"# I never know why men come back #" "# From sea #" "# The sea is cruel but the sea is clean #" "# The cause of this vast purity #" "# Must be #" "# That men at sea are few and far between #" "# Ah, oh, oh-oh-oh-oh #" "# Ah, oh-oh-oh-oh oh-oh-oh-oh #" "# Hardship is all she ever gave to me #" "# Oh, oh-oh-oh #" "# And yet I ask why men come back from sea #" "# Oh, oh-oh-oh-oh #" "# The sea is cruel but the sea is clean #" "# Oh, poor brown earth #" "# How kind you might have been #" "The princess - Have you got news for me?" "No, Master." " Dead?" " She still sleeps." " You followed my orders?" " Yes, Master." " And the blind man?" " He has been found." "Hmm." "Alms, for the love of Allah." "Alms, for the love of Allah." "Alms, for the love of Allah." "Alms, for the love of Allah." "What?" "Your cur would bark?" "A fine reward for charity." "If charity be false as that coin." "Then you cheat, son of a burnt father." "A blind man cannot tell truth from false." "Alas, I cannot tell day from night." "It was my dog." " How can a dog tell bad from good?" " See for yourself." "Now, by the wonder of Allah " "It is a false coin, and I, myself, knew it not!" "Come, O frequenter of tree trunks... now which is the bad one?" "This is no dog, but the reincarnation of a tax collector!" "O ye whom Allah gave the gift of sight... to fill your eyes with beauty and delight... spare me a thought to whom your wondrous world... is but a city of eternal night." "Alms, for the love of Allah." "Alms, for the love of Allah." " Bring him to me." " Alms, for the love of Allah." "Alms, for the love of Allah." "Pray for me." "My name is Halima." " I do not know you?" " Does one always know one's friends?" "I have none to know." "Can you not trust in one who brings not words, but deeds" "In my house, there is food and rest." "And what is mine is yours." " Why should you offer this?" " For your prayers." "That is much for little." " Take my hand." " There's no need." "My dog sees for me." "He gives me more than ever he can receive, like all dogs." "This is a sleep beyond my knowledge." "Only this I know:" "When the blind man comes to her, she will be cured." "Strange, Master, he can do something all your powers cannot." "I'll make him do it for me and cast him away." "But she loves the blind man." "Do you call the lisping of two children in a garden love?" "Love she has yet to learn." "And I am here to teach her." " Poor blind beggar." " Even more unfortunate than you know." " That cannot be." " But we are unveiled." "And I am... veiled." " Tell us your name." " Ahmad." " Ahmad!" " Ahmad, you'll beg no more." " Nor journey on." " Stay here with us." "O sovereigns of silkiness, I am sure you are beautiful... but for me there is no staying." "I must on, seeking the one I love, whom I have lost." "Men with two eyes often seek all their lives and fail to find that one." "Stay." "There are great doctors here." "They may restore your sight." "That would be the blackest day of all my days." " You talk in riddles." " I will give you the answer." "Listen." "There was once a king, son of a king and of a hundred kings." "His subjects countless, his wealth untellable... his power absolute." "And this dog was not a dog... but a youth who lived in Bagdad and became dear to the king." "But in those days, he was nothing but a little thief." "Why do you smell my fish, master of a copper coin?" "Be off!" "Be off!" "Shall I call the khadi's clubmen?" "Eh?" "Stop, thief!" "Stop, thief!" "Stop that thief!" "Ahmad the king." "Son of Akbar, grandson of Haroun-el-Rachid... the great, the illustrious... lord of the earth, defender of the faith... servant of the all-highest... but master of all men." "Ahmad the king!" "Ahmad the king." "Alas, I was that mighty man." "365 wives were mine." "In my heart there was no love." "Fifty palaces, and I had no home." "Richest among my subjects, I was the poorest of the poor." "Every desire satisfied, I grew empty of desire." "And in my whole vast kingdom, I could find nothing to do - no task, no aim, no purpose - for always my grand vizier Jaffar stood between me and my people." "Another execution." "Why had he to die?" "He had been thinking, my lord and master." " Is it a crime then to think?" " In a subject, it's quite unpardonable." "Are men only to be ruled by fear?" "Men are evil - hatred behind their eyes, lies on their lips, betrayal in their hearts." "You will learn one day, great king... that there are about three things that men respect:" "the lash that descends, the yoke that breaks and the sword that slays." "By the power and terror of