Aladdin And The Magic Lamp and One Thousand And One Nights

Aladdin And The Magic Lamp and One Thousand And One Nights is Gator Tooth's Inspiration and is a folktale dating back from 1704 which was compiled and translated by Frenchman Antoine Galland. It is one of the most well-known folktales in the World.

## Overview

It was originally Chinese, however it was translated to Arabian text by Antoine Galland. Alongside Ali Baba And The 40 Thieves, Aladdin And The Magic Lamp is among the most historical and popular folktales in Middle Eastern culture.

## Synopsis

It tells the story of Aladdin, a young impoverished ne're-do-well who resides in an unnamed Chinese city. He is recruited by a sorcerer from Africa who claims to be Aladdin's long-lost Uncle and brother to Aladdin's father, Mustapha the tailor. He manages to trick young Aladdin and his mother of his good intentions by setting the lad up to be a wealthy merchant. However, in reality, his true intention is to persuade young Aladdin into retrieving a wonderful oil lamp from a booby-trapped cave. He does so, but is betrayed by the sorcerer, who traps him inside the cave. Aladdin uses the magic ring the sorcerer gave him and accidentally summons a Genie (or Jinni or Djinn). He releases him from the cave and back to his mother, in possession of both the Lamp and Ring. His Mother tries to clean the Lamp, so they can sell it to buy their supper, then summons a far more powerful Genie who is bound to the bidding of whoever wields the Lamp. With the aid of the Genie of the Lamp, Aladdin becomes rich and powerful and marries Princess Badroulbadour, the Sultan's daughter (after magically foiling her marriage to the Vizier's son). The Genie builds Aladdin and his bride a luxurious Palace that is even more impressive than that of the Sultan's. The Sorcerer learns of Aladdin's new fortune and returns; he gets his hands on the Lamp by tricking Aladdin's Mother (who is unaware of the Lamp's importance) by offering to exchange "new lamps for old". He orders the Genie of the Lamp to take the Palace and all of its contents back to his Home country of Maghreb. Aladdin still has the Genie of the Ring and uses it to summon the lesser Genie. However, due to the Genie of the Lamp's power exceeding that of the Genie of the Ring's, he is unable to undo any of his magic. Instead, he teleports him to the Maghreb, where with the help of the "Woman's wiles", Aladdin is able to retrieve the Lamp and slay the Sorcerer, returning the Palace to it's proper place. After the battle, the Sorcerer's evil and more powerful brother plots to destroy Aladdin for killing his brother buy disguising himself as an old woman who is known for healing powers. Badroulbadour falls for his disguise and commands the "woman" to stay in her Palace in case of any illnesses. Aladdin is warned by this danger and slays the imposter.

Aladdin eventually succeeds his Father-in-Law's throne.

## Historical Context

Despite not being apart of the original text; it was added by the Frenchman Antoine Galland after he heard a story from Syrian Maronite storyteller Hanna Diyab.

## Relation to Gator Tooth

The tale became the main source in which Gator Tooth would be based on. Due to Deiontre James Carter's ironically same encounter with a Gator Tooth necklace, it reminded him greatly of the folktale he was fascinated by during 5th grade. He felt like the African American equivalent to Aladdin, which gave him the idea to base Gator Tooth on the folktale done in his own way. The story especially inspired the earlier plots, such as Dee being based on Aladdin (as well as himself), both being approached by a Villain to go search for an artifact (The Sorcerer; Sarabi), both meet a beautiful Princess, (Princess Badroulbadour; Princess Jenny), both go to a mystical and booby-trapped location (Cave; Gator Temple on GT Island), both find a magical artifact (The Lamp; A Gator Tooth), and both summon Genies (Genie of the Lamp and Chachere of the green Gator Tooth). Even after the first Arc, the series onwards still stays true to its inspiration and being an adaptation of the Folktale, such as Genies, Sorcerers and more.

Dee; Aladdin

Jenny; Princess Badroulbadour

Shauna; Aladdin's Mother

King Zaphod; The Sultan

Sarabi; The Sorcerer

Chachere; Genie of the Lamp

Mr. Genie; Genie of the Ring (However, he was found by Kaye instead of Dee)

## Main Characters

Aladdin

Aladdin's Mother

The Sultan

The Evil Sorcerer

Genie Of The Ring

Princess Badroulbadour

The Evil Sorcerer's Brother

Genie Of The Lamp

## Trivia

. Dee's birth name originally was going to be the Afrikaans reading of Aladdin, but unfortunately no translations exist. So his birth name instead was changed to Dasheen, which is a type of vegetable.

. While Dee's story has many elements from the folktale, it also has more references to other stories from the Arabian Nights, such as Ali Baba And The 40 Thieves, which inspired the life of his Father, Montai.

. While Dee finds the Gator Tooth, he doesn't find a ring as well like in the original story. The Genie of the Ring is instead owned by Kaye, the Creator of the Earth Gator Teeth.