World classic, retold in simple Mandarin
Aladdin and the Magic Lamp
阿拉丁和神灯
Antoine Galland's Aladdin, the whole tale in 25 chapters, set in Baghdad. Aladdin is fifteen and poor, and he would rather play in the square than learn a trade. Then a tall stranger says he is Aladdin's long-lost uncle, buys him fine clothes and takes him to two mountains outside the city, where a big stone hides a cave and an old lamp.
Meet the voices
- Narrator · 旁白 — Tells Galland's tale of Aladdin, set in Baghdad.
- Aladdin · 阿拉丁 — A poor tailor's son of fifteen in Baghdad, who would rather play in the square than learn a trade.
- Aladdin's mother · 妈妈 — A poor widow who spins cotton to buy food for herself and her son.
- the Magician · 魔法师 — A magician from far away in the west, who says he is Aladdin's long-lost uncle.
- the Genie of the Ring · 戒指神 — The genie who serves a magic ring.
- the Genie of the Lamp · 灯神 — The genie who serves an old lamp hidden in a cave.
- the Princess · 公主 — The sultan's only daughter.
- the Sultan · 国王 — The ruler of Baghdad, who loves his only daughter.
- the Sultana · 王后 — The sultan's wife and the princess's mother.
- the Grand Vizier · 大臣 — The sultan's grand vizier, his chief minister.
- the Vizier's Son · 大臣的儿子 — The grand vizier's son.
- the Merchant · 商人 — A merchant in the Baghdad market.
- the Goldsmith · 金店老板 — An honest old goldsmith in Baghdad.
- the Princess's Maid · 宫女 — The princess's maid in the sultan's palace.
- Fatima · 法蒂玛 — A holy old woman who lives alone outside the city and heals the sick.
- the Magician's Brother · 魔法师的弟弟 — The magician's younger brother, a magician too.
25 chapters in 5 parts
Part 1: The Uncle 叔叔
Chapter 1: The Long-Lost Uncle
叔叔回来了
In hot, busy Baghdad, a poor boy who dreams of a shop meets a weeping stranger who says he is his uncle. But who is this man really?
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Chapter 2: New Clothes
新衣服
The uncle comes to supper with food, tears and a big promise. Then he dresses Aladdin in fine new clothes and shows him the city.
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Chapter 3: Fire in the Mountains
山里的火
In the empty mountains the uncle makes a fire, says a few words, and the ground opens. Only Aladdin can open the stone below.
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Chapter 4: The Lamp in the Cave
山洞里的灯
Down in the dark under the stone, Aladdin finds rooms of gold he must not touch, a garden of strange fruit, and the old lamp his uncle wants so badly.
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Chapter 5: Give Me the Lamp
给我灯
Aladdin is stuck below the stone with the lamp under his fruit, and his uncle wants it now. Which of them will give in first?
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Part 2: The Old Lamp 旧灯
Chapter 6: The Third Day
第三天
Two days in the dark without food or water, and the stone won't open. The magician lied about everything else. Was the ring a lie too?
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Chapter 7: Two Genies
戒指神和灯神
A giant stands in the room, and Aladdin's mother lies on the floor. What will Aladdin ask for, and can a poor family keep such a secret?
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Chapter 8: Plates for Sale
卖盘子
The merchant knows what Aladdin's plate is worth, and Aladdin doesn't. How long can a boy who dreams of being a merchant be fooled in the market?
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Chapter 9: Behind the Door
门后边
No one may look at the princess on her bath day. Aladdin has never been good at doing what he's told.
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Chapter 10: A Dish of Jewels
一盘子宝石
Day after day, Aladdin's mother waits at the back of the sultan's crowded hall with her dish. Will he ever call her, and will he laugh at what she asks?
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Part 3: The Princess 公主
Chapter 11: The Bed in the Night
晚上的床
Tonight the princess marries the vizier's son, and the whole city is bright with lamps. Aladdin's mother has gone to sleep, but Aladdin is wide awake.
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Chapter 12: The Second Night
第二个晚上
The princess is pale and silent, and the palace wants to know why. Who would believe what happened in the night, and what if it happens again?