these, you may conquer the earth." "Do I want to conquer the earth?" "What do you want, my lord and master?" "I thought I might try to give them happiness." "Happiness." "They are fools and knaves." "Your grandsire knew it, and if you would know it too... do as he did." "One night, when darkness falls... leave your palace, go among your people... mix with the crowds, go into their houses... listen, observe and remember." " Tonight, Jaffar." " Tonight, my king." " Your people, my king." " I've never been so close to them." "Go." "Listen, observe and remember." "It is told, though Allah be wiser or more merciful... there was in the past of the ages a king among kings... a master of arms and of armies, of vessels and auxiliaries." "And this master of time and people was an oppressor to both... and the earth was as pitch in the faces of his subjects and his slaves." " What's he saying?" " And they groaned together in secret." "Why, I don't know." "Is it the king he's talking about?" "Don't ask questions." "There are spies everywhere." "You must be careful in Bagdad." "I'm a stranger here." "Surely you can tell me what the old man's talking about." "Oh, about foolish hopes... about a prophecy, about a liberator." "Only fools and children believe it." "A liberator indeed." "Not while Ahmad is king." "And they groaned together in secret and were slain in the marketplace." "But a wise man among the sages of Bagdad comforted them with a prophecy... saying, "In the fullness of years, a liberator shall come upon you..." ""and this shall be the sign of him:" "he shall be the lowest of the low... and you shall look for him in the clouds."" "And the people cried, "We shall look for him in the clouds indeed..." ""for if the great are powerless to save us from this tyrant... how can one of no account avail?"" "And the reader of the Milky Way replied..." ""Have faith, trust in Allah..." ""for there, one day in the blue, you shall see a boy..." ""the lowest of the low, mounted upon a cloud." ""But the cloud shall be as strong as the hills beneath the snow..." ""and from the ranges of the sky... he shall destroy this tyrant with the arrow of justice."" " What is the name of the tyrant?" " Ahmad." " Ahmad." " Ahmad." "I wish the miracle would happen today." "I wish he would die today." "Arrest him." "Put him in prison." "When he says he's the king, tell them he's a madman." "His friends and all who might be loyal to him must be destroyed." "I learned that night not that men are evil, but that he was evil." "When he persuaded me among my people, he laid a trap for me." "I was thrown into prison... and there, in prison, my life began... for there I met the one who was to become my only true friend " "Abu, the little thief of Bagdad." "For only very little thieves are thrown into prison." "No!" "No!" "Not in prison!" "No!" "No!" "Not in prison!" " Don't put me in prison!" "No!" " Come in, thief." "Cut off his right arm, and then his left." "Then his left leg, then his right." " And then his head." " No!" "No!" "No!" "No!" "I say no!" "No!" "Please, no!" "Don't kill me!" " I don't want to die!" " Tomorrow morning." "And as for the madman, our great sultan Jaffar is merciful." "Only his head." "As the sun rises." "No!" "No, no!" " No!" "No, no!" "Poor boy, they've driven you mad." "Me mad?" "They just said you were mad." "Are you really mad?" "That's it." "I'm mad." "I must be mad." "The maddest of all the madmen that ever lived in the sultan's palace." " You are mad, quite mad." " What's it matter" "In the morning, unless the sun stops still and never rises, we both die - the thief and the madman- and I don't want to die." "You are not mad... and maybe we shall watch the sun rise from over the river." "Didn't you hear the jailer?" ""As the sun rises."" "As the sun rises, we'll take a boat and go down to the sea." "I've never seen the sea... but I've heard the sailors on the riverside talk about it." "In the sea are fishes as big as the great temple... and little ones as tiny as my little finger, with wings." "And boats as big as Bagdad itself... with sails as big as clouds." "And when the wind blows, they go as fast as antelopes... and carry you to the isles of India and China." "To the isles of India and China." "And we're locked in prison." "The ax will fall as the sun rises." "And you say you're not mad." " Look!" " What's that?" "The key of the prison." "I just stole it." " The key?" "Give it to me!" " Steady, steady." "You want someone to look after you." "We can't go now." " Why not?" " We must wait." "In an hour they will eat." "After they eat, they sleep." "Then