When we think of Aladdin, we immediately think of the Disney version – the funny blue coloured Genie, the loveable monkey-thief Abu, the irritating parrot Iago and the faithful magic carpet. Obviously, Disney changed a few characters to make the story sound interesting and appealing to children. In the original version, we do not have the funny Genie or Abu or Iago or the magic carpet.

‘Aladdin and the magic lamp’ is one of the three most popular of stories from the Arabian Nights. This was not originally a part of the collection of the One Thousand and One Nights. It was added by a European translator called Antoine Galland in the 18th century. He had heard this as an oral story from a Syrian storyteller and decided to add it to this collection. Did you know that in the earlier versions the story was set in China and not Arabia?

Once upon a time, in a city in China lived a tailor named Mustafa. He was very hardworking but poor. He had a son named Aladdin, who was a careless and idle fellow. Aladdin was a disobedient boy who never listened to his father or mother. Eventually, Mustafa, deeply anguished by his son’s total lack of responsibility, fell sick and died.

Expecting Aladdin to become more dependable following the death of his father, his mother was dismayed that he grew worse.

Every day, he would spend time on the streets playing with his friends. One day, while he was spending time with his friends, a man came up to him and asked, “Are you not Mustafas’s son?”

“Yes, sir,” answered Aladdin.

“Can you take me to your father? I am his brother. My brother and I have not met in a long time since I left to travel around the world in search of an adventure. I am rich beyond belief now, and all I want is to reunite with my brother.”

Believing the man, Aladdin replied, “My father is dead, uncle.”

Acting distraught, the man said, “I am an unlucky man that I missed meeting my brother. But never mind. I at least have a nephew. If you come with me and do as I say, I can make you very rich, and you will never be poor again.”

Aladdin was happy to become rich with little effort and so without any suspicion agreed to go with the Sorcerer. What Aladdin did not realize was that the man was not his uncle. He was a sorcerer who had come from Africa.

He had observed Aladdin, playing with his friends and thought, “This boy is precisely the kind of person I was searching. He will help me achieve my target.”

So, he had enquired about Aladdin and learnt everything about his family.

The Sorcerer took Aladdin out of town to the desert. After walking a long while, he stopped and dusted the sand below to reveal a trap door with a brass handle. It was the entrance to a cave.

“Pull the handle, Aladdin,” said the Sorcerer.

When Aladdin pulled the handle, he was able to open the trap door and found some steps going downwards.

“When you go down the stairs, you will reach a room with a big tree. There will be some special fruits hanging on the tree. Take this bag with you, and you can pluck as many fruits as you want. There will also be a niche containing a lamp. Ensure you bring it. But do not touch the walls. Here, wear this ring in your finger. It will be useful if you need any help.”

Aladdin was confused at the instructions given one after the other, but he did as told. He went down the stairs and reached the big tree containing the fruits.

“How strange these fruits are,” Aladdin thought. “I wonder what is the use of these since none of them look edible. I doubt anybody has seen fruits like these- transparent and in different colours – white, red, purple, green, yellow. But uncle has asked me to take it so let me fill my bag.”

Aladdin did not realize he had taken priceless treasure with him. The fruits were diamonds, red rubies, purple amethysts, green emeralds and yellow sapphires. Aladdin also took the lamp with him and then started back.

When he reached the entrance of the cave, he said, “Uncle, please give me a hand to help me out. These bags are heavy.”

The Sorcerer was impatient to get the lamp, and so he said, “First give me the lamp, and then I will let you out.”

Sensing a change in his uncle’s tone, Aladdin refused saying, “I will not give you unless you help me.”

The Sorcerer irritated at Aladdin’s obstinance, shut the trap door immediately in a fit of rage and returned to Africa. Aladdin was now scared. It was dark, and he was all alone in the cave. It was getting cold as well. He started to rub his fingers together for some warmth thereby rubbing the ring that was given to him by the sorcerer.

Suddenly to his shock, a Genie came out. Enormous and scary looking, Aladdin would have been frightened if not for the fact that he was in a bad situation.

The Genie said, “What do you want, master? Your wish is my command.”

Still shocked but realizing the Genie was his only hope, he said, “Can you take me out of this cave and back to my home?”

The Genie said, “Of course.”

And the next second, Aladdin was brought back to his home along with the treasure he took from the cave. He narrated the whole story to his mother, who confirmed that he did not have an uncle.

