ges in La Mancha should contend amongst
themselves for the honor of adopting and keeping him as their own, as
the seven cities of Greece did for Homer. We omit here the
lamentations of Sancho, of Don Quixote's niece and the housekeeper,
and the new epitaphs upon his tomb; but Samson Carrasco set this upon
it:--

"A valiant gentleman lies here,
So brave that, to his latest breath,
Immortal glory was his care,
And made him triumph over death.

Of small account he held the world,
Whose fears its ridicule belied;
And if he like a madman lived,
At least he like a wise one died."

THE ARABIAN NIGHTS

THE STORY OF ALADDIN; OR, THE WONDERFUL LAMP

I

In one of the large and rich cities of China there once lived a tailor
named Mustapha. He was so poor that by the hardest daily labor he
could barely support himself and his family, which consisted only of
his wife and a son.

This son, Aladdin, was a very careless, idle, and disobedient fellow.
He would leave home early in the morning and play all day in the
streets and public places. When he was old enough, his father tried to
teach him the tailor's trade, but Mustapha no sooner turned his back
than the boy was gone for the day. He was frequently punished, but in
vain; and at last the father gave him up as a hopeless idler, and in a
few months died of the grief Aladdin caused him.

The boy, now free from restraint, became worse than ever. Until he was
fifteen, he spent all his time with idle companions, never thinking
how useless a man this would make of him. Playing thus with his evil
mates one day, a stranger passing by stood to observe him.

The stranger was a person known as the African magician. Only two days
before, he had arrived from Africa, his native country; and, seeing in
Aladdin's face something that showed the boy to be well fitted for his
purposes, he had taken pains to learn all that he could find out about
him.

"Child," he said to Aladdin, calling him aside, "was not your father
called Mustapha the tailor?"

"Yes, sir," answered the boy; "but he has been dead a long time."

Then the African magician embraced Aladdin and kissed him, saying with
tears in his eyes, "I am your uncle. I knew you at first sight; you
are so like my dear brother." Then he gave the boy a handful of money,
and said, "Give my love to your mother, and tell her th