we go." "Hurry!" "Catch this oar." "Give me that rope!" "Hurry!" "We must get away." "Do you want us to be killed?" "Do you think they will have mercy on us?" "Don't you think if the king knew, he'd be merciful?" "The king was a fool." "I hope he suffers as much as he made the people suffer." " Do you hate him so much?" " Everybody hated him." "Oh, if I could only lay my hands on him just once... if I could only tell him what a fool he was." "Tell it now." "I am Ahmad the king." " Speak." " Ahmad the king is dead." "He died yesterday." "There's a new king, Jaffar." " Look!" "Jaffar would not make all that fuss over me." "He would not send the whole guard after me." "Mercy, Master." "I'm your slave." "Leave me at least one arm for small stealing, and I'll pay you twice as much in taxes." " What's your name?" " I'm Abu the thief... son of Abu the thief, grandson of Abu the thief." "Most unfortunate of 10 sons with a hunger that yawns day and night." "Get up, my little friend." " We must return to Bagdad." " How can you be such a fool?" "I mean, my king would be killed." "A dead king and a dead thief cannot do much, you know." "If your fingers are as nimble as your brain, you are indeed the prince of thieves." "Come on." "Let's catch the morning breeze." "That will carry us to freedom." "Freedom." "Strange." "I've had everything but freedom." "And I've had nothing but freedom." "And now we've got it, what shall we do with it?" "Anything we like." "In three days, we shall be in Basra." "Here." "Take this pole." "Push!" "# I want to be a sailor #" "# Sailing out to sea #" "# No plowboy, tinker, tailor is any fun to be #" "# Aunts and cousins #" "# By the baker's dozens?" "# Drive a man to sea or highway robbery # # want to be a bandit #" "# Can't you understand it #" "# Sailing to sea is life for me #" "# Is life for me #" "Abu!" "Basra!" "Basra." "Basra." "How beautiful it looks." "How beautiful it smells!" "Pancakes!" " Give me one!" " Really, you are a fool." "Whoever heard of eating pancakes without honey?" "But how can you steal honey?" "Allah give us the pancakes, and he will provide honey." " Honey!" "Honey!" " Ah." "Honey!" "Honey!" " You buy honey?" " Yes, we are thinking of buying some." " Uh, a jar, of course." " Jar?" " Uh, if it's good honey." " The best in Basra." "Uh, easy to say." "First I must try." "Ahh." "I've tasted better." "What do you think?" " No." "No, not good enough." " No." " Your bees are out of humor." " Take better care of them." "Hey, old friend." "Whose palace is this?" "Why, the palace of the sultan, children of ignorance." " The palace of a thousand toys." " Toys?" "Where have you come from, you beggars of no importance?" "Don't you know that the sultan has the greatest collection of toys in the world?" "Why toys?" "The sultan is an old man, and old men are like children." "He guards his toys more jealously... than he guards his daughter." "But I say no more." "Now out of my way, you masters of a thousand fleas." "Allah be with you, but I doubt it." " What's happening?" " Let me go!" " Not until you've told us." " The princess comes!" " Then why does everybody go?" " It's death to look on her." " Death?" " Why?" "No man has ever seen her, nor shall, till her father gives her in marriage." " Is she so ugly?" " Her beauty is like the sun and the moon." "Let me go!" " Let us go!" " Where?" "Up there!" "Ah." " Your eating will cause our death." " Without eating, we die." "Abu!" "Here they come!" " I must see her again." " But I've found Sinbad the sailor." "And he has given us two places on his ship." "It is more wonderful than I'd ever imagined." "And on the next tide, she sails." "I can't go." "I must see her again." "But, Ahmad, all my life I dreamt of going in a great ship across the world." "I can't go." "I must see her again." "If I help you to see her, will you then come with me?" "I will." "# O throbbing heart of mine #" "# Be still today #" "# We must await the word #" "# That all men say #" "# And when, O heart of mine #" "# It comes to you #" "# Leap up #" "# Remembering #" "# It might #" "# Be true #" "# It might be true #" "No more." "The music of a love song is as heavy as the noonday air." "Let us wait for the nightingale and the night." "To the pool." "Oh!" "A djinni!" "A djinni!" "A djinni." "Don't go!" "Don't go." "It's a djinni in the pool." "A djinni." "Are you afraid?" "Yes." "Terribly." "Why don't you run away ?" "I want to look." "I've never seen a djinni before." "Well, then what do you see?" "Remember always, to a djinni, you must tell the truth." "You don't look wicked." "Are you