Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp

Waikato Times, Volume 118, Issue 19762, 18 December 1935, Page 25 (Supplement)

Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp

npilE STORY OF ALADDIN is justly popular and Is a popular theme for pantomime. Yet although the story breathes the magic of the Orient, it cannot be found in any Eastern version of the Arabian Night’s Entertainment. Most English versions contain the story, Poole calling it “ The Story of Ala-ed-din and his Wonderful Lamp.” Tiie story very briefly tells how the son of a poor widow meets an African magician and becomes possessed of a magic lamp. Helped by the genie Avho appears Avhenevef the lamp is rubbed, Aladdin provides himself with jeAvels and fine clothes and wins the hand of Princess Badroulboudour, the daughter of the Sultan of China. The magician uses all his arts to regain the >mp, but thanks to Aladdin’s Avit and the devotion of the Princess all ends happily. Such is the tale in brief, and it is curious to find that it has several features common to most of the folk tales of the world. Aladdin is a somewhat harum-scarum boy, Avho would neither obey his parents nor learn a trade. The later success of this

black sheep was the story teller’s method of typifying man’s eternal revolt against authority, and of showing that the men who achieve greatness are the men who refuse to be bound down by convention but who are rebels from the cradle. Another very common theme In folk tales is that of the article which when rubbed calls us spirits. In a Bohemian tale the hero is given an enchanted watoh which when rubbed obtains for him a palaoe and a princess,. .-Hans Anderson’s story of the " Tinder Box" which when rubbed calls ,up various creatures is another parallel. Elements of Humour. The Bohemian story is well worth summarising, for it has elements of comedy in it. The hero Jenik, a despised younger son, saves a serpent, a dog, and a cat from a cruel mob. The serpent gives him a magio watch, by means of which he obtains his palace and his princess. The princess does not love Jenik, and finding out the secret of the wat'h transports herself to a distant. place. Two crows tell Jenik wliere she Is, and the dog and cat help him to find her. The cat steals the watch, and the dog swims with her on his back across the sea. The dog, being the friend of the man, asks the cat, if she knows where the watch is, and when she opens her mouth to reply the watch drops into the water.

A fish retrieves it, and Jenik manages to get it again, and, rubbing it, wishes that his wife and palace would disappear for ever, leaving him to dwell in peace with his animal friends. Aladdin loses his . wife and palace through the machinations of the wicked magician, and this part of the story may be connected with the separable soul idea. Primitive man concevled the soul as dwelling apart from the body, and maglo

tales were told of evil beings’ lives being bound up with ex- ■ traneous things. For instance, Punchkin said that hundreds of thousands of miles away was a dense jungle inhabited by millions of genie who would destroy all Intruders. In the middle of the forest was a circle of palms sheltering six jars of water and under one of the jars was a cage containing a green parrot. The hero succeeds in obtaining the parrot, and when he tears off quo of ils wings the magician's arm drops out, and when he wrings the bird's neck the magician’s head twists until ho drops down dead. In Alkuklin Ihc same idea Is seen In the capturing of the Princess and her transport, which in Europe has taken the form of the Devil obtaining possession of a man's soul. The Original Story. The story of Aladdin does not appear in any Arabian version of the “ Night’s Entertainment.” It appeared originally in Galland’s “ Mille et une Nuits,” published 1704-1707, hut he seems to have received the idea from Italy. In 1772 a translation was published in England and issued in parts, one part coming out each evening and being priced one farthing. From this time onwards, Aladdin being one of the most popular of the stories. ■ As a pantomime Aladdin is ideal. There are opportunities for gorgeous scenes, lovesongs, dances, heroes, villians, comic character, the frustration of evil, and much knock-about farce. Aladdin was played ns a pantomime in Birmingham in 18GG, and was written by Mr Charles Millward. In Poole's translation of Aladdin the name - of Aladdin's mother is not given, the magician is simply a Moorish sorcerer, ana tile princess is Ihc Lady Hedr-cl-Budur. Put. names do not matter uch. The pantomime goer wauls to hear songs, witness l'arco, enjoy scenic effects, and thoroughly be entertained. I! is good, however, to know a little about the history of a story wlicn seeing a version of it. upon the stage.