he had not exaggerated in his account of them.

In the meantime Aladdin's mother reached home, and showed in her air
and countenance the good news she brought to her son. "My son," said
she, "you may rejoice you are arrived at the height of your desires.
The sultan has declared that you shall marry the Princess Buddir al
Buddoor. He waits for you with impatience."

Aladdin, enraptured with this news, made his mother very little reply,
but retired to his chamber. There he rubbed his lamp, and the obedient
genie appeared.

"Genie," said Aladdin, "convey me at once to a bath, and supply me
with the richest and most magnificent robe ever worn by a monarch."

No sooner were the words out of his mouth than the genie rendered him,
as well as himself, invisible, and transported him into a hummum[44]
of the finest marble of all sorts of colors; where he was undressed,
without seeing by whom, in a magnificent and spacious hall. He was
then well rubbed and washed with various scented waters. After he had
passed through several degrees of heat, he came out quite a different
man from what he was before. His skin was clear as that of a child,
his body lightsome and free; and when he returned into the hall, he
found, instead of his own poor raiment, a robe, the magnificence of
which astonished him. The genie helped him to dress, and when he had
done, transported him back to his own chamber, where he asked him if
he had any other commands.

[Footnote 44: A Turkish word for a bath.]

"Yes," answered Aladdin, "bring me a charger that surpasses in beauty
and goodness the best in the sultan's stables; with a saddle, bridle,
and other caparisons to correspond with his value. Furnish also twenty
slaves, as richly clothed as those who carried the present to the
sultan, to walk by my side and follow me, and twenty more to go before
me in two ranks. Besides these, bring my mother six women slaves to
attend her, as richly dressed at least as any of the Princess Buddir
al Buddoor's, each carrying a complete dress fit for any sultaness. I
want also ten thousand pieces of gold in ten purses; go, and make
haste."

As soon as Aladdin had given these orders, the genie disappeared, but
presently returned with the horse, the forty slaves, ten of whom
carried each a purse containing ten thousand pieces of gold, and six
women slaves, each carrying on her head a different dress for
Aladdin's mother, wrapped up in a piece of silver tissue, and
pres