a good djinni?" "Not too good." "Very good djinni are just as tiresome as very good men." " Do you live down there?" " No." " Why have you come?" " To see you." " I was about to bathe." " I'm waiting." "Bathe, with you there?" "Give me your hand then." "Down into the water." "Oh, djinni, you've gone." "I didn't mean you to go so soon." "Shall I never see you again?" "Never?" "Don't be afraid." "I'm not a djinni." "Who are you?" "Your slave." "Where have you come from?" "From the other side of time..." "to find you." "How long have you been searching?" "Since time began." "Now that you've found me, how long will you stay?" "Till the end of time." "For me, there can be no more beauty in the world but yours." "For me, there can be no more pleasure in the world... than to please you." "Will you be here in the garden tomorrow at the same hour?" "There's a gardener here who watches night and day." "His name is Death." "You mustn't come." "Forbid me then." "I cannot forbid." "Tomorrow!" "And all tomorrows." " Did you see her?" " I did." "Good!" "Then we can go with Sinbad tonight." " No, Abu." "I can't go." " Why not?" "You have seen her again." "That's why I can't go - because I have seen her." "All right." "Then I'll go alone." "If you go there tomorrow again... how will you pass the guards without me to help?" " Oh, I'll find a way." " You'll be caught." "You'll stay with me?" "Oh, Abu, why should you?" "You have as great a longing in your soul as I have." " Why should you stay with me?" " Because I'm as great a fool as you are." "Brother of lions." "Fountain of hospitality." "You know, I have the largest collection of these mechanical devices... in the whole wide world." "And this is the most remarkable of them all." "I-It tells the time." "See how it works?" "Huh?" "Sheer magic, isn't it?" "I hope this dangerous device will never be allowed into the hands of the people." " Dangerous?" " Yes." "If people once begin to know the time... they will no longer call you the king of time." "They will want to know how time is spent." "Oh, you're right." "Oh, the people must never know." "Look, look." "Come." "Ah!" "See." "Such workmanship." "Such" " Such precision." "Such reliability." "I do so prefer these things to my subjects." "Watch." "Watch." "See." "No, no." "That's the finest of them all." "See?" " I have only to wind a key or press a spring - and they do exactly the same thing every time... and exactly what I want." "And so often my subjects fail to do exactly what I want... and then I have to have their heads cut off." "See?" "Oh!" "Your collection is indeed magnificent... and so near completion too." "Near completion?" "Huh." "I'd have you know my collection is-is the most complete completion." "Please, do not misunderstand me." "I am well aware that nothing short of a miracle could add luster... to this already dazzling display." "But such a miracle does exist." "A mechanical toy better than - than any of mine?" "Knowing of your interest in these matters, I have brought it with me." "Well, let's see it." "Let's see it." "Quickly, quickly!" "Oh, I can't bear to be kept waiting." "Ooh." "This is exciting, this." "If Your Highness would wind it yourself." "Uh " "Oh!" "What's it going to do?" "Hmm?" "Move its legs, or arch its neck?" "Or" " Or wag its tail?" "Hmm?" "It doesn't kick, does it?" "To tell you the truth, I'm always rather nervous of these things..." "Till I know what they're going to do, Till I get used to them." "Ooh." "Ah." "It wants some winding." " If Your Highness would mount." " Yes." " And now?" " Pull the reins!" "Marvelous!" "I am no longer a man." "I am a bird!" "I'm the king of birds!" "Oh." "No!" "Oh." "Mmm, I want it!" "I want it." "I must have it, and I'll give you anything you wish for it." "It's yours." "I ask but one thing in return." "Anything you will." " Your daughter." " My daughter" "Mm-hmm." "Oh, dear, dear, dear." "Really." "This is" "This is very awkward." "Wh" "What do you want my daughter for?" " I have to found a dynasty." " Oh, quite, quite, quite." "I understand entirely about founding a dynasty." "Delightful thing to do." "I've tried myself, many times." "And what have I got?" "A daughter." "The true offspring of the mother of miseries." "Her eyes have quarreled." "They're always trying to get at one another." "Her eyes are Babylonian eyes... and her eyebrows like the crescent moon of Ramadan." " Her body's straight as the letter alif." " How do you know?" " I've seen her." " Oh, no, you " " I have." " Where?" " In my crystal." " Oh, confound your crystal." "Confound all crystals." "I always did hate