Aladdin had changed after his experience in the treasury.
He didn't feel like a child anymore.
He didn't want to play all day in the streets.
He felt grown up and wanted to help his mother.
Aladdin looked at the plates that had held their food.
And he had an idea.
"I will take one of these plates to the bazaar and sell it."
"It's a fine plate, but it's probably not real gold," said Zeba.
"You might get a few copper coins for it."
Aladdin put the plate in his jacket and went to the bazaar.
He found an old merchant in a shop filled with pots, plates, and cups.
"How much will you give me for this plate?"
Aladdin asked the merchant.
The old man took the plate and looked at it closely.
"Pure gold," he whispered to himself.
He looked up at Aladdin and thought,
"But I think this boy does not know this."
To Aladdin, he said slyly, "It is not a bad plate.
How much do you want for it?"
"What is it worth?" asked Aladdin.
The old man smiled and pulled one gold piece from his pocket.
"Oh, thank you, sir!" Aladdin cried, taking the coin.
Immediately the merchant wished he had offered even less.
"Two copper coins would have been enough," he thought.
After that, whenever Aladdin needed money, he took a plate to the merchant.
Each time, the old man grumbled to himself and paid one gold coin.
One day, Aladdin put the last plate in his jacket and headed for the bazaar.
As he walked along, another merchant came out of a different shop.
"Boy, I have seen you passing by many times," he said.
"And you always go to that one old merchant.
Show me what you are selling.
Maybe I will pay more."
"Oh, I get a very good price for my plates," said Aladdin with pride.
The new merchant took Aladdin's plate and weighed it.
"Is this plate like the ones you sold to the old man?"
"Yes," replied Aladdin. "Exactly the same."
"What did he give you?" asked the new merchant.
"One gold coin!" said Aladdin with a big smile.
"He cheated you," the merchant said.
"This plate is pure gold.
It is worth one hundred gold coins!"
"I am a fool," muttered Aladdin, his face red.
"And that old man has been laughing at me!"
"Ah, but you can learn from your mistake," said the merchant.
From that day, Aladdin went to the bazaar every morning.
He talked to all the merchants and traders.
He learned about buying and selling.
He asked many questions and learned the value of things.
Aladdin sometimes visited a merchant who sold diamonds and rubies.
He listened to everything the man said and watched him buy and sell.
That is how Aladdin learned his glass fruit were not glass at all.
They were rare stones worth more than anything owned by the sultan himself.
One morning, Aladdin went to the bazaar as usual.
When he arrived, he saw one of the sultan's men on a large horse speaking to the crowd.
"People of the city!" the man shouted.
"Lock up your shops and go home!
Whoever does not obey will be killed!"