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Chapter 13: Forty Gold Dishes
四十个大盘子
The three months are up, and Aladdin's mother stands before the sultan again. He gave her his word, but will he keep it with the grand vizier at his side?
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Chapter 14: A Palace in One Night
一个晚上的宫殿
Aladdin meets the sultan at last, and before the wedding he makes a promise the grand vizier is sure no man can keep.
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Chapter 15: The Unfinished Window
没做好的窗户
Tonight the princess walks to her new palace to meet Aladdin, and one window of his great hall is still waiting for its jewels.
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Part 4: The Lamp-Seller 卖灯的人
Chapter 16: A Basket of Lamps
很多新灯
Far in the west, the magician can't stop thinking about his lamp. Back in Baghdad, he learns one useful thing and makes a very strange plan.
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Chapter 17: New Lamps for Old
新灯换旧灯
Under the princess's windows, a strange man cries new lamps for old. The children laugh, the maid laughs, and Aladdin is far away hunting.
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Chapter 18: The Flying Palace
会飞的宫殿
The princess wakes up somewhere she has never seen, and someone is waiting for her. Far away in Baghdad, the sultan goes to his window.
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Chapter 19: Forty Days
四十天
The sultan's men bring Aladdin back to Baghdad. His palace is gone, the princess is gone, and the sultan wants someone to pay.
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Chapter 20: By the River
水边
Thirty-seven days are left, the lamp is gone, and Aladdin's foot slips on a wet stone at the water's edge.
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Part 5: The Cup and the Egg 杯子和蛋
Chapter 21: Under the Window
窗户下边
At dawn the maid looks down from the princess's window and cries out: someone is asleep on the ground below, and the princess runs to see who.
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Chapter 22: The Cup
杯子
Aladdin slips into the far city in old clothes to buy something small, and that evening the princess smiles at the magician for the first time.
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Chapter 23: The Sultan's Window
国王的窗户
The magician is dead, but Baghdad is very far away, and the old lamp is still hidden somewhere in his clothes.
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Chapter 24: The Holy Woman
法蒂玛
The magician's brother reaches Baghdad set on revenge, and hears the whole city talking about Fatima, a kind old woman who heals the sick for free.
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Chapter 25: The Great Bird's Egg
大鸟的蛋
The princess asks Aladdin for a great bird's egg, and when he rubs the old lamp, the genie's answer shakes the whole palace.
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Key words in Aladdin and the Magic Lamp
Behind the story
Aladdin and the Magic Lamp (阿拉丁和神灯) is one of the best-known tales of the Thousand and One Nights, but none of the old Arabic manuscripts of the Nights has it. The French scholar Antoine Galland heard it in Paris in 1709 from Hanna Diyab, a storyteller from Syria, and wrote it into his French version of the Nights.
Galland's text opens in China, in the capital of a rich and vast kingdom whose name, the storyteller says, does not come to mind. This book tells all of Galland's tale, in his order, in simple Chinese, and sets it in Baghdad (巴格达), the city of the Arabian Nights where many readers picture Aladdin. The magician who says he is Aladdin's uncle comes from far away in the west.
Galland's French has a sultan, a grand vizier and genies. This book keeps to plain Chinese words for them: the sultan is 国王 (guówáng), “king”, the grand vizier is 大臣 (dàchén), “minister”, and the genie of the lamp is 灯神 (Dēng Shén), “lamp god”.
Did you know?
- Chinese writes these names by their sounds: Aladdin is 阿拉丁 (Ālādīng), his father Mustafa is 穆斯塔法 (Mùsītǎfǎ) and Baghdad is 巴格达 (Bāgédá).
- 叔叔 (shūshu), “uncle”, is one of this book's key words. It means a father's younger brother, and children also say it to any man of their parents' age.
- Galland called his tale Histoire d'Aladdin, ou la Lampe merveilleuse: the story of Aladdin, or the wonderful lamp. In Chinese the lamp is 神灯 (shén dēng), “magic lamp”, a word this book keeps for its title.