Aladdin had showed the magician the house, he was ready to go,
when somebody knocked at the door, which he immediately opened; and the
magician came in loaded with wine, and all sorts of fruits, which he
brought for a dessert.

After the African magician had given what he brought into Aladdin's
hands, he saluted his mother, and desired her to shew him the place
where his brother Mustapha used to sit on the sofa; and when she had so
done, he fell down and kissed it several times, crying out with tears in
his eyes: "My poor brother! how unhappy am I, not to have come soon
enough to give you one last embrace." Aladdin's mother desired him to
sit down in the same place, but he declined. "No," said he, "but give me
leave to sit opposite, that although I am deprived of the satisfaction
of seeing one so dear to me, I may at least have the pleasure of
beholding the place where he used to sit."

When the magician had sat down, he began to enter into discourse with
Aladdin's mother: "My good sister," said he, "do not be surprised at
your never having seen me all the time you were married to my brother
Mustapha. I have been forty years absent from this country, which is my
native place, as well as my late brother's; and during that time have
travelled into the Indies, Persia, Arabia, Syria, and Egypt; have
resided in the finest towns of those countries; and afterward crossed
over into Africa, where I made a longer stay. At last, as it is natural
for a man to remember his native country, I was desirous to see mine
again, and to embrace my dear brother; and finding I had strength enough
to undertake so long a journey, I immediately made the necessary
preparations, and set out. I will not tell you the length of time it
took me, all the obstacles I met with, and what fatigues I have endured
to come hither; but nothing ever afflicted me so much, as hearing of my
brother's death. I observed his features in the face of my nephew, your
son, and distinguished him among a number of lads with whom he was at
play; he can tell you how I received the most melancholy news that ever
reached my ears. But God be praised for all things! it is a comfort for
me to find, as it were, my brother in a son, who has his most remarkable
features."

The African magician, perceiving that the widow began to weep at the
remembrance of her husband, changed the conversation, and turning toward
her son, asked him his name. "I am called Aladdin," said he. "Well,