Once upon a time, there lived a young and impetuous man who went by the name of Aladdin. He was not only very poor; he was also incredibly lazy. He never wanted to work hard so he often shirked from his duties.
One day, his destiny came to find him. Aladdin met a mysterious-looking sorcerer who claimed to be Aladdin’s dead father’s long-lost brother. Although Aladdin was lazy, he most certainly wasn’t stupid. He didn’t believe the sorcerer’s claims whatsoever.
But when the mysterious man gave Aladdin money as a sign of goodwill, Aladdin was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Aladdin and his new found uncle then embarked on a trip out of town.
When Aladdin and his uncle reached a certain spot, the sorcerer said some magic words and a pit in the ground opened up. The sorcerer entrusted Aladdin with a magic ring to guide him and told him to retrieve a lamp from the pit.
At the same time, the sorcerer warned Aladdin not to touch anything else as he would die. Being a street smart lad, Aladdin initially refused to do as the sorcerer asked. There was no way Aladdin would ever agree to go down a pit.
The sorcerer, however, had not come this far to turn back. He beat and abused Aladdin till he agreed to retrieve the magic lamp. When he was down in the pit, Aladdin faced many temptations; but the biggest temptation he faced was the temptation of greed.
There was much that was beautiful, sumptuous and wonderful in the underworld. But it was the lamp that he needed to find. Somehow Aladdin had the sense that if he succumbed to temptation, he would never make it out alive.
In the end, Aladdin finds the lamp… The lamp that would change and alter his life forever.
Aladdin quickly discovered that both the ring and the lamp held unlimited wish-granting potential. He used them to return home and set himself and his widowed mother up lavishly. They would never want for anything ever again.
Aladdin purchased expensive gifts and used them to woo the Sultan’s daughter for her hand in marriage. The Sultan was impressed with these gifts and allowed his soon to be son-in-law to marry his daughter.
The two were wed and Aladdin used his magic lamp to construct a beautiful palace where he and his princess could live happily.
It was a fairytale life, indeed.
All this magic alerted the sorcerer, who by this time, realised that Aladdin had not only escaped the pit, he had tricked the sorcerer. The sorcerer then used his wiles to trick the princess into throwing out the lamp.
When Aladdin returned, he realised that all his magic had disappeared. But all was not yet lost. Even though he had lost his magic lamp, he still had his wish-granting ring with him.
He used the ring to transport himself to the sorcerer. Once there, the princess used her own wiles to steal back the lamp that was the source of all their power.
Together, they killed the sorcerer and returned everything to its rightful place.
The Mercantile 