"Alas! child," said she, "I have not a bit of bread to give you; you
ate up all the provisions I had in the house yesterday; but I have a
little cotton which I have spun; I will go and sell it, and buy bread
and something for our dinner."
"Mother," replied Aladdin, "keep your cotton for another time, and
give me the lamp I brought home with me yesterday. I will go and sell
it, and the money I shall get for it will serve both for breakfast and
dinner, and perhaps supper too."
Aladdin's mother took the lamp and said to her son, "Here it is, but
it is very dirty. If it were a little cleaner I believe it would bring
something more."
She took some fine sand and water to clean it. But she had no sooner
begun to rub it, than in an instant a hideous genie of gigantic size
appeared before her, and said to her in a voice of thunder, "What
wouldst thou have? I am ready to obey thee as thy slave, and the slave
of all those who have that lamp in their hands; I, and the other
slaves of the lamp."
Aladdin's mother, terrified at the sight of the genie, fainted; when
Aladdin, who had seen such a phantom in the cavern, snatched the lamp
out of his mother's hand, and said to the genie boldly, "I am hungry.
Bring me something to eat."
The genie disappeared immediately, and in an instant returned with a
large silver tray, holding twelve covered dishes of the same metal,
which contained the most delicious viands; six large white bread cakes
on two plates, two flagons of wine, and two silver cups.
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