the things." "I " " Are you a magician?" " I have some skill." "Oh, say no more." "I " "Anyhow, I" " I must have this horse." "So I suppose you must have my daughter." "Mmm." "I will never marry him." "I would rather die." "I will go to my sister, who's married to he sultan of Samarkand." "She will protect me." "Go back to the garden." "You will find someone there whom we thought was the djinni of the pool." "Tell him of our misfortune, and tell him that I will wait for him in Samarkand." "Yes, Princess." "Your Highness, the princess is nowhere to be found." "She is gone." "We have searched the whole garden." " We have found only two beggars." " Bring them here." "Jaffar!" "Jaffar!" "Jaffar!" "At last, face to face, man to man, sword to sword." "Give me a sword!" "Allah will judge!" "Great sultan, I speak the truth." "My eyes bear witness." "Ahmad!" "My eyes!" "I'm blind!" "Ahmad!" "Listen, great sultan, I know the truth." "You must know who this man is!" "And this" " Listen, good people." " Son of a dog." " Allah." "By this, my magic rune... be what your fathers were... and bay the moon." "And this is my curse:" "You shall remain a dog... and you shall walk in the darkness of the blind... until I hold her in my arms." "And now, dispensers of bounty, you know why a blind man with his dog... searches the world for a lost love, and with little enough hope." "Yet without that hope, there would be nothing." "And Allah is merciful." "Allah is merciful indeed, for the one that you seek is here." "If you mock me, Allah will not forgive." "I do not mock." "Your princess was captured by slave traders and sold here in our slave market." "The richest merchant in the town bought her." "But no sooner was she taken to his house than she fell into the strangest trance." "She lives, but is as dead." "No doctor can restore her." "Night and day she calls upon the djinni of the pool." " I was that djinni!" " And you alone can bring her back to life." "Can you take me where she is?" "O djinni, shall I never see you again?" " Never?" " Lead me to her." "Why have you come?" "To find you." " How long have you been searching?" " From the beginning of time." "Now that you've found me, how long will you stay?" "Till the end of time." "The dream - my dream - always the same dream." "This is no dream." "Ahmad!" "Finish the masquerade." "Don't look at me like that." "Suffering has left its mark." "For me, your beauty will always be as I first saw it - never changing." "Your eyes" "They're so strange." "So full of pain." "One cannot go through fire and not be scorched." "Ahmad, you must go." "The master has returned." "I will hide you, and when the master sleeps in the heat of the noon..." "I'll bring her to you." "Quiet." "From now you're not only mine." "You belong to the princess as well." "Stay and guard her for me." "Blind." "He's blind." "It is in your power to restore his sight." "There is, in this town, a famous doctor who would, at your request, cure him." "Take me." "Is the doctor here, on this ship?" "Yes." "He's waiting for you." "Open this door." "Open it!" "Bring him nearer." "Nearer." "How do you find your dog's life, hmm?" "Mmm." "Strange how an unpleasant child can be a decent dog." "Throw him overboard." "Welcome." " Jaffar!" " Yes.Jaffar." "It's always Jaffar." "Since you left your palace, I have kept you safe." "When you rode hopeless and lost in the desert, who guided you?" "When you were sold in the slave market, who bought you" "Always Jaffar." "It was in my house you were cared for, to sleep your sleep... and dream to its end... your first dream of love." "It was I who woke you." "No." "It was Ahmad." "I was told there was a doctor here... who could restore his sight." "But I am that doctor." "The same moment that I hold you in my arms..." "Ahmad will see." "Take me in your arms." "My eyes!" "Hey!" "Ahmad!" "Ahmad!" "Can you see?" "I'm Abu again!" "Abu!" " Abu, where is she?" " She's with him" "Jaffar- on the ship." "What good are my eyes to me without her?" "Is there nothing for you without her?" "Nothing." "No." "No." "I have powers that could force you to my will." "But I want more than they can give." "I want your love." "Forget Ahmad." "He's no longer blind." "And for a man with eyes, the world is full of women." "Only I am cursed... that I can see only you." "Little fool." "Trying to end your life before it has begun." "I tell you, Ahmad has forgotten." "Look!" "It's Ahmad!" "Wind!" "Wind!" "Wind!" "Whip yourself, winds of heaven!" "Whip till you wail aloud!" "Ahmad!" "Ahmad!" "Ahmad!" "Why do you refuse to obey your destiny?" "You