While Aladdin was hunting with the Sultan, the African magician reached the capital. He walked beneath the palace windows, rattling his basket.
“New lamps for old!” he cried. “Bright new lamps for dusty old ones!”
Children followed, laughing at a trader who made such a foolish bargain.
Inside the palace, a maid remembered the battered lamp behind the carved panel. Princess Badroulbadour had never heard its secret.
“Exchange it,” she said. “Perhaps Aladdin will thank us for replacing that ugly thing.”
The magician kept his face calm until the lamp touched his hand. Then he hurried beyond the city gate, rubbed it, and ordered the spirit to carry Aladdin’s palace and everyone inside it to Africa.
The next morning the Sultan looked from his window. The field was empty. Not one marble stair remained. He ordered Aladdin arrested and threatened him with death unless he brought back the Princess.
The people crowded around the palace, shouting that Aladdin had always helped them. The Sultan gave him forty days.
For three days Aladdin searched without food or sleep. In despair, he clasped his hands—and rubbed the magician’s old ring.
The ring spirit appeared. It could not undo the stronger lamp spirit’s work, but it carried Aladdin through the sky to Africa. He landed outside Badroulbadour’s window.
The Princess pulled him inside and told him where the magician kept the lamp. Together they planned. She dressed for a feast, smiled at her captor, and pretended she had accepted life in Africa.
“Let us drink a farewell to China,” she said.
Her maid had mixed a powerful sleeping powder into the magician’s cup. Badroulbadour exchanged cups with him once, twice, laughing each time. Eager to impress her, he drained the drink and collapsed into a deep sleep.
Aladdin entered, took the lamp from beneath the magician’s robe, and rubbed it.
Before dawn, the entire palace rose into the stars. Beds, fountains, kitchens, and one confused flock of rooftop pigeons flew back to China.
The Sultan woke to find the twenty-four jeweled windows shining beside him again. Badroulbadour ran across the velvet carpet into his arms, while Aladdin made certain the old lamp was locked where no cheerful street trader could ever reach it.