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thereby. His wife,[1] the Lady Bedrulbudour, met him at the door and they embraced and kissed each other with all joyance, till they fell a-weeping of the excess of their gladness.
Then they sat down and Alaeddin said to her, “O Lady Bedrulbudour, there is somewhat whereof I would ask thee, before all things. I used to lay an old copper lamp in such a place in my pavilion...” When the princess heard this, she sighed and answered him, saying, “O my beloved, it was that which was the cause of our falling into this calamity.”[2] Quoth he, “How came this about?” So she acquainted him with the whole matter from first to last, telling him how they had bartered the old lamp for a new one; “and next morning,” added she, “we found ourselves in this country and he who had cozened me and changed the lamp told me that he had wroughten these tricks upon us of the might of his magic, by
- ↑ Lit. “bride” (arouseh). She is always, to the end of the tale, spoken of as Alaeddin’s “bride,” never as his “wife,” whilst he, in like manner, is called her “bridegroom” (arous).
- ↑ This, at first sight, appears a contradiction, as we are distinctly told (see ante, p. 207) that the princess was unaware of the properties of the lamp; but the sequel shows that she had learned them, in the mean time, from the magician himself. See post.
