Aladdin and the Magic Lamp
Aladdin is starting to make demands of the genie of the lamp, but he is not asking for much, only food.
With the food, he gets gold and silver platters, that he sells to a Jew. As the stories are written by Muslim people, Jews and Christians are rarely good guys. The Jew in this episode is very greedy and is taking advantage of Aladdin in a big way.
The "Jew was more cunning than a Shaiṭān". The Shaiṭān is an evil spirit in Islam.
ON THE TWELFTH NIGHT
Sheherazade said:
Aladdin's mother said: "I don't want you to talk to me about it again, no matter what!"
Now, the next day, when the excellent provisions were exhausted, Aladdin, not wanting, to spare his mother new frights, to have recourse too quickly to the lamp, took one of the gold platters, hid it under his robe, and went out, intending to sell it in the souk and, with the money from the sale, to bring home the necessary provisions. And he went to the shop of a Jew, who was more cunning than a Shaiṭān. And he took the gold platter from his robe and handed it to the Jew, who took it, examined it, scratched it, and casually asked Aladdin, "How much do you want of this?" And Aladdin, who in his life had never seen gold dishes and was far from knowing the value of such goods, answered: “By Allah, o my master, you know better than I what this dish can be worth; and I rely on your estimate and your good faith!" And the Jew, who had seen that the dish was the purest gold, said to himself: “Here is a boy who does not know the price of what he possesses. It is an excellent boon that the blessing of Abraham sends me today!" And he opened a drawer concealed in the wall of the shop, and took out a single piece of gold which he handed to Aladdin, and which did not represent the thousandth part of the value of the dish, and said to him: "Here, my son, here is for your dish! By Moses and Aaron! I would never have offered such a sum to anyone but you! but it is only to have you as a client in the future!" And Aladdin took the golden dinar with great eagerness and, without even thinking of turning around, he hastened, so pleased he was, to throw his legs to the wind. And the Jew, seeing Aladdin's joy and haste to get away, very much regretted not having given him an even lower price and was about to run after him to try and get something out of the gold coin; but he gave up his project, seeing that he could not catch up with him.
As for Aladdin, without wasting time, he ran to the baker, bought him bread, made change with the golden dinar, and returned home to give his mother both the bread and the change, in him. saying: “O my mother, go now and buy us, with this coin, the necessary provisions; because I don't know about it!" And the mother got up and went to the souk to buy everything they needed. And that day they ate and were happy. And Aladdin began from then on, each time they had no more money, to go to the souk to sell a dish of gold to the same Jew, who always gave him a dinar, not daring, having given him this sum the first time, to give him less, for fear of seeing him go and offer his wares to other Jews, who would thus realize, in his place, the immense profit of the business. So Aladdin, who continued to ignore the value of what he possessed, sold him the twelve golden dishes in this way. And then he thought of bringing her the great solid silver tray; but as he found it very heavy, he went to fetch the Jew who came to the house, examined the precious tray, and said to Aladdin: “This is worth two pieces of gold! And Aladdin, enchanted, consented to the sale and took the money which the Jew would only give him on condition of the delivery, on top of the bargain, of the two silver cups.
This way, Aladdin and his mother still had enough to survive for a few days. And Aladdin continued to go to the souks to converse gravely with merchants and people of distinction; for, since his return, he had carefully refrained from associating with his old comrades, the young boys of the neighborhood; and he now applied himself to learning by listening to the conversations of the aged; and he acquired, in a short time, being full of sagacity, all sorts of precious notions which very few young people of his age were capable of acquiring.
In the meantime, the money ran out again at home, and Aladdin, unable to do otherwise, was forced, despite all his mother's terror, to have recourse to the magic lamp. However, the mother, informed of Aladdin's plan, hastened to leave the house, unable to bear to be there at the moment of the genie's appearance. And Aladdin, free then to act as he pleased, took the lamp in his hand, and sought the precise place which he had to touch, and which was recognizable by the impression left by the first cleaning with the ashes; and he rubbed it, without haste, and very lightly. And immediately appeared the genie, who bowed and, in a very calm voice, precisely because of the lightness of the friction, said to Aladdin: "I Am in your hands, here, your slave is here! Speak, what do you want? I am the servant of the lamp, whether in the air I fly, or on the earth, I crawl!" And Aladdin hastened to reply: "O servant of the lamp, I am famished, and I desire a platter of food exactly like the one you brought me the first time! And the genie disappeared, only to reappear, in less than the blink of an eye, laden with the tray in question, which he placed on the stool; and he withdrew no one knows where.
Now, shortly afterward, the mother of Aladdin returned; and she saw the tray and its fragrant and lovely contents, and she was no less amazed than the first time. And she sat down beside her son and touched the dishes which she found even more exquisite than those on the first tray. And, despite the terror inspired in her by the genie servant of the lamp, she ate with great appetite; and she, no more than Aladdin, could tear herself away from the tray until she was completely satiated; but as these dishes excited the appetite in proportion to the quantity eaten of them, she did not get up until nightfall, having thus united the morning meal with that of noon and that of the evening. And Aladdin too.
When the supplies on the set ran out, like the first time...
— At this point in her narration, Scheherazade saw the morning appear and quietly fell silent.
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