Sun Glory For Mankind
Chapter Four
Rats crawled over the unconscious body of Aladdin, and only a few astute members of the clan could discern that he was still alive. One bit him to see if his flesh was anything satisfactory, but it was disappointed at the bland taste.
It took two hours for him to rouse himself, and when he had, he was dizzy with pain. At first he could not recollect how he ended up down here; the last thing he could remember was getting married to Jasmine. It was very dark, and he might've surmised that he was still in the palace, except that the walls were too narrowly inclined. Furthermore, he was on the floor, and surely the sultan's heir wouldn't be dumped on the ground so easily?
He dusted himself off and stood up, and, touching his chest, he realized that he was in his streetrat garb. Everything that happened in the last three days came back in a flash. It was because of Jafar's brother that he was down here, instead of with his wife. Where was here, anyhow? It had to be somewhere at the bottom of Bone Tower; he knew that much. He lighted a taper. Something odd was amiss, for the walls were entirely covered with jewelry!
Pearl necklaces, diamond earrings, jade bracelets, rings of onyx, ruby, emerald, sapphire, topaz, watches constructed with rare metals, mere trinkets, great works of art, everything that can be worn to adorn and complement one's attire, were shimmering in the flickering light of Aladdin's taper. And then he saw a hall, which he decided to explore.
In the hall, the walls lost their bijoux and instead took up portraiture. There was Veronika when she was a young girl, there her grandmother, as much of a hag as she herself looked now. Also, a man, neither Venoika's father nor her husband, for another man was shown in the one depicting her in a wedding gown. This man was young and springy, whereas her husband was thirty years her senior.
Suddenly, he heard a hiccupping, which seemed to be coming from the side of the hall opposite the one he left. He moved at a faster pace now, and finally emerged in an anteroom of a marvelous castle. How could this be? he wondered. He had just exited the cellar of Bone Tower—he could not possible be in a castle now. Nevertheless, all appearances proved to him that he was.
A stairway was now in front of him, but he noticed the source of the noise that had drawn him there. It was a twelve-year-old girl, wearing a pink pinafore, and seemingly sweet and innocent. If Aladdin had began a student of human aging, he would've surmised that this girl was just like Jasmine at that age. And he had a desperate urge to relieve her of her ailment. Luckily, there was a gourd next to a water fountain in the anteroom. To this he traveled, filled the gourd, and return to the dear child, pouring the liquid in her awaiting mouth, for she seemed unable to move a muscle.
Once she had been cured of the hiccups, she spoke. "Thank you, brave knight."
"I'm not a knight; I'm a sultan." The words startled Aladdin as soon as he uttered them.
"Sultan?" she said laughingly, as if this word were foreign to her and she got thrills from trying it out.
"Have you never heard of Agrabah?"
"That sounds like a place I may've read about somewhere: a story involving a king who beheaded every mistress he had the morning after they lay together. Then she met a woman who started telling him a long tale, and she was not done when the sun rose. He decided to hold off killing her till he knew the conclusion of the story. But the next day came, and the next, and the next, till at last one-thousand and one nights elapsed, and he kept her alive."
"I've never heard of that," Aladdin said, feeling uncomfortable.
"Oh, it's just one of those stories children come across. But if you want me to tell you more, you must bring me some jewelry."
"I don't have any."
"But you know where some can be found, don't you?"
Aladdin could not deny that he did. She pouted, and he had no choice but to return down the dark hall and pull some pearls or necklaces off the wall. Accomplishing this task, he came back to the girl and gave it to her.
"Just like a lady!" she exclaimed, merrily.
"Yes, well, do you know who Veronika is?"
"Veronika? That sounds like some kind of pudding."
"Never mind. What will happen if I traipse up these stairs?"
She stared at him horrorstruck. "You don't want to do that."
"Why not?"
"The black cat," she said, but did not elaborate.
"I just want to go home," Aladdin said, turning his back to her and slumping down on the floor.
"Home? That sounds like a fictional place in the World of Oz by L. Frank Baum. I wouldn't know anything about it."
"What do you know?" Aladdin queried, turning his head round.
"A husband."
"But you're only twelve!"
"In my culture, that's the best age to get married."
"Surely you don't want…"
"You and I would make wonderful music together."
Aladdin was disgusted with her coquetry. She was a mere child, a neophyte—did she really expect him to marry her? That was preposterous, totally out-of-the-question, even had he not already been Jasmine's husband. He didn't even know this girl's name.
"I'm Ana Yorbelli Corselet Bromm Hiumot Golte II," the girl informed him.
"How about I just call you Ana?"
"That's sweet. So, will you be my husband?"
"If I married you, I would be a cuckold."
"Really? Sounds wonderful! Let's call the priest." She removed a bell from her pocket and rang it.
Abruptly a fat friar in a blue habit approached. He carried a testimony and two rings. "Dearly beloved, we are not gathered hear today to witness the convergence of two amicable people…"
He went through a long litany of duties for the married couple, that Aladdin did not hear at his own wedding to Jasmine. Then he said, "Do you, Ana, take this man to be your awful wedded husband, to hold and to cherish, in sickness and in health, for better or for worse, and forsaking all others, so long as you both shalt live?"
"I do."
"And do you, Aladdin, take this girl to be your awful wedded wife, to hold and to cherish, in sickness and in health, for better or for worse, and forsaking all others, so long as you both shalt live?"
It was the "forsaking all others," that boiled Aladdin's blood. To think that he could forget Jasmine for this little nymphet! To throw away his dreams, his hopes, all for nothing. "I…" But he turned to her face, and she gave him a look worthy of a Gorgon. He was so frightened by this that he ended up saying, "..dooooooooooo."
So he was married a second time. All his dignity was lost, as the friar said those baneful words, "You may now kiss the bride."
Of course, Aladdin had no choice but to oblige. He had never kissed anyone but Jasmine before, let alone a child. But instead of kissing her lips, which would've been distasteful to him, he approached her cheek.
"The lips are the more traditional way, but I suppose that will do," Ana said. "Now, go get me some more jewels!"
"Why should I?"
"Because you're my husband, and everyone knows that a husband has to obey every command his wife gives him, on punishment of death."
Personally, I'd rather be dead than your spouse, Aladdin thought.
He left the anteroom and fetched a bracelet, the most magnificent one among a collection of them. Hoping it would suffice, he took it to Ana, and she gleamed with delight.
"Aladdin," she said, speaking in a much more mature voice than formerly, "you have three times obliged me, against your better judgment. First, you gave me a drink and cured my hiccups, then you married me, and finally, you have given me jewelry. When I was alive, no one did any of these things—I was loathed and treated poorly. My mother abused me, my father threw me out of doors. After roaming the streets for three weeks, I felt the burden of hunger and thirst. Running out one day, I was knocked down and a horse trampled on me. I was killed at the age you see me now, while all my peers were being promised to people of great fortune. You appealed to me because you have known a plight similar to mine, until you were brought into the beautiful graces of Jasmine. Yes, I know about your wife. After I perished, I was given the position of the guardian of the Bone Tower. I was ordered to wait for someone to show me kindness, and to do without any other motive than to be polite. Thanks to you, I can now rest in peace. Some new tortured soul will now replace me. And I have a gift for you." She pulled a gem out of her collar, and placed it in his astonished hand.
The next instant, he found himself outside the tower, in front of the rainbow camel.
