The guards stopped her at once. But as she insisted she had something very valuable for the Sultan, they let her in.
They wrapped some of the jewel-fruits in silk cloth.
Said the Sultan, “What have you brought me in those silk rags?”
She showed him the jewel-fruits. The Sultan was impressed. “But if your son is as worthy of my daughter as you say, he must bring me 40 golden trays of the same gems, carried in by servants.”
The mother went home and told her son the Sultan’s demand. “It's no problem,” said Aladdin. “Call for the Genie and make your second wish.” And so his mother rubbed the lamp and made her second wish. Before long, she was at the steps of the Sultan’s palace with 40 golden trays of the jewel-fruits, carried in by as many servants.
The Sultan was pleased. “But you cannot think this is enough to win the hand of my daughter!” he said. “To truly win my favor, your son must build a golden palace for he and my daughter to live.”
The Mother brought back this news, too. So for her third wish, the Mother asked the Genie to create a golden palace. The next morning, right outside the Sultan’s bedroom, appeared a huge golden palace, gleaming in the sun.
Meanwhile back at Aladdin’s home, his Mother said, “It is time for you to go, my son, to meet your princess.” Her wishes spent, she gave him the lamp.
The next morning, the Sultan called for his daughter. “Look at this palace!” he said, pointing out the window. “This is the husband for you!”
“What do you mean, Father?” said his daughter. “What do you know about this man? Have you ever met him?”
“What’s there to know?” said the Sultan. “He can make a golden palace appear overnight. He’s even more powerful than my royal adviser, the Vizier.
“What’s there to know?” said the Sultan. "He can make a golden palace appear overnight."
“Yesterday, your Vizier was most powerful man in the kingdom," said his daughter, "and I was to marry him. Today, this stranger is the most powerful one and I’m to marry him. Why do you think it matters to me who’s the most powerful?”
“It matters to ME!” said the Sultan. In a lower voice he said, “Daughter, you’re just excited to get such a fine husband.”
“I can’t believe this!” The princess threw her arms up in despair, and she left.
In her dressing room, the princess groaned. To Nadia, her lady-in-waiting, she said, “My father is determined to marry me off, no matter what!”
“But Madam,” said Nadia, “isn’t this wonderful stranger an excellent match for you?”
The princess sighed. She looked at her lady-in-waiting. “You don’t know how lucky you are,” she said. “I would rather live your life than be handed off in this way.”
“And I would rather live yours,” said Nadia. The two of them stared at each other for a couple of moments. They were about the same height, with the same color hair. With all the scarves maidens like them wore…
“Let’s do it!” they said together. And the two of them changed clothes.
Just then, Aladdin was riding to the Sultan’s palace on a white horse, ready to meet his bride. The Sultan warmly greeted him,
“Let’s do it!” they said together.
“Stay here in my palace until the preparations for your wedding are complete,” he said. Aladdin could not meet the princess until their wedding day. He caught a glimpse of Nadia from a distance, covered in scarves, thinking she was the true princess. Aladdin, the Sultan, and everyone else in the palace waited with growing excitement for the wedding day.
Except for one person. The uncle-magician who had left Aladdin trapped in the cave was also the Sultan’s Vizier.
He had recognized Aladdin at once. He knew there could be only one reason the young man could present all this magic to the Sultan. Aladdin must have escaped from the cave, and with the lamp!
“I will get my revenge!” swore the Vizier. “If anyone is to have the lamp, it is ME!” By his magic, he could tell where Aladdin had hidden the lamp. While Aladdin was sleeping, the Vizier crept in and took it.
“If anyone is to have the lamp, it is ME!"
In a quiet place, the Vizier made his first wish: “Genie, do as I say. I want you to take Aladdin’s palace to a faraway place in the desert that no one can find!”
What the Vizier did not know was at that very moment, Nadia was exploring Aladdin’s palace. And there is something else the Vizier did not know. The Genie thought the Vizier had commanded to be taken away also, along with the palace. So the Genie sent the Vizier, the golden palace, and Nadia inside it, all together to the faraway place in the desert.
The next morning, the Sultan awoke and saw nothing outside his bedroom window where Aladdin’s palace had stood the day before. The next moment his servants rushed in, announcing that the princess had disappeared. Furious, he called for Aladdin.
“What have you done?” he yelled in a rage. “Because of your magic tricks I have lost my daughter! You must bring her back to me in three days or it will cost you your head!”
"What have you done?" he yelled in a rage.
Aladdin thought he would simply use his second wish and the Genie would bring back the princess and the castle too. But his magic lamp was gone - he looked everywhere!
In despair, Aladdin could do nothing but to leave the Sultan’s palace on the white horse he had rode in on. Sadly, he rode from town to town but no one knew anything about a palace that had appeared overnight, no to mention one with a princess inside.
You may wonder, where was the true princess all this time? Dressed as a servant girl, she had crept out of the palace the very day she had switched clothes with Nadia. Down to the marketplace she had gone, and there she met an aging merchant. The old merchant told her he was tired from riding so many years from town to town, selling his potions and perfumes.
The princess was dressed humbly, yet she still carried herself like royalty. She gained the confidence of the old merchant, and when she offered to ride his camel train for him and share what she earned, he was delighted. That is how our princess found herself up clop-clopping through the desert, selling potions and perfumes from town to town.