Aladdin

Aladdin (Arabic: , Al ad-Dn, IPA: [ala addin]) is a Middle Eastern folk tale.
It is one of the tales in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights ("The Arabian Nights"),
and one of the best knownthough it was actually added to the collection in the 18th century
by Frenchman Antoine Galland.
Plot summary
Aladdin is an impoverished young ne'er-do-well dwelling in "one of the cities of China". He is
recruited by a sorcerer from the Maghreb, who passes himself off as the brother of Aladdin's
late father, Mustapha the tailor, convincing Aladdin and his mother of his good will by
pretending to set up the lad as a wealthy merchant. The sorcerer's real motive is to persuade
young Aladdin to retrieve a wonderful oil lamp from a booby-trapped magic cave. After the
sorcerer attempts to double-cross him, Aladdin finds himself trapped in the cave. Fortunately,
Aladdin is still wearing a magic ring the sorcerer has lent him. When he rubs his hands in
despair, he inadvertently rubs the ring and a jinn (or "genie") appears who releases him from
the cave so that he can return to his mother, fortunately still carrying the lamp. When his
mother tries to clean the lamp, so they can sell it to buy food for their supper, a second far
more powerful genie appears who is bound to do the bidding of the person holding the lamp.
With the aid of the genie of the lamp, Aladdin becomes rich and powerful and marries
Princess Badroulbadour, the sultan's daughter (after magically foiling her marriage to the
vizier's son). The genie builds Aladdin and his bride a wonderful palace, far more magnificent
than the sultan's.
The sorcerer hears of Aladdin's good fortune, and returns; he gets his hands on the lamp by
tricking Aladdin's wife (who is unaware of the lamp's importance) by offering to exchange
"new lamps for old." He orders the genie of the lamp to take the palace, along with all its
contents, to his home in the Maghreb. Fortunately, Aladdin still has the magic ring and is able
to summon the lesser genie. The genie of the ring cannot directly undo any of the magic of the
genie of the lamp, but he is able to transport Aladdin to the Maghreb where, with the help of
the "woman's wiles" of the princess he recovers the lamp and slays the sorcerer, returning the
palace to its proper place.
The sorcerer's more powerful and evil brother plots to destroy Aladdin for killing his brother
by disguising himself as an old woman known for her healing powers. Badroulbadour falls for
his disguise and commands the "woman" to stay in her palace in case of any illnesses. Aladdin
is warned of this danger by the genie of the lamp and slays the imposter. Everyone lives
happily ever after, Aladdin eventually succeeding to his father-in-law's throne.

Sources and setting

No Arabic source has been traced for the tale, which was incorporated into the book Les Mille
et Une Nuits by its French translator, Antoine Galland, who heard it from a Syrian storyteller
from Aleppo. Galland's diary (March 25, 1709) records that he met the Maronitescholar, by
name Youhenna Diab ("Hanna"), who had been brought from Aleppo to Paris by Paul Lucas,
a celebrated French traveller. Galland's diary also tells that his translation of "Aladdin" was
made in the winter of 170910. It was included in his volumes ix and x of the Nights,
published in 1710.
John Payne, in Aladdin and the Enchanted Lamp and Other Stories (London 1901), gives
details of Galland's encounter with the man he referred to as "Hanna" and the discovery in
the Bibliothque Nationale in Paris of two Arabic manuscripts containing Aladdin (with two
more of the "interpolated" tales). One was written by a Syrian Christian priest living in Paris,
named Dionysios Shawish, alias Dom Denis Chavis. The other is supposed to be a copy
Mikhail Sabbagh made of a manuscript written in Baghdad in 1703. It was purchased by the
Bibliothque Nationale at the end of the nineteenth century. However, modern scholars such
as Muhsin Mahdi and Husain Haddawy claim that both manuscripts are forgeries"backtranslations" of Galland's text into Arabic.
The opening sentences of the story, in both the Galland and the Burton versions, set it in
China and imply, at least, that Aladdin is Chinese. On the other hand, there is practically
nothing in the rest of the story that is inconsistent with a Persian or Arabian setting. For
instance, the Sultan is referred to as such rather being called the "Emperor", as in some retellings, and the people we meet in the story are Muslims: their conversation is larded with
devout Muslim platitudes. A Jewish merchant buys Aladdin's wares (and incidentally cheats
him), but there is no mention of Buddhists or Confucians (or other distinctively Han Chinese
people).
Of course, China's ethnic makeup has long included Muslim groups, including large
populations of the Hui people whose origins go back to Silk Road travellers. In addition, large
communities of Muslim Chinese have been known since the Tang Dynasty, as well as Jewish
communities. Some commentators have even suggested that the story might be set
in Turkestan (encompassing Central Asiaand the modern Chinese province of Xinjiang).
For all this, speculation about a "real" Chinese setting depends on a knowledge of China that
the teller of a folk tale (as opposed to a geographic expert) might well not possess.