behave like a slave girl." "I am a slave girl." "You could command me." "Try." "Ask what you will." "Would you take me back to Basra?" " Helmsman!" " Master!" "Northward to Basra." "This is a place of desolation." "It is the most beautiful garden in the world." "If there were ever flowers in it, they've vanished, like cancer." "And the pool - so dark with weeds... you can't even see your own reflection in it." "I'm not looking for my own reflection." "Father, I don't want to go to Bagdad with Jaffar." " But, my dear" " Don't let him take me." " Don't!" " Oh, there, there, there, there, there, there." "Well, if you don't want to go to Bagdad with him, you shan't." "No." "Never." "Never, never, never." "Never while I live." "There." " There." "Oh." "What is it?" "The newest magical toy:" "the silver maid." "Does she do anything more?" "She can embrace you." "But any of my wives will do that." "Her embrace will thrill you... as no other woman ever has... or ever will." "Do you mean I might get rid of all my wives... and have a collection of these things?" "She tickles!" "Guards!" "Make ready for Bagdad." "Free!" "Free!" "Free!" "Free!" "Free!" "Free!" "Free!" "Free!" "Free again!" "Free, after 2,000 years!" "2,000 years ago, King Solomon, master of all the djinns... imprisoned me within that bottle." "For me, this is the first moment of my new freedom." "For you " "For you, this is the last moment of your life." "My life?" "Your life!" "In a moment I shall lift my foot and crush you... insect, beetle, worm that you are!" "But, sheik of spirits, I fished you out of the sea." "I opened your bottle." "I let you out." "You can't be so ungrateful." "Ungrateful?" "Slaves are not grateful." "Not for their freedom." "Listen." "Inside my bottle for the first thousand years..." "I swore that I'd enrich the one that freed me with all the riches of the earth." "But in the second thousand years, my imprisoned spirit turned to vengeance... on all that lived and were free." "And I swore that I'd kill him that freed me to satisfy that hate." "Are you ready?" "Wait!" "Wait!" "Wait!" "Wait!" "Please, before I die, may I " "May I ask one question?" "Ask." "How comes it that you, as big as a mountain... could ever get into that bottle I can hold in my hand?" "You weren't ever in it really, were you?" " Of course I was." " Oh, no, you weren't." " I was!" " You weren't!" "What?" "You dare doubt?" "If I'm going to die in a moment, I can dare anything, and I say it's impossible." " Impossible?" " And I don't believe you." " Take care." " And never shall." " Never?" " Nothing can make me!" " Nothing?" " Nothing." "Unless I see it with my own eyes." "Then, dog of an unbeliever, before you die... you shall see, with me, nothing is impossible!" "You shall see and believe!" "Now, you great, overblown belch!" "Let me out!" "Let me out!" "Just because you were bigger than me, you thought you could bully." " Let me out!" "Let me out!" "Product of inflation." "Descendant of a stink." "Let you out?" "I'm going to throw you back into the sea." " This time forever." " Oh, no." "Mercy!" "Mercy, O Master!" " What's that?" " O great and merciful master!" " Say that again." " O great and merciful master... let me out, and I'll grant you three wishes." " Three wishes?" " Your first three wishes shall come true." " You swear?" " I swear." "By King Solomon, master of all the djinn?" "By King Solomon, the master of all the djinn... the oath that no spirit can break." " And you'll behave?" "No threatening and shouting?" " No." " No what?" " No, Master." "Now, don't make so much noise again." "You frightened me before." "Master, I hear and obey." "That's better." "All bullies must learn manners in the end." "I'm hungry." "Can't think with my stomach empty." "I wish I had some of those sausages Mother used to make." "Your sausages, Master." "That was the first wish, Master." "Two more remain." "Name them." "Don't you hurry me." "I've got to be careful." "Two more." "You know what I wish?" "Tell me." "Where is my friend Ahmad?" "Master, to know that, you must look into the All-Seeing Eye." " Then give me the eye." " Master, I can take you where it is... but not even I can steal it for you." "Steal?" "Huh!" "I'll see to that." " Little braggart." "What have you ever stolen?" " What haven't I?" "A key from its lock, ring from its finger, money from its purse, the strength of a djinni " "And the tongue of a liar!" "But he who would steal the All-Seeing Eye... from the very brow of the goddess must be neither a thief nor a braggart, but a hero." "I always wanted to be a hero." "Come on!" "Then