and goldsmiths, and not only commanded them to desist from their work, but ordered them to undo what they had begun, and to carry all their jewels back to the sultan and to the vizier. They undid in a few hours what they had been six weeks making, and retired, leaving Aladdin alone in the hall. He took the lamp, rubbed it, and the genie appeared. “Genie,” said Aladdin, “I ordered thee to leave one of the four-and-twenty windows of this hall imperfect, and thou hast executed my commands punctually; now I would have thee make it like the rest.” The genie immediately disappeared. Aladdin went out of the hall, and returning soon after, found the window like the others.
In the mean time, the jewelers and goldsmiths repaired to the palace, and were introduced into the sultan’s presence; where the chief jeweler presented the precious stones which he had brought back. The sultan asked them if Aladdin had given them any reason for so commanding, and they answering that he had given them none, he ordered a horse to be brought, which he mounted, and rode to his son-in-law’s palace, with some few attendants on foot, to inquire why he had ordered the completion of the window to be stopped. Aladdin met him at the gate, and without giving any reply to his inquiries conducted him to the hall, where the sultan, to his great surprise, found the window exactly like the others. He fancied at first that he was mistaken, and examined the two windows on each side, and afterward all the four-and-
189
