The request was granted, and Aladdin took his leave with as much politeness as if he had always lived at court.  Again, as he passed through the streets, the people shouted and wished him joy.  In his own chamber once more, he took the lamp, rubbed it, and there was the genie.

“Genie,” said Aladdin, “build me a palace fit to receive the Princess Buddir al Buddoor.  Let its materials be of the rarest.  Let its walls be of massive gold and silver bricks.  Let each front contain six windows, and let the lattices of these (except one, which must be left unfinished) be enriched with diamonds, rubies, and emeralds, beyond anything of the kind ever seen in the world.  Let there be courts and a spacious garden, kitchens, storehouses, stables,—­well equipped,—­offices, servants, and slaves.  Above all, provide a safe treasure-house, and fill it with gold and silver.  Go, and fulfill my wishes.”

Early the next morning the genie returned, and bore Aladdin to the place where the palace had been built.  Everything was done as Aladdin had commanded.  The officers, slaves, and grooms were at their work in hall and stable.  The hall, with the twenty-four windows, was beyond his fondest hopes.

“Genie,” he said, “there is but one thing wanting,—­a fine carpet for the princess to walk upon from the Sultan’s palace to mine.  Lay one down at once.”

In an instant the desire was fulfilled.  Then the genie carried Aladdin to his own home.

When the Sultan looked out of his windows in the morning, he was amazed to see a shining building where there had been but an empty garden.  “It must be Aladdin’s palace,” he said, “which I gave him leave to build for my daughter.  He has wished to surprise us, and let us see what wonders can be done in a single night.”

He was only a little less surprised when Aladdin’s mother, dressed more richly than ever his own daughter had been, appeared at the palace.  So good a son, he thought, must make a good husband.  And soon the son himself appeared; and when in royal pomp he left his humble house for the last time, he did not fail to take with him the wonderful lamp which had brought him all his good fortune, or to wear the ring he had received as a talisman.

V

His marriage to the princess was performed with the utmost splendor.  There was feasting and music and dancing, and when the princess was brought to her new palace she was so dazzled by its richness that she said to Aladdin, “I thought, prince, there was nothing so beautiful in the world as my father’s palace, but now I know that I was deceived.”

The next day Aladdin with a troop of slaves went himself to the Sultan and asked him to come with the Grand Vizier and lords of the court to a repast in the palace of the princess.  The Sultan gladly consented, and the nearer he came to the building the more he marveled at its grandeur.  When he entered the hall of the twenty-four windows he exclaimed,—­