Aladdin - the Arabian Nights

Chapter 11

Aladdin did nothing but dream of his upcoming marriage to Jasmine.

He had begun to close down his merchant business – he wouldn't need it anymore after he was married to Jasmine, he had never really wanted it anyway, and it was annoying to have to focus on mundane things such as sales when all he wanted to do was envision that first moment when he and Jasmine would finally be together for real. Aladdin's mother wasn't too pleased about this, but even she had to admit that working as a merchant didn't seem necessary when you were married to a princess. Aladdin gazed out at the palace more than ever now, even when his mother was looking. That palace held a new layer of fascination for him now, as he had realized by this point that marrying Jasmine would also mean living in that wonderful building he had dreamed of since he was a little boy. That just gave him one more thing to look forward to, although now it was just the icing on the cake compared with getting to spend his life with Jasmine. He would gaze out at the palace from his bedroom window and wonder what Jasmine was doing right now. He wondered if she was looking forward to their upcoming marriage as much as he was.

Sometimes Aladdin tried to imagine how their first meeting would go, the things he and Jasmine would say to each other when they finally met, and what experiences he might treat Jasmine to after their wedding, although this was difficult as he didn't actually know what sort of things Jasmine liked to do. He imagined himself inside the magnificent palace, being greeted warmly by the Sultan, whom Aladdin had sometimes seen at a distance from his balcony when he addressed the people, and then he would see his beautiful bride gliding towards him, he held out his hands to her, and when she reached him she would say... But here he always got stuck, because he had no idea what Jasmine might say, or how Jasmine talked, or even what her voice sounded like. Oh well, he supposed he would find all that out when he finally met her. Weren't the three months over yet??

Abu, meanwhile, spent much of the time sulking, and was without Aladdin a surprising amount. When he was with him he was far less willing to interact with him – although to be fair Aladdin was also interacting with Abu a lot less. Abu often met Aladdin's dreamy, distracted haze with a stream of angry, scolding chatter and bared teeth, an unusually aggressive way for Abu to act towards Aladdin. Aladdin barely noticed this because he was so busy in his happy daydreams of Jasmine, but when he did happen to stop and notice Abu – or his absence – he was puzzled. Why was Abu acting so strange? What could possibly be the matter with him?? Maybe Jasmine could help him figure it out; he wondered if she liked monkeys. He hoped so. Did Jasmine have any pets of her own? She was rumoured to have a tiger, but no one had ever confirmed this. And so before he knew it, he was back in a daydream about Jasmine.

Aladdin had finally had a chance to tell Genie about his engagement, and at first Genie was thrilled to hear his friend had such happy news – until he asked Aladdin to tell him all about Jasmine, and how they had met, and Aladdin admitted that he had never actually met Jasmine, he had only seen her one time for a few seconds on her way into a bathhouse, and that she had never actually seen him.

"Let me get this straight – you know nothing about her except what she looks like, and you still know more about her than she knows about you?"

Aladdin was somewhat confused by his reaction. "She knows about me. The Sultan must have told her we're getting married." He gave a little happy sigh at the mention of their marriage.

"And what did she say about that?" Genie challenged. "No woman likes to think she doesn't have a choice about these things. Believe me, I've been asked to help a lot of couples, Al."

Aladdin blinked in surprise. But wasn't this how marriages always worked? Especially with royalty? "No, she's happy about it," he finally decided. "Well – she will be when I meet her."

"And what'll you do if she isn't? What if you don't like her? This isn't just a couple of nights and then she's gone, this is marriage. It's forever."

"I know," Aladdin replied with a happy sigh, not having really processed anything Genie had just said except the last part. Forever with Jasmine....

"Listen," Genie said, "why don't we fix things so you do meet her before your wedding day? You can take her out to a nice dinner, a little dance, out on a rowboat...." As he mentioned each activity, a prop appeared: first a table lined with food and Genie in a waiter's outfit, which vanished as Genie shifted into a formal suit such as Aladdin had never seen anyone in Agrabah wear, then they were sitting in a rowboat which appeared in the middle of Aladdin's room before it vanished too.

Aladdin was tempted. Meeting Jasmine before the wedding day... he would be able to see her and be with her now, without having to wait for those agonizing three months... there was something thrilling about the idea of meeting her secretly and when they technically weren't supposed to be alone together yet... But just when it looked like Aladdin was about to take Genie up on his offer and make the necessary wish, he changed his mind.

"No, that won't impress her enough," he decided. "When I do meet her, I've got to look like something special – rich, powerful, someone she can really look up to. You'll help me with that on our wedding day, won't you, Genie? When I meet Jasmine," Aladdin straightened his posture, trying to appear as tall and confident as possible – "I'm going to really impress her."

"It would really impress her if she knew who you are, Al," Genie replied with a sigh.

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Aladdin's mother was particularly emotional these days. She was tearfully proud of her little boy for growing up so much, to the point where he would be married; she was worried about the loss of the merchant business, and hoping nothing would stop Aladdin being able to provide for them once he was married; she was overwhelmed at the idea of being related to a Princess, much less a Sultan, and having a son who lived in a palace, and kept wondering what she would say to her new in-laws on the day of the wedding. And she was terrified at the idea that Jafar now knew Aladdin was alive and soon to be married to Jasmine, and what he might do to him now that he had that information.

Aladdin's mother was thinking about this one night, two months after her visit with the Sultan, as she walked through the market to buy supper for herself and Aladdin. She'd had a lot of work to do that day and hadn't managed to close the tailor shop until after sundown, and she was trying to do her shopping quickly and return home. As she walked, she was distracted from her thoughts by the surprising amount of people and noise in the streets. There was an almost celebratory feel in the air, and Aladdin's mother was surprised, because she was fairly certain that there was no holiday tonight. Had something important happened that she didn't know about?

When Aladdin's mother stopped at a stall to buy dinner, she decided to ask the merchant whether he knew. The merchant seemed surprised that she didn't. "Do you not know the Sultan celebrates his daughter's wedding tonight?"

Tonight! "You must be mistaken," replied Aladdin's mother with dignity. "The Princess is not to be married for another month!" But the festivities did seem on the level of a royal wedding... Had the Sultan, on a royal whim, changed the date of the wedding without even telling her?! He might at least have given Aladdin a little more warning. The boy hadn't even had a chance to get ready yet! He would end up late for his own wedding if that was what was happening.

But was that what was happening? Aladdin's mother's fears about Jafar, which had been playing through her mind just a few minutes ago, resurfaced, setting off warning bells. Was he somehow behind this? But why? What would he gain from making Aladdin late for his wedding?

"No," the merchant replied calmly, his surprise now gone, as though he had decided Aladdin's mother had merely gotten the date wrong. "The Princess and the Royal Vizier are to be wed tonight." He gestured to the celebrations as if to prove his information was sound.

Aladdin's mother's eyes grew wide. The Princess... and the Royal Vizier... so Jafar was behind all this, after all. And to have done such a good job on the Sultan that he not only changed his mind, but also didn't even inform her or Aladdin! That horrid man. Oh well, she'd always known Jafar would never let Aladdin's engagement last. Poor Aladdin, though. Her son was going to be heartbroken. He'd wanted that girl so badly, and the silly boy had actually convinced himself it would happen.

Well, no use putting it off. She might as well go right home and tell him. She didn't want to linger here any longer in these festivities for Aladdin's former fiancée and her sworn enemy of a bridegroom!