Excerpt from Arabian Nights, Aladdin Williams, Smith and Parrish
After these words, the magician drew a ring off his finger, and put it on one of Aladdinandamp;#39;s, telling
him that it was a preservative against all evil, while he should observe what he had prescribed to
him. After this instruction he said: andamp;quot;Go down boldly, child, and we shall both be rich all our
lives.andamp;quot;
Aladdin jumped into the cave, descended the steps, and found the three halls just as the African
magician had described. He went through them with all the precaution the fear of death could
inspire; crossed the garden without stopping, took down the lamp from the niche, threw out the
wick and the liquor, and, as the magician had desired, put it in his vestband. But as he came
down from the terrace, he stopped in the garden to observe the fruit, which he only had a glimpse
of in crossing it. All the trees were loaded with extraordinary fruit, of different colours on each
tree. Some bore fruit entirely white, and some clear and transparent as crystal; some pale red, and
others deeper; some green, blue, and purple, and others yellow: in short, there was fruit of all
colours. The white were pearls; the clear and transparent, diamonds; the deep red, rubies; the
green, emeralds; the blue, turquoises; the purple, amethysts; and those that were of yellow cast,
sapphires. Aladdin was altogether ignorant of their worth, and would have preferred figs and
grapes, or any other fruits. But though he took them only for coloured glass of little value, yet he
was so pleased with the variety of the colours, and the beauty and extraordinary size of the
seeming fruit, that he resolved to gather some of every sort; and accordingly filled the two new
purses his uncle had bought for him with his clothes. Some he wrapped up in the skirts of his
vest, which was of silk, large and full, and he crammed his bosom as full as it could hold.