Aladdin

Aladdin is a fictional person from the story Aladdin and the Enchanted Lamp, which is part of the Book of One Thousand and One Nights.

Aladdin with the oil lamp

Story

The young man Aladdin is told by a sorcerer (magician), who is pretending to be his uncle, to get him an oil lamp from a cave. Aladdin gets the lamp, but the sorcerer tries to trick him. So, Aladdin keeps the lamp for himself. Aladdin learns that inside the lamp there is a djinn. The djinn can fulfill every wish of the lamp's owner. With the djinn's help, Aladdin becomes rich and powerful and marries a princess.

The sorcerer returns and tricks Aladdin's wife into giving him the magic lamp. Aladdin finds out that in a ring he has, there is another djinn. This djinn helps Aladdin defeat the sorcerer, get back the magic lamp, and save his wife.

Adaptions (new versions of the story)

There have been different versions of the story:

• Nicolas Isouard wrote an opera from it in 1822.
• There is a ballet version by Michael François Hoguet. That version was done in 1854. Wenzel Gährich contributed the music to the ballet version.
• There is a film The Thief of Bagdad. It was shot in 1940. It was one of the first films to use Technicolor.
• There is a Bollywood version Aladdin and Sinbad. In it, both characters meet and participate in the adventures of each other. The djinn is female. In the end Aladdin marries her (rather than the princess).
• Disney also made a version of Aladdin, who appeared in several adaptions. In the Disney film Aladdin, he is a smart young thief in the fictional city of Agrabah. He meets and falls in love with the Sultan's daughter, Jasmine, an independent soul who, much like Aladdin, wants to escape from her current life. Jafar, the Sultan's evil advisor, tricks Aladdin into helping him find a magic lamp, which ends up with Aladdin and his monkey and friend, Abu. The lamp's occupant is a lunatic, shape-shifting genie, who promises his master three wishes, and though he cannot make Jasmine fall in love with Aladdin – he can make things easier for him. By making Aladdin look like rich and handsome Prince Ali, Aladdin does not impress the Princess, and discovers that it was his true self she liked him all along. Using his own smartness and courage, Aladdin defeats Jafar and his evil plans, becoming a prince.