concerning his mother and begged him to show him the way to her house. And, when Aladdin had shewed him, he gave the boy more gold and said, "Give this to thy mother with my blessing, and say that her brother-in-law, who has been absent forty years, has returned and will visit her to-morrow to weep with her over the place where his brother is buried." With this he departed, and Aladdin ran to his mother to tell her the news.
"Mother! Mother!" he cried excitedly, bursting in upon her, "my uncle hath returned after forty years; he wept when I told him my father was dead; he salutes thee and—" "My son," she broke in, "what are these wild words? Thou hast no uncle, and the only one thou ever hadst died many years before thou wast born." "Nay, nay;" returned Aladdin, "this is my father's brother; he recognised my father's features in mine and wept, and gave me this to bring to thee, with a message that he would come to see thee tomorrow."
He handed her the gold, and, as the widow took it, her doubt was lessened considerably. "I wonder," she cried. "Can it be that my husband's brother did not die after all, or that he has risen from the grave? In either case he is rich and generous."
On the morrow the Dervish sought Aladdin in the street where he had seen him the day before, and found him there among his disreputable friends. Taking him aside he kissed him and embraced him; then, placing ten gold pieces in his hand, he said, "Hasten now to thy mother and give her these gold pieces and say that her brother-in-law would come to sup at her house this night."
So Aladdin left him and ran home to his mother with the
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