Aladdin - the Arabian Nights

Chapter 8

Aladdin drifted into his house with a dreamy sigh. Hardly noticing his mother in their small kitchen area preparing dinner, he sank down onto the sofa which was now a proper sofa, eyes closed to better savour the memory of that encounter. "Wow!" he said again, to no one in particular.

Abu perched on the sofa beside him and frowned. When Aladdin didn't acknowledge him, he folded his arms and turned away, chattering sulkily to himself.

Aladdin's mother was surprised, because she was almost ready to serve dinner and there was a tantalizing aroma of meat coming from the kitchen, and Aladdin, after nearly sixteen years of never having enough to eat, had never been known to pass up a meal. Now he hardly seemed to notice she was making dinner, and what was more, it had been a long time now since he had come home without acknowledging her.

Aladdin's mother came out of the kitchen area to call Aladdin for dinner, but once again, he barely seemed to hear her. She called him a second time, a little louder and more sternly, and his eyes flew open as though he were surprised to find himself in his house with his mother there. Even when he came in to dinner, he hardly seemed to notice what he was eating. His eyes kept drifting in the direction of the palace, which hadn't happened since Aladdin had come back from the Cave, at least not where his mother could see it, and a dreamy, unfocused look would come into his eyes as though he were preoccupied. Sometimes this was accompanied by another "Wow!"

As soon as he had finished (having eaten far less than usual) Aladdin got up from his seat rather absentmindedly and made his way up the stairs to his room. As soon as she had finished her own supper, his mother followed him. It wasn't at all like her son to act this way. She had better check on him and make sure nothing was wrong. Maybe he was sick.

Aladdin had fallen onto his bed with his arms outstretched and a blissful smile on his face; he seemed deep in a daydream. Aladdin's mother came right over to his bed and shook him awake. Abu had come up with her, and now perched on the edge of Aladdin's bed to chatter scoldingly at him. Aladdin seemed almost surprised to see the two of them there. In his mind he had been miles away, sitting on a rooftop somewhere and holding hands with Princess Jasmine under the moonlight.

Aladdin's mother got right to the point as usual, and told Aladdin to tell her if he was sick. She said she would send right away for the doctor.

"No, I'm not sick." Aladdin sounded confused as to why his mother would have thought this. Then he gave another sigh. "I can't stop thinking about her. She – she's just – wow."

Now Aladdin's mother was beginning to see what was going on here, and she smiled. Aladdin had become much more responsible in these past months, and was probably ready to support a wife, and Aladdin's mother rather liked the idea of a daughter-in-law and maybe some grandkids. "Who?" she asked him, in a pleased tone of voice. "Who is this wonderful girl who has captured my son's heart?"

"Princess Jasmine," Aladdin replied, and as he said her name, his eyes closed and his head dropped onto his shoulder with another happy sigh.

Aladdin's mother stared at him in horror for a moment. Then a small smile began to spread across her face.

"You must be joking with me," she said. "When would you ever have seen the princess?"

Here Aladdin glanced away with a slightly guilty expression, as though he knew his mother wouldn't approve of what he was about to tell her but had no regrets. "Well... do you remember hearing the guards earlier, saying Princess Jasmine was coming to bathe and no one could look at her or they'd lose their heads...?"

Now she was back to horrified. "Aladdin, you didn't...."

He gave her a small sheepish smile, ran his hand through the unkempt hair at the back of his neck, and nodded.

Aladdin's mother sank down onto the bed in despair. Abu gave up on anyone paying attention to him and hopped over to sit on the windowsill, muttering to himself. "You've done it now, Aladdin," his mother moaned. "You'll be killed, that's all there is to it. My only son, and the Sultan will cut off his head!"

"No he won't." Aladdin was rather amused by his mother's dramatic response. He shifted his position so he was sitting beside her. "No one saw me." And just as Aladdin's mother was beginning to calm down, Aladdin went on. "I want to marry her."

"Who?" Aladdin's mother replied, sure they couldn't still be on the same subject.

"Princess Jasmine!" Aladdin gave a small laugh at his mother's not having understood this right away. "Can you go to the Sultan and ask for her hand?"

"Are you mad, Aladdin!" his mother cried. All those years he'd spent dreaming about the palace – she had never thought it would come to this. The Sultan would never give his daughter to a poor tailor's son! He would be killed for asking such a thing – not to mention for disobeying the law and laying eyes on the princess! – and Aladdin's mother would probably be killed with him, if she dared go to the palace and make such an outrageous request. Didn't Aladdin see that what he was asking for was too far above his station?

But Aladdin would not back down. No one was going to get killed, he insisted. The Sultan would understand. Aladdin knew that he was meant for Jasmine. He knew that he had to end up married to her. What did it matter what his station was?

"Listen to yourself, Aladdin!" cried his mother in despair. "Do you think that I can go to the Sultan and say: 'I seek to ally myself with you, and want a match between your daughter and my son'?"

"Of course not," Aladdin said with a laugh. "Just tell him I love her!"

"You love her!" Aladdin's mother shook her head despairingly. Would that convince the Sultan to give his only daughter to a poor tailor's son? If Aladdin was truly ready to marry, his mother said, she would seek out some other beautiful bride for him, some bride of his own station. But Aladdin refused to hear of such a thing. He insisted the only one for him was Jasmine. She was his True Love, he knew it.

Aladdin's mother wrung her hands. True Love – and that was to be her reasoning when she went before the Sultan? Jasmine was royalty, and royalty didn't concern themselves with True Love. Didn't Aladdin remember that men had asked for Jasmine's hand before? Mighty princes from all over the Middle East, with incredible wealth and power to their names – all of them turned away. The Sultan would not give his beloved daughter to even the mightiest of kings, she was sure of that.

But Aladdin wasn't. This reminder hadn't discouraged him in the slightest; he was heartened to think that Jasmine had, in a sense, almost been waiting for him. Besides, he told his mother, even if this was about rank and not True Love, he was the Diamond in the Rough, remember? He was the sole owner of the priceless treasures of the Cave of Wonders, and entitled to limitless wishes from his friend the Genie. When you thought about it, he had more wealth and power than any of those princes!

The argument stretched long into the night, with both Aladdin and his mother repeating the same points over and over again, as will happen during an argument. But Aladdin won out in the end. He had been honing his skills of persuasion a lot over the past months, and at last convinced his reluctant mother to go next day to the Sultan's palace when he was holding court, and bring him her son's request. Aladdin and his mother also agreed this would be the perfect time to use some of those Cave of Wonders jewels they had stored away, which up till now had been sitting in the dark never being used except sometimes when Abu played with them. If Aladdin's mother would bring even just a few of those to the Sultan as a kind of engagement gift, then if she was right and the wealth of the suitor did make a difference, the Sultan would be that much more likely to agree.