Lullventyr
Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp — cover illustration
Bedtime story

Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp

by Andrew Lang

Aladdin, an idle boy from the city, is tricked by a magician into fetching a battered old lamp — and finds a genie inside who can build palaces overnight. Keeping them is another matter.

How it begins

There once lived a poor tailor, who had a son called Aladdin, a careless, idle boy who would do nothing but play all day long in the streets with little idle boys like himself. This so grieved the father that he died; yet, in spite of his mother's tears and prayers, Aladdin did not mend his ways. One day, when he was playing in the streets as usual, a stranger asked him his age, and if he were not the son of Mustapha the tailor. "I am, sir," replied Aladdin; "but he died a long while ago." On this the stranger, who was a famous African magician, fell on his neck and kissed him, saying: "I am your uncle, and…

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