a design that had brought him from Africa to China. 'We will go no further, now,' said he to Aladdin: 'I will show you here some very extraordinary things, such as nobody ever saw before; when you have seen them, you will thank me; but while I strike fire, do you gather up all the loose dry sticks you can see, to kindle a fire with.'
Aladdin found there so many dried sticks that, before the magician had lighted a match, he had gathered up a great heap. The magician presently set them on fire, and when they were all in a blaze, the magician threw in some incense he had about him, which raised a great cloud of smoke. This he dispersed on each side, by pronouncing several magical words which Aladdin did not understand.
At the same time the earth trembled a little, and opened just before the magician and Aladdin, and showed a stone about half a yard square, laid horizontally, with a brass ring fixed into the middle of it, to raise it up by. Aladdin was so frightened at what he saw, that he would have run away; but he was to be useful to the magician, who caught hold of him, scolded him, and gave him such a box on the ear that he knocked him down, and nearly beat his teeth down his throat. Poor Aladdin got up again trembling, and, with tears in his eyes, said to the magician, 'What have I done, uncle, to be treated in this severe manner?'
'I have my reasons for it,' replied the magician: 'I am your uncle, and supply the place of your father, and you ought to make no reply. But, child,' added he, softening, 'do not be afraid of anything; for I shall not ask anything of you, except that you should obey me punctually, if you would reap the advantages which I intended you should.' These fair promises calmed Aladdin's fears and resentment; and when the magician saw that he was come to himself, he said to him: 'You see what I have done by virtue of my incense, and the words I pronounced. Know, then, that under this stone there is hidden a treasure, which is destined to be yours, and which will make you richer than the greatest monarch in the world; this is so true, that no other person but yourself is permitted to touch this stone, and to pull it up and go in; for I am forbidden ever to touch it, or to set foot in this treasure when
