She was looking straight at Jafar as she made her request, and there was the slightest curl of a smile at the corner of her lips. Jafar cleared his throat and said, “Well, I do know the story in some depth and have been able to recite it upon occasion.”
He was immediately beset by requests from all sides to tell the story. Sailors, he knew from previous experience, were always a good audience for a tale of magic, and it turned out this was particularly true when they were at sea in the middle of a long voyage with no pressing duties to perform. His being a wizard was momentarily forgotten in view of the fact that he was about to regale them with a yarn that, while familiar to most of them, never lost its basic appeal.
Jafar made himself comfortable, sitting on a barrel on the deck surrou