catch on to my hair." "All right." "But mind you, this is not my second wish yet." "Now I'm rather helping you." "Yes, Master." "Djinni!" "Djinni!" "I'm frightened!" "I hear!" "All right, Master?" "I think so." "Where are we now?" "Above the roof of the world." "Has the world got a roof?" "Of course, supported by seven pillars." "And the seven pillars are set on the shoulders of a djinni whose strength is beyond thought." "And the djinni stands on an eagle... and the eagle on a bull, and the bull on a fish." "And the fish swims in the Sea of Eternity." "Where are we going?" "On the highest peak of the highest mountain of the world... where earth meets the sky, and there is the Temple of the Dawn." "And in the great hall of the temple is the goddess of light." "And in the head of the goddess is the All-Seeing Eye." "And now, my little braggart... you can be a thief and a hero all in one." "A hero." "# I want to be a sailor#" "# I want #" " # I want # - # I want #" " # I want to be a sailor # - # I want to be a sailor #" "# I want to be a sailor, sailing out to sea #" "# No plowboy, tinker, tailor is any fun to be #" "# Aunts and cousins #" "# By the baker's dozens # # By the baker's dozens #" "# Drive a man to sea or highway robbery #" " # I #" "# Want to be a bandit Can't you understand it?" "#" "# Can't you understand it?" "#" "Djinni!" "Djinni!" "Get me out of here, quick!" "Quick!" "Djinni!" "Djinni!" "Help!" "Help!" "Djinni, help!" "Djinni!" "Is this the All-Seeing Eye?" "Not for 2,000 years will she grow another." "For a hundred generations of men, she will not know their doings." " Now shall I know what happened to Ahmad?" " Look." "Look hard." "It's true." "It's Ahmad." "Help!" "Help!" "Help!" " Help!" " Help!" "Now my second wish." "Take me to him." "To hear is to obey, little master of the world." "Hold tight, little brother." "We have to return half across the world." "Don't be afraid, Ahmad!" " It's me, Abu!" " Abu!" "Put me down!" "Put me down!" "Gently, you clumsy good-for-nothing!" " Abu!" " Ahmad!" "Allah be merciful." "It's a real djinni." "Yes." "He's mine, and I am his master." "I am your master, aren't I?" "To hear is to obey, O Master!" "See?" "He brought me here, and he'll carry us away." "What's he laughing like that for?" "I don't like the sound of it." "Oh, he's all right." "He's a bit big to talk to." "That's the worse part about him." "You have to shout so much." "Hey, you up there!" " What are you laughing for?" " For my freedom." "It is at hand." "You get us out of this place." " Your third wish?" " No, no, no, no." "Not yet." "He is big, but he is sharp." "I've got to be careful." "Only one wish left." "I have only one wish." "Oh, I know all about that." "Your princess." "If only I could see her again." "Is that all?" "I don't need to waste a wish for that." " Look." " What's that?" "Look into it - hard, hard." "Keep staring into it." "You'll see her." "It's true!" "A blue rose?" "I've heard about that." "That - That's the Blue Rose of Forgetfulness." "If she inhales its fragrance, she'll forget... everything." "Blue roses?" "Exquisite." "Who are you?" "I don't know." "I've forgotten." "Why have you suffered?" "Have I suffered?" "I don't remember." "It seems I was in love." "Whom did you love?" "I cannot tell." "I don't know any longer." "I can't look anymore!" "There are worse things than blindness." "Knowledge can be more terrible than ignorance, if one can do nothing." "Nothing." "Why did you give me this?" "Take it back and break it into a thousand pieces." "I only stole it to help you." "You stole it because you enjoy stealing." "Without my stealing, you'd be dead." "I wish I were dead." "I wish I'd never seen you." "I wish - I wish I were in Bagdad." "I wish you were!" "Ahmad!" "Ahmad!" "Ahmad!" "Ahmad!" "Ahmad!" "Ahmad!" "Where are you?" "Where you wished him - on his way to Bagdad." "Then take me out of this place." "Don't you hear?" "I want to get out." "You stay where you are." "You're a clever little man, little master of the universe... but mortals are weak and frail." "If their stomach speaks, they forget their brain." "If their brain speaks, they forget their hearts." "And if their hearts speak" "If their hearts speak, they forget everything!" "Am I not your master?" "No longer." "You've had your three wishes, and I am free!" "Free!" "Djinni!" "Djinni!" "Come back!" "Don't leave me here!" "Don't let me die!" "Djinni!" "And farewell, little master of the universe." "Farewell!" "Free!" "Free!" "Free!" "Everything of the past is forgotten." "You have been in love with me." "You are in love with