciousness, said, "O my master, pray tell me, who is this great one that all extol?" And the young man replied, "Verily thou art a stranger in the City and from exceeding distant parts if thou hast not heard of Aladdin—whose glory be increased! His wonderful palace is the talk of the world." "Yea," answered the Dervish, "I am a stranger from very distant lands and there is nothing more to my desire than to see the palace, if thou wilt direct me." "On the head and eye," replied the youth; and, leading him through the City, he brought him to Aladdin's Palace. Then, when the Dervish scrutinised the wonderful building, he knew it to be the work of the Slave of the Lamp. "By Allah!" he cried when the youth had left him, "I will be even with this accursed tailor's son who got all this through me."

He returned to the inn, and, taking his instruments of divination, soon learned that the Lamp was not on Aladdin's person, but in the Palace. At this he was overjoyed, for he had a plan to get possession of it. Then he went out into the market and bought a great number of new lamps, which he put in a basket and took back to the inn. When evening was drawing nigh, he took the basket and went forth in the City—for such was his plan—crying, "New lamps for old! Who will exchange old lamps for new?" And the people hearing this, laughed among themselves, saying he was mad; and none brought an old lamp to him in exchange for a new one, for they all thought there was nothing to be gained out of a madman. But when the Dervish reached Aladdin's palace he began to cry more lustily, "New lamps for old! Who will exchange old lamps for new?" And he took no 135