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He also wished to include the eight famous Galland Tales: "Zayn Al-Asnam," "Alaeddin," "Khudadad and his Brothers," "The Kaliph's Night Adventure," "Ali Baba," "Ali Khwajah and the Merchant of Baghdad," "Prince Ahmad and the Fairy Peri-Banu," and "The Two Sisters who Envied their Cadette;" but the only Oriental text he could find was a Hindustani version of Galland's tales "Orientalised and divested of their inordinate Gallicism."
'This may never be, replied Alaeddin. 'Take back thy dress and thy mule and open the door, that I may go out. So he opened the door, and Alaeddin went forth and walked on, with the dogs yelping at his heels, till he saw the door of a mosque open and going in, took shelter in the vestibule.
Later Burton's curiosity was aroused by the news that Mr. A. G. Ellis, of the British Museum, had shown Mr. Kirby an edition of Alaeddin in Malay. "Let me know," he says, "when you go to see Mr. Ellis. I especially want to accompany you, and must get that Malay version of Alaeddin. Lord Stanley of Alderley could translate it."
Then said the Khalif to Aslan, 'Ask a boon of me; and he replied, 'I beseech thee to unite me with my father. Whereat the Khalif wept and said, 'Most like it was thy father that was hanged and is dead; but by the life of my forefathers, whoso bringeth me the glad news that he is yet in the bonds of life, I will give him all he seeketh! Then came forward Ahmed ed Denef and kissing the earth before the Khalif, said, 'Grant me indemnity, O Commander of the Faithful! 'Thou hast it, answered the Khalif; and Ed Denef said, 'I give thee the good news that Alaeddin is alive and well. Quo the Khalif, 'What is this thou sayest? 'As thy head liveth, answered Ed Denef, 'I speak sooth; for I ransomed him with another, of those who deserved death, and carried him to Alexandria, where I set him up as a dealer in second-hand goods. Then said Er Reshid, 'I charge thee fetch him to me; and Ed Denef replied, 'I hear and obey; whereupon the Khalif bade give him ten thousand dinars and he set out for Alexandria.
'Harkye, traitor, said the Khalif, 'whence hadst thou this lantern? And Kemakim replied, 'I bought it, O Commander of the Faithful! 'Where didst thou buy it? said the Khalif, 'and who could come by its like to sell it to thee? Then they beat him, till he confessed that he had stolen the lantern and the rest, and the Khalif said, 'O traitor, what moved thee to do this thing and ruin Alaeddin Abou esh Shamat, the Trusty and Well-beloved? Then he bade lay hands on him and on the Chief of the Police, but the latter said, 'O Commander of the Faithful, indeed I am unjustly entreated; thou badest me hang him, and I had no knowledge of this plot, for the thing was contrived between Ahmed Kemakim and his mother and my wife.
Moreover, O my son, I hear that they have married thee, by way of intermediation, to the lady Zubeideh the Lutanist and have imposed on thee a dowry of ten thousand dinars; wherefore I send thee also fifty thousand dinars by thy slave Selim, the bearer of these presents, whereout thou mayest pay the dowry and provide thyself with the rest. When Alaeddin had made an end of reading the letter, he took possession of the goods and turning to the old merchant, said to him, 'O my father-in-law, take the ten thousand dinars, thy daughter's dowry, and take also the loads of goods and dispose of them, and thine be the profit; only return me the cost-price. 'Nay, by Allah, answered he, 'I will take nothing; and as for thy wife's dowry, do thou settle it with her. Then they went in to Zubeideh, after the goods had been brought in, and she said to her father, 'O my father, whose goods are these? 'They belong to thy husband Alaeddin, answered he; 'his father hath sent them to him in place of those of which the Bedouins spoiled him.
But as for Alaeddin, he went to the market and buying what victual he needed, made a banquet as usual against the night, saying to Zubeideh, 'See these lying dervishes; they promised us and broke their promise. Quoth she, 'Thou art the son of a Provost of the merchants yet did thy hand lack of a para; how then should it be with poor dervishes? 'God the Most High hath enabled us to do without them, answered Alaeddin; 'but never again will I open the door to them. 'Why so, asked she, 'seeing that their coming brought us good luck, and moreover, they put a hundred dinars under the prayer-carpet for us every night?
So when the news of his despoilment reached his father, he despatched me to him with these fifty loads, in place of those he had lost, besides a mule laden with fifth thousand dinars and a parcel of clothes worth much money and a cloak of sables and a basin and ewer of gold. When the old merchant heard this, he said, 'He whom thou seekest is my son-in-law and I will show thee his house. Now Alaeddin was sitting in great concern, when one knocked at the door, and he said, 'O Zubeideh, God is all-knowing!
Then do thou some feat of prowess before the Khalif and he will say to thee, "Ask a boon of me, O Aslan." And do thou answer, "I ask of thee that thou avenge me of my father's murderer." If he say, "Thy father is alive and is the Amir Khalid, the Chief of the Police," answer thou, "My father was Alaeddin Abou esh Shamat, and the Amir Khalid is only my father by right of fosterage and adoption."
Then he and his son girded themselves, and he said to the latter, 'O my son, when a graybeard enters, I will meet him and carry him into the upper chamber and seat him at the table; and do thou, in like manner, receive the beardless youths and seat them at the table in the saloon. 'O my father, asked Alaeddin, 'why dost thou spread two tables, one for men and another for youths? 'O my son, answered Shemseddin, 'the beardless boy is ashamed to eat with men. And his son was content with this answer.
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