“At least we have this lamp. We can sell it to get some money and buy food to eat,” Aladdin said.

“That is a good idea,” said his mother. “The lamp is dirty. Let me clean it and take it to the market.”

Saying so, Aladdin’s mother rubbed it hard with a cloth to clean it, and to her astonishment, an even more gigantic Genie than the one from the ring came out.

“What do you want, master?” the Genie asked.

“Please give me some food, Genie,” asked Aladdin.

The Genie brought a huge platter with a feast fit for a King and then vanished. The plates and bowls were made of silver.

“Look at all the silver, mother. I will take these trays and sell them. We can lead a comfortable life with the money we get from selling the silver.”

The next day, Aladdin took the silver to the market and sold them for a reasonable amount of money. This continued for a few years. Anytime they ran out of money, Aladdin would ask the Genie for food and after eating the food would sell the silver.

During this time, Aladdin ended up befriending some merchants and began learning about their business and their wares. Among his friends were jewellers who taught him the value of gold, silver and various stones. Thereby, Aladdin finally learnt that the coloured stones he had brought from the cave were precious and semi-precious stones which were worth a fortune. He kept his treasure safe.

One day, Aladdin happened to get a glimpse of the Princess of the land and fell in love at first sight. He went to his mother and told her, “Mother, I am in love with the Princess and want to marry her. Please take these precious stones with you as a gift for the Sultan and request him to allow me to marry the Princess.

Aladdin’s mother took with her the precious stones and kept it in front of the Sultan, “Your highness, my son is in love with the Princess and wishes to marry her. I request you to give your consent.”

The Sultan was astonished to see such a treasure and not wanting to disappoint the lady said, “Of course I will. But first, I want your son to build a big palace for my daughter. I want my daughter to continue living in luxury even after marriage.”

Aladdin’s mother went back to Aladdin and told him the Sultan’s wishes.

Aladdin then rubbed the lamp and called the Genie, “Genie, I need you to build me a huge palace made of gold and precious stones. Build it such that it is visible from the Sultan’s bedroom window.”

The Genie instantly did as he was asked. The next day when the Sultan woke up, he was shocked to find a beautiful palace in front of his. Realising, it must be Aladdin’s, he immediately gave consent to Aladdin’s wedding with the Princess. Aladdin married the Princess, and they both happily lived in the newly built palace.

After a few years, the African Sorcerer was curious to find out what happened to Aladdin. He was enraged to learn that not only did Aladdin escape from the cave, he had also found the secret of the lamp and became rich.

In order to take the lamp back from Aladdin, the Sorcerer disguised himself as a peddler and shouted, “Exchanging your old lamps for new.”

When a servant working for Aladdin heard this, she went to the Princess and said, “Princess, a peddler is willing to replace old lamps with a new one. Why don’t we exchange this dirty looking lamp and get a new one?”

The Princess agreed for Aladdin had not shared the lamp’s secret with her. The servant gave the Sorcerer the old lamp and happily took a new one.

The Sorcerer rubbed the lamp, and when the Genie appeared, he said, “Take Aladdin’s palace to Africa.”

“As you command, master,” said the Genie and transported the palace along with everyone in it to Africa.

Aladdin had gone hunting and when he returned home, he was shocked to find the palace missing along with his wife. He immediately called the Genie in his ring and said, “Bring me back my lamp.”

The Genie of the ring responded, “I am sorry, master. I cannot do that. It is beyond my power.”

“In that case, can you take me to where my lamp is?” asked Aladdin.

As soon as these words were uttered by Aladdin, he found himself being transported to his palace in Africa.

Knowing his palace inside out, he silently reached his wife’s chamber. When the husband and wife were reunited, they embraced.

Aladdin told the Princess, “Why don’t you invite the Sorcerer for dinner? Drop this pill in his drink to make him fall asleep. We can take the lamp from him and return our palace back to our Kingdom.”

The Princess did as she was told, and as soon as the Sorcerer fell asleep, Aladdin took his lamp.
“Take our palace and all of us back to our Kingdom,” he ordered the Genie.

The Genie did as commanded, and Aladdin ordered the arrest of the Sorcerer who was never heard of ever again.

Thanks to the Genie, Aladdin was now a rich man. He readily helped anyone in need. He became so popular among the people that the King decided to name Aladdin his successor to the throne.

Aladdin and his wife governed the Kingdom in a just manner and lived happily ever.