me." "You will always love me." "Everything of the past is forgotten." "I have been in love with you." "I am in love with you." "I shall always love you." "Hey!" "Where'd he go?" "Where'd he go?" "Jaffar!" "Ahmad." "Let's go!" "Put them in prison." "Chain them to opposite walls." "In the morning, they die the death of a thousand cuts." "I have failed, my love." "Forgive me." "I have no regrets." "We are together." "And shall be for the rest of our lives." "We shall never again know the torture of being apart." "And if death is not the end, we shall go on together." "Abu and I parted quarreling." "I wish I could tell him I'm sorry." "Abu, my friend... good-bye and forgive me." "No." "I won't say good-bye." "I'll help." "But how?" "How?" "If I can't help, I won't see!" "Welcome, our prince." "Welcome, little prince." "Father of a beard, there's some mistake." "I'm not a prince." "I'm only a thief." "For you we have been waiting twice 2,000 years." "Oh, no." "Not waiting for me... because I didn't know I was coming, and I don't know how I've come." "Who are you, father of miracles?" "And where am I?" "This is the Land of Legend... where everything is possible when seen through the eyes of youth." "We are the remnant of the Golden Age." "Golden because gold was nothing." "No more than the sand beneath your feet... or the stone that we became." "How did you become stone?" "We were petrified with horror... by the evil done among men... when they ceased to be children... and to believe in the beauty of the impossible." "But whenever the heart of a child returns to us... and comes into us... we live again." "And so, as that child... you are to be my successor." "Now, come with me... and I will present you with two insignia... of true kingship." "Here they are." "Aim this only at injustice, and you cannot fail." "Oh, no, father of kindness." "I don't want it." "I don't want to be a king." " I only want to save my friend." " Well, this will help you." "Take it." "And now..." "I do homage... for you are king... and all in our kingdom is yours... except that carpet, which I keep for myself." "For on that carpet... which flies when it is bidden - "Fly, carpet" " "I shall go to paradise at the hour appointed." "It is told, though Allah is wiser or more merciful... there was in the past of the ages a king among kings... a master of arms and of armies, of vessels and auxiliaries." "And this master of time and people was an oppressor to both... until the earth was as pitch on the faces of his subjects and his slaves... and they groaned together in secret... and were slayed in the marketplace." "But a wise man among the sages of Bagdad... comforted them with a prophecy, saying..." ""In the fullness of time, a liberator shall come upon you... and this shall be the sign of him."" "O Allah, I know you don't much like stealing." "I'll never steal again." "You can trust me." "Just this once more.Just this little carpet so as to get to Bagdad in time." "When the old king's hour comes... he won't want a carpet to fly to paradise." "Then you, O Allah, will take him by the hand... gentle and kind as he is... and lead him into eternal bliss." "Aren't I right?" "But I must go to Bagdad to save my friend." "It's a question of minutes." "You must see that." "O Allah, lord of justice, let me steal." "Fly, carpet." "Wait." "Fly, carpet!" "Why do you close your eyes?" "There's little time left to see him." "The people cried, "We shall look for him in the clouds indeed..." ""for if the great are powerless to save us from this tyrant... how can one of no account avail?"" "And the reader of the Milky Way replied..." ""Have faith, trust in Allah..." ""for there, one day in the blue, you shall see a boy..." ""the lowest of the low, mounted on a cloud..." ""and that cloud shall be as strong as the hills beneath the snow..." ""and from the ranges of the sky... he shall destroy this tyrant with the arrow of justice."" "The horse!" "Up, quickly!" "Ahmad!" "Jaffar!" "My people, I owe everything to Abu... and when he grows into a man, he shall be my grand vizier." "He shall be sent to the best school in Bagdad... and all the wise men of the East shall teach him all the wisdom of the world." "He shall be the wisest of men, and in those future days... when he will be full of knowledge, science and dignity... he will be the shining example for the youths of Bagdad... and they may remember how the little thief became the dignifi " "Hey!" "Abu!" "Where are you going?" "You've got what you wanted." "Now, I'm going to find what I want." " What's that?" " Some fun." " An adventure at last!"