Arabian Nights: 288th Night: Ala-ed-Din & the Wonderful Lamp - 4

The following night Shahrazad said: Ala-ed-Din, now realised that the Moor had been cheating him and his mother and that he was not his uncle. Fear gripped him and crept through his body upto his head. He wished to weep and cry, but not a sound came of him. Sitting on the second step, tired and hungry he fell asleep. When woke up he went to the garden to see if there were any exit to the surface of the earth. He returned again to the step and sat there with the hope of hearing any footsteps. He was sure that there was no escape, but at that moment the signet ring that the Moor had put on his finger came to his mind. The ring was there. He recalled what the Moor said, "This ring will guard you from all danger, if you are in trouble.  Pray to God and the slave of the Ring will appear before you."   Raising his hands he prayed, "O Mighty Omnipotent! Save me from this calamity." He touched the ring and stood in silence, and suddenly the slave of the Ring appeared before him, and said, "Here I am, your slave, what you wish." Ala-ed-Din looked up and saw a Marid [1] who said, "Ask what you want."   Ala-ed-Din said, "O Slave of the Ring!  Convey me to the surface of the earth!" 

The Earth gaped open, and he found himself at the door of the cavern, outside on the face of the Earth.  He  had been sitting in the dark cell for the last three days. When the light of the Sun hit him he closed his eyes. He opened it slowly and accustomed to the light.  Here was the place where he collected faggots to make fire. The place, the alleys, the trees and gardens by which the Moor took him came to his memory. He returned to his mother.

He was in front of his house, knocked at the door. He could hear the footsteps of his mother. The door opened, and the mother and son were in each other's hands, weeping and wailing. After some time, when they were restored, Ala-ed-Din begged her to give him something to eat.  "O mother, it is three days since I eat anything at all." Mother went to the kitchen, prepared the food and brought, and set it before him.  While he ate she patiently watched him. She was anxious to know what had happened to him in these three days and what had become of his uncle. When he satisfied his hunger, and was in a relaxed mood, the mother said, "Tell me my son, what happened to you in these three days?" 

"Ah mother! It is my opinion that you have pushed me to that devil who used me as a pawn in his evil design, and left me in the cavern to perish without leaving a trace of me. I looked death in the face on account of him.  He was a sorcerer, a Moor, a liar and an impostor. The devils here are not his match." Then he elaborated what had happened to him after he left home with the Moor; and his escape only because of the signet ring that the Moor put on his finger, and how the signet ring had become his Saviour. He showed her the Lamp, and the jewels and diamonds collected therefrom. Out of ecstasy of telling the story and out of tiredness Ala-ed-Din went to sleep. Mother also went to sleep because she had not a wink of sleep for the last three days. Both of them woke up by next noon, and Ala-ed-Din felt hungry.  Unfortunately there was nothing in the house. She said, "there is nothing that I can give you. But wait a while; I have spin yarn which I will take to the market and sell and buy you something."

Ala-ed-Din replied, "Mother, keep your yarn; sell it not, but give me the Lamp l brought, I may go and sell it. The lamp will fetch more than the yarn. She took the lamp, but found it dirty. She said, "Wait, I will clean it. It may fetch more once it is cleaned." She went to take a handful of sand, and fell to rubbing the lamp with it.  She had hardly begun to run, when there appeared before one Jinni of terrible aspect and vast stature, a giant. "Tell, what you want of me," the Jinni said to his mother, "I am here, your slave, the slave of him who hold the Lamp. I am not alone, all the slaves of the wonderful Lamp are at your beck and call."

When his mother looked upon the Jinni she was dumbfounded, and seeing this Ala-ed-Din came forward and seized the Lamp from her hand, and said, "O slave, of the Lamp, I am hungry, I wish you to bring me something to eat, and let it be something good beyond imagination." Jinni vanished for a moment, and brought a 

magnificent silver tray, containing twelve dishes of various foods and delicious desserts, two silver cups and flagons of clear old wine, and a loaf of bread whiter than snow. The Jinni set them before Ala-ed-Din and vanished. Mother was sitting in a corner witnessing these scenes and she was unsure of what is what. Ala-ed-Din approached her, touched her, and she gave a start, as if she woke up from a deep sleep. Ala-ed-Din said, "Mother, eat these food, the gift of God." 

"O my son, who is this generous benefactor?" 

"O my mother, Indeed we are in his debt, and I am thinking that the Sultan, seeing our case, sent this to ourselves." Then he advised the mother to speed up and join him in to have the food. They went and sat down to the tray and fell to eating. Ala-ed-Din's mother tasted food such as never in life. The tray was special. They  had never seen such a tray. After the food they sat to talking. And the mother wanted to know whether the Jinni who brought the food and the one who helped her son to get out of the cave were the same.

''They were different. The Jinni who brought the food was the slave of the Lamp, and the other was the slave of Signet ring."

The mother said, "Both  the slaves frightened me. It is not good to deal with them. The prophet has forbidden it."

Ala-ed-Din said, "Mother, I cannot part with them. The Signet Ring: without it I would have perished in the dark cave. The Lamp: without it we would have starved to death.  The Moor saw it more worthy than all the jewels and diamonds in the treasure house. We do not disclose of them to anybody. And you do not look at the Lamp." With this reasoning, the mother remained silent. 

Morning overtook and Shahrazad lapsed into silence.

Notes:-

1. Marid is a supernatural being in Arabic folklore and mythology