52 Weeks of Fairy Tales Week #40 - Aladdin

This week I have been down with quite a toothache, it is surprising how one little tooth can cause such a disruption! I am very much looking forward to my dentist visit tomorrow (even though I am a a big scaredy-cat when it comes to dentists) I was happy to have my visit done before Thanksgiving.

Today I was glad to spend some time with my crafting, and had fun sewing up a little ornament to represent week #40's fairy tale.  This week I am sharing the tale of Aladdin.  Aladdin is a tale of Middle Eastern origin and is part of The Book of One Thousand and One Night (Arabian Nights).

This tale, in a simplified version, was included in my fairy tale book growing up, and it is my favorite version of the story.

Aladdin

The tale of Aladdin begins with an evil magician who wants to get his hands on a magical lantern that lies deep in a cave in China.  The cave is cursed, and even if your clothes touch the walls of the cave, you will die.  So the evil magician befriended a Chinese boy named Aladdin, and sent him down into the cave to retrieve the magic lamp.  Before the boy went down into the cave, the magician gave him a magical ring to wear for extra protection.

Aladdin went into the cave, and found the lamp.  When Aladdin went back to the mouth of the cave, and told the magician that he had found the lamp, and was ready to be lifted out, the magician became impatient and wanted Aladdin to hand him the lamp first.  Aladdin became suspicious of the magician, and put the lamp up his sleeve, and told the magician that he would have to pull him out of the cave first.  The magician became angry, and lost his temper, then closed the mouth of the cave with a spell, and left Aladdin down in the cave.

Aladdin didn't know what to do, as he sat in the dark trying to think, he began rubbing the magical ring.  There was a hiss, and out of the ring appeared a genie!  The Genie told Aladdin that he was the Genie of the Ring, and that he would do as Aladdin commanded.  So Aladdin wished that he were back home, and in the blink of an eye, he was back home.  He took the lamp out from his sleeve, and brought it to his mother, in hopes that she could sell it for money to buy food.  Aladdin's mother began cleaning the lantern, because it would need to be cleaned before they could sell it, when she rubbed the lantern, there was a hissing noise, and a Genie appeared.

Aladdin asked the Genie who he was, and he told Aladdin that he was the Genie of the Lamp, and that Aladdin's wish was his command.  That is how Aladdin and his mother became rich, anything they wanted the genie would provide.  Aladdin soon fell in love with a princess, and they were married and lived in a castle.  However, Aladdin never told his wife the secret of the Genie of the Lamp.  

One day, when Aladdin was out, the princess heard an old peddler out in the street, calling out " New Lanterns for Old!  New Lanterns for Old!"  Although Aladdin had never told the princess the secret of the lamp, she had seen the old lamp, and when she heard the peddler, she thought she would get Aladdin a new lamp.  So she went into the street, and exchanged Aladdin's magical lamp for a shiny new one.

Unfortunately, The peddler was really the evil magician in disguise, and as soon as he had the lantern, he threw off his disguise.  He summoned the Genie of the Lamp, and ordered the genie to take him, along with Aladdin's palace, and Aladdin's wife, the princess, to far away Africa.  

When Aladdin returned home, nothing was there but dirt, his wife, and his castle were gone!  Aladdin figured it was the old magician, and so he summoned the Genie of the Ring.  He asked the Genie of the Ring to bring back his castle and Wife, but the Genie of the Ring was less powerful, and could not undo the Genie of the Lamp's magic.  So instead, Aladdin asked if the Genie of the Ring could bring him to where his wife and castle were, that, the genie of the ring could do, so Aladdin was transported to Africa.  When he arrived, the princess was relieved to see him.  Aladdin and his wife came up with a plan to get the lantern back from the evil magician.  They put sleeping powder in the magician's wine, and when he was asleep, they took the lamp out of his pocket.

Aladdin summoned the Genie of the Lamp, and had him bring the castle, along with it's possessions, and him and his wife back home.  Leaving the evil magician in the middle of Africa, alone, on a sand dune, confused as to what had happened.  Aladdin and the princess lived happily ever after.

~

This is a fun and adventurous tale, and it is always fun to think about what I would do if I had a Genie in a lamp, I used to enjoying imagining about that when I was young. :) 

I knew as soon as I read this tale that I wanted to make a little felt lamp.  So I drew a few different patterns until I came up with a shape I liked, and cut the shape out of wool felt.  I had intended to add some beading to the lamp, but realized I have no needles small enough for my seed beads.  So instead I kept it simple.  I sewed the two sides together with embroidery floss, with a simple little running stitch, and stuffed it with wool.  I attached a string to the top so it could be hung as an ornament.  I think it would be such a fun project to sew up a bunch of colorful wool felt ornaments for a tree, this is also a great project for a beginning sewing project.

Here is another look at Aladdin's Lamp.

I hope everyone is doing well, and enjoying the preparations for Thanksgiving, I am looking forward to the kids having a few days off, and having some family time!  We have been having quite the rain storm these past couple of days, and it just makes me want to get out board games with the kids and spend time hanging out inside by the fire!