; or to do
the principal lords of the court the honour to return their visits after
he had regaled them at his palace. Every time he went out, he caused two
slaves, who walked by the side of his horse, to throw handfuls of money
among the people as he passed through the streets and squares, which
were generally on these occasions crowded. Besides, no one came to his
palace gates to ask alms but returned satisfied with his liberality. In
short, he so divided his time, that not a week passed but he went either
once or twice a-hunting, sometimes in the environs of the city,
sometimes farther off; at which time the villages through which he
passed felt the effects of his generosity, which gained him the love and
blessings of the people; and it was common for them to swear by his
head. With all these good qualities he showed a zeal for the public good
which could not be sufficiently applauded. He gave sufficient proofs of
both in a revolt on the borders of the kingdom; for he no sooner
understood that the sultan was levying an army to disperse the rebels
than he begged the command of it, which he found not difficult to
obtain. As soon as he was empowered, he marched with so much expedition,
that the sultan heard of the defeat of the rebels before he had received
an account of his son-in-law's arrival in the army.

Aladdin had conducted himself in this manner several years, when the
African magician, who undesignedly had been the instrument of raising
him to so high a pitch of prosperity, recalled him to his recollection
in Africa, whither, after his expedition, he had returned. And though he
was almost persuaded that Aladdin must have died miserably in the
subterranean abode where he had left him, yet he had the curiosity to
inform himself about his end with certainty; and as he was a great
geomancer, he took out of a cupboard a square, covered box, which he
used in his geomantic observations. After he had prepared and levelled
the sand which was in it with an intention to discover whether or not
Aladdin had died, he cast the points, drew the figures, and formed a
horoscope, by which, when he came to examine it, he found that instead
of dying in the cave, his victim had made his escape, lived splendidly,
was in possession of the wonderful lamp, had married a princess, and was
much honoured and respected.

The magician no sooner understood, by the rules of his diabolical art,
that Aladdin had arrived to this height of good f