"This demand
is a mere trifle, and will prove no bar to my marriage with the
princess. I will prepare at once to satisfy his request."
Aladdin retired to his own apartment and summoned the genie of the
lamp, and required him to immediately prepare and present the gift,
before the sultan closed his morning audience, according to the terms
in which it had been prescribed. The genie professed his obedience to
the owner of the lamp, and disappeared. Within a very short time, a
train of forty black slaves, led by the same number of white slaves,
appeared opposite the house in which Aladdin lived. Each black slave
carried on his head a basin of massy gold, full of pearls, diamonds,
rubies, and emeralds.
Aladdin then addressed his mother: "Madam, pray lose no time; before
the sultan and the divan rise, I would have you return to the palace
with this present as the dowry demanded for the princess, that he may
judge by my diligence and exactness of the ardent and sincere desire I
have to procure myself the honor of this alliance."
As soon as this magnificent procession, with Aladdin's mother at its
head, had begun to march from Aladdin's house, the whole city was
filled with the crowds of people desirous to see so grand a sight. The
graceful bearing, elegant form, and wonderful likeness of each slave;
their grave walk at an equal distance from each other, the luster of
their jeweled girdles, and the brilliancy of the aigrettes of precious
stones in their turbans, excited the greatest admiration in the
spectators.
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