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Arabian Nights week 20
Story
Sultan's daughter
- Aladdin catches a forbidden glance at Princess Badr at the baths and is infatuated. He resolves to ask the sultan to marry her
- He asks his mother to carry the request. She puts up sensible objections.
- He decides to use the gemstones from the cave as a gift to the sultan. She reluctantly agrees.
Before the sultan
- Aladdin's mother goes to the sultan's audience several times before she is called. She passes on Aladdin's request to marry Badr. He isn't angry, but is surprised by the bundle of jewels.
- The sultan wants to marry Badr to Aladdin right away.
- The vizir wants his son to marry her. He asks for three months to find a better gift.
- Two months later, the sultan has forgotten the deal and agreed to marry Badr to the vizir's daughter.
- Aladdin asks the jinni of the lamp to bring him the bride and groom.
A wedding interrupted
- As they are left alone in the bedroom, the jinni transports bride and groom to Aladdin's bedroom, then the groom to the outhouse.
- Aladdin tells Badr that her father promised her to Aladdin. They go to bed, with a sword between them.
- In the morning, the jinni returns Badr and the groom to his bedroom.
- She says nothing when the sultan arrives in the morning.
- Badr gives a garbled account of her night to her mother.
- Badr and the new husband don't enjoy the next day.
- The jinni repeats its actions the next night. Similar events unfold.
- The next day, Badr tells the sultan what happened. The groom asks for the marriage to be annulled. The sultan does so.
Prince Aladdin
- After another month, Aladdin sends his mother back to the sultan. He regrets his promise.
- At the vizir's urging, he sets the bride-price extremely high.
- Aladdin tasks the jinni of the lamp to get it. It does so instantly. Aladdin sends the slaves and jewels to the sultan.
- The sultan is convinced by the wealth and agrees to the marriage.
- Aladdin gets a bath and fine clothes then goes to the sultan.
- The sultan is overwhelmed by Aladdin's riches and erudition.
- Finally, Aladdin asks the jinni to build a palace.
Notes
- Aladdin hiding to catch a glimpse of Badr: another example of how the "peeping tom" trope is alive, well, and lauded.
- Not much happens in the Sultan's Daughter section. Did it need more than a couple of paragraphs?
- Weak-willed ruler forgetting his promises, and no-one consulting Badr about her wishes.
- All this transporting of the bride and groom seems a roundabout way of Aladdin getting what he wants.
- What do you think of the equating of wealth with worth in this story?
Comments
More enjoyment, and more confirmation that the Christmas panto version here in Grasmere followed the story more closely than the Disney version! Who'd have thought it?
I was struck (again) by how little Aladdin thinks to make use of the lamp for most purposes. Sure he gets the djinn to swap the unhappily married couple in and out, and to produce (or procure?) the vessels of gold, plus their contents, plus the retinue and his own garb, but only after the story had reached a crisis point. You'd have thought he might have made more consistent use throughout.
I suppose in part it's a narrative problem - once you've introduced an artefact so powerful it can do literally anything, how do you make a story out of it? In a game, or another kind of story, there would have been some sort of limitation or consequence of using the lamp - either a finite number of wishes (like three!) or else something else gets used up in order for the thing to work. As it is one feels there's a kind of violation of conservation laws going on here! Aladdin can, it seems, ask for unlimited quantities of any substance he wants, however rare, and it costs him nothing at all. Once the initial excitement of reading (or presuming listening to, in the original version) is over, too many questions start arising.
As it was, the plot doesn't really survive too close a scrutiny. The purpose of the whole swap the beds and its occupants around subplot seems to have been purely so that the vizier's son would back out of his own volition - but one feels sure there would have been a quicker and easier method, given that Aladdin had a djinn on his side.
The sultan varies between being a generous and well-beloved guy who people trust to go to with their problems, but then a forgetful guy who seemingly makes promises he doesn't want to follow through when it comes down to it. is he, in fact a nasty guy who'll say anything to the poor? or is it just poor memory (in the Disney version, the vizier has magical abilities which force the sultan to act in ways that are out of character).
But - as mentioned in your notes - ultimately the sultan seems driven purely by wealth and not by honour, shame, or tradition. It's a very different picture from the noble sultan mindful of his subjects' needs who we have seen earlier.
Regarding Aladdin and his restraint: I think it's meant to be held out as a moral highlight of his character, that he continues to live modestly even when he could have riches. At least, that's what I think the author is getting at.
I agree that the plot doesn't bear scrutiny. I think this is a place where the slower pace harms the story. If this story had been told in a few pages, like the earlier ones, there wouldn't have been time to think about these issues. That's not the case here.
I forgot to say last night, the repeated theme of threatened beheading reminded me of Alice in Wonderland, with is repeated "off with her [their] head [s]". I looked around a bit to find out if people had traced Lewis Carroll's use of Arabian Nights but couldn't find any definitive evidence, though lots of people (including a number of academic papers and course outlines) assert that this is the case. I should really dig out Martin Gardner's Annotated Alice from wherever it's stashed and see what he has to say!
I did track down some comments by someone comparing Nights and Alice who felt that in addition to direct links, there were structural ones of composition, eg the use of nested narratives within an overall frame, and the use of fantastic elements to steer the listener into changes of thought pattern. But the comments were very general and not really what I was hoping to find.
Catching up here...
I was not quite clear as to whether the wealth presented was meant to be for the princess' brideprice, or if it was a bribe for the sultan. Also, the story just sort of glosses over how the princess ended up with the vizier's son - did he in fact present a great prize? Yes, I know it says that by the time 3 months had passed, the sultan had forgotten about the promise to Aladdin's mother (who, I guess, did not leave the jewels with the Sultan the first time), but that doesn't really explain what happened at the the 2-month mark. As has been pointed out, it seems implausible he just plain forgot.
The sultan is quite gracious to the mother, the vizier's son is gracious to the princess, and even the vizier (whos trickery could no doubt have been deeper) seems not too bad. Is Aladdin the least gracious person of the lot?
Apart from that, I like the slower pace and added description. And the paintings by Thomas ... are superb.