twenty; but when he was convinced that the window which several workmen had been so long about had now been finished in so short a time, he embraced Aladdin and kissed him between his eyes. “My son,” said he, “what a man you are to do such surprising things always in the twinkling of an eye! There is not your fellow in the world; the more I know you, the more I admire you.”
Aladdin, while he paid all respect to the sultan, won by his affable behavior and liberality the affections of the people. Several years passed thus in happiness, when the African magician, who had dismissed Aladdin from his mind, determined at last to inform himself with certainty whether the boy had perished in the subterranean cave or not. He resorted to a long course of magic ceremonies, and cast a horoscope by which to ascertain Aladdin’s fate. What was his surprise to find the appearances declare that Aladdin, instead of dying in the cave, had made his escape, and was living in royal splendor, by the aid of the genie of the wonderful lamp!
On the very next day, the magician set out and traveled with the utmost haste to the capital of China, where, on his arrival, he took up his lodgings in a khan.
He quickly learned about the wealth, charities, happiness, and splendid palace of Prince Aladdin. Directly he saw the wonderful fabric, he knew that none but the genii, the slaves of the lamp, could have performed such wonders, and,
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