Week 4 Story: Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp

Once a upon a time lived a man named Abdo. Abdo was very poor and lived paycheck to paycheck by traveling around and flipping items. He would buy things that are useless to the rich and go sell it to the poor. Abdo’s dream was to get a male child so he can be his companion on these lengthy trips. Soon his wife got pregnant and born was the legend of Aladdin. As Aladdin was growing up, Abdo remained to struggle with keeping up with the standard of living he has set for his family. Years of hard work seemed not to pay off, however Abdo was not giving up as he has his son Aladdin to befriend him in this never ending journey.

As Aladdin grew up and became eligible to join his father in his journeys, Abdo remained in the same struggling situation but felt that his brave son has something special that will help them get out of this situation. Their trips were normally to palaces where they were granted the chance to dig out the attic or storage room and then negotiate with either the owner of the palace or one of his helpers. One day they entered the Sultan’s palace knowing that the chance of hitting a jackpot is high. As they were entering, Aladdin saw a girl that looked his age on the top of the stairs. He stopped and was not able to remove his eyes from her sight. His father then knocked him on his shoulder and told him “Come on Aladdin, we are not here to play! We’re lucky the Sultan is giving us a chance!”. Aladdin moved on, but in his mind all he could think about was how beautiful the princess’ smile was. As they reached the attic, Abdo realized that Aladdin has been mesmerized by the princess but wanted to put some sense into him. Abdo told him “Aladdin, I don’t mean to discourage you son, but we are poor and they live in a palace so forget it!”. Aladdin nodded and agreed however in his mind he was thinking that he does not believe that is a barrier.

As they look through the attic, one of the workers of the palace is always monitoring them to make sure they don’t loot something into their pocket and go unmentioned since the attic is clustered with unused items. Abdo had a strategy that he would search for everything Shiny or heavy as those two characteristics with experience have always yielded the best amount of money. Aladdin following the instructions of his father was looking around for an item with the characteristics mentioned. He stumbled on a small golden lamp that Aladdin felt was something special. He smoothly attempted to hide it in the cloth that wraps around his waist. His mother had sewed an inner pocket for him to keep his belongings in it. While all that was going on, Aladdin could not stop thinking about the beautiful face of the princess. He asked one of the workers monitor if he could be directed to the bathroom as he wanted a chance to wander in the palace and try to encounter the princess. He was granted that, and being the adventurous brave kid he is, he wandered off to the upper levels trying to look for the princess. To his luck, the princess was in her room brushing her hair with her door cracked enough to be completely visible. Aladdin sat there for a moment or two just admiring the princess until she turned around and was in shock. Aladdin directly reacted “Sorry princess, I was making my way to the toilet but the scent of your beauty directed me to you!”. She smiled and said “That is no problem, on your way now mister!”. He replied to her “Please, call me Aladdin, I will see you later”. Aladdin returned to his father and they continued their mission of the day but Aladdin still had this golden lamp looted in his pocket.

As they returned back home with a couple of items, Aladdin was contemplating whether to keep the lamp a secret to his father or let him know. Abdo was known to be a righteous person and some might say that is the reason he is still poor to this day. Aladdin took out his lamp in his room and cleaned with a cloth to where it was shining. There was an engraved saying on the lamp that mentioned “Look at this lamp and read the stamp for all your wishes we will grant”. Aladdin repeated that line over and over again until a genie appeared from the lamp. “Hello I am the genie, and I will grant to you one wish”. At that point Aladdin was thinking of one thing, to make his family not poor. So he yelled to the genie “Grant us a wish of never being poor living happy and rich”. The genie granted him the wish of being rich and so everything changed from that day on. Aladdin went back home to his father and revealed to him a bag of gold that the genie gave him that was large enough to make the family gain enough wealth to live a palace that is comparable to the Sultan.

Aladdin and the Lamp

The father was shocked and could not believe his eyes. The son he always wanted has granted him his one and only desire. That was great for Abdo and his family but now it was time for Abdo to ask Aladdin where did this wealth come from. Aladdin told him that he had found a bag of gold. Abdo felt skeptical but remained silent as his joy of seeing his family was more important than his Morales. Aladdin then left on a journey to the Sultan’s palace to search for the love of his life the princess. As he reached the palace he could see her from window and just waited there for a while until she went out on her balcony. She finally did and was surprised “Aladdin, what are you doing here?”. He replied “My princess, it was love from first sight to me so I am here to make you mine”. The princess was worried about the Sultan and what he would’ve said to her if she approached him wanting to marry a poor kid like Aladdin. Aladdin then explained to her that he is no longer poor but he became rich. The Princess approached the sultan and explained Aladdin’s situation. The Sultan was furious that his daughter was even considering that option as he had princes lined up for her. However, the Sultan believed that there is no argument to love.

As Aladdin returned to his home excited to announce the news to his family, Abdo surprised him with a bigger news. Abdo had donated all that wealth to charity since he does not believe that wealth was earned. Aladdin was furious and devastated that the Sultan now would never allow him to take his princess anymore. So he went to the Palace to tell the story to the Sultan. The Sultan was truly amazed by the righteousness of Abdo so he still granted him the right to marry his daughter and vowed to help him as he said “Morales such as these make you richer than any amount of gold in your pocket”. He felt comfortable to allow his daughter become part of such a family. They then lived happily ever after.

Author's note: This story is originally from Aladdin and theWonderful Lamp from the ArabianNights by Andrew Lang. I chose this story because it was one of my favorites as a child. This version is, however, very different from the one that most of you know. In fact, it does not include any monkey or any sort of animal or a magician. The story is about a young poor child named Aladdin who acquires a magic lamp from a Sultan’s palace as he was searching the attic with his father. Aladdin notices that this lamp can grant him one wish. Therefore, he becomes a very rich man and wanting to marry the Princess until his father “Abdo” realized this wealth was not earned and donates all the wealth. However, the Sultan knew about this righteous deed and decided to still allow his daughter to marry Aladdin and vowed to help them. They lived happily ever after from there. I picked this picture to reflect Aladdin and the lamp because if it weren’t for the lamp he wouldn’t have had the chance to approach the princess.