334 THE ARABIAN NIGHTS.

fasten your robe firmly round you. At the extremuty of the
third hall, there is a door which leads to a garden planted with
beautiful trees, all of which are full of fruit. Go on straight for-
ward, and pursue a path which you will perceive, and which will
bring you to the bottom of a flight of fifty steps, at the top of
which there is a terrace. When you shall have ascended to the
terrace, you will observe a niche before you, in which there is a
lighted lamp. Take the lamp and extinguish it. Then throw
out the wick, and the liquid that is within, and put it in your
bosom. When you have done this, bring it tome. Do not be
afraid of staining your dress, as what is within the lamp is not
oil; and when you have thrown it out, the lamp will dry directly.
If you should feel yourself very desirous of gathering any of the
fruit in the garden, you may do so; and there is nothing to pre-
vent your taking as much as you please.”

When the magician had given these directions to Aladdin, he
took off a ring which he had on one of his fingers, and put it on
his pretended nephew, telling him, at the same time, that it was
a preservative against every evil that might otherwise happen to
him ; and again bade him be mindful of everything he had said
to him.

Aladdin gave a spring, jumped into the opening with a willing
mind, and went down to the bottom of thesteps. He found the
three halls exactly answering the description the magician had
given of them. He passed through them with the greatest pre-
caution possible, as he was fearful he might be killed if he did not
most strictly observe all the directions hehad received. He went
on to the garden, and ascended to the terrace without stopping.
He took the lamp as it stood lighted in the niche, threw out its
contents, and, observing that it was, as the magician had said,
quite dry, he put it into his bosom. He then came down the ter-
race, and stopped in the garden to examine the fruit, which he
had only seen for an instant as he passed along. The trees of this
garden were all full of the most extraordinary fruit. Each tree
bore fruits of a different colour. Some were white, others spark-
ling and transparent, like crystal ; some were red and of different
shades, others green, blue, violet ; some of a yellowish hue; in
short, of almost every colour. The white were pearls; the
sparkling and transparent were diamonds ; the deep red were
rubies; the paler, a particular sort of ruby called balass ; the