ALADDIN

JASMINE: Jafar?

JAFAR: Oh, uh, princess.

IAGO: Awk! Jafar, I'm stuck!

JAFAR: How may I be of service to you? (He spreads out his

cape, hiding the door.)

JASMINE: The guards just took a boy from the market, on your

orders.

JAFAR: Your father's charged me with keeping peace in

Agrabah. The boy was a criminal.

JASMINE: What was the crime?

IAGO: I can't breathe, Jafar!

JAFAR: Why, kidnapping the princess, of course.

IAGO: If you could just--(JAFAR kicks him back inside the

door and it slams shut)--wow, that hurt!

JASMINE: He didn't kidnap me! I ran away!

JAFAR: (Walking away as if shocked) Oh, dear! Oh, why

frightfully upsetting. Had I but known.

JASMINE: What do you mean?

JAFAR: Sadly, the boy's sentence has already been carried

out.

JASMINE: What sentence?

JAFAR: (with a sinister tone) Death. (JASMINE gasps.)

By beheading.

JASMINE: No! (She collapses to the floor.)

JAFAR: I am exceedingly sorry, princess.

JASMINE: How could you? (She runs from the room crying.)

(IAGO finally makes it out through the door. He flies up and lands on

JAFAR's shoulder, coughing.)

IAGO: So, how did it go?

JAFAR: I think she took it rather well. (They both get a

sinister smile on their faces.)

(Diss. to JASMINE at night, crying at the edge of the fountain. RAJAH

comes over to comfort her. She pets him.)

JASMINE: It's all my fault, Rajah. I didn't even know his

name.

(Cut to int. of dungeon. Rats scurry by, and we descend until we see

ALADDIN chained to the wall.)

ALADDIN: (to himself) She was the princess. I don't believe

it. I must have sounded so stupid to her.

ABU: (from a distance) Yoo-hoo! Aladdin? Hello!

(ABU appears at the window at the top of the dungeon.)

ALADDIN: Abu! Down here! Hey, c'mon--help me outta these.

(ABU stops, then begins chattering wildly, dropping to the ground. He

wraps a cloth around his head and makes his eyes big in an

imitation of the princess.)

ALADDIN: Hey, she was in trouble. Ah, she was worth it.

(ABU jumps up on ALADDIN's shoulders and pulls a small set of tools

out of his pocket, then frees ALADDIN.)

ABU: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

ALADDIN: Don't worry, Abu. I'll never see her again. I'm a

street rat, remember, and there's a law. She's

gotta marry a prince, she deserves it.

(ABU finally frees ALADDIN's hands.)

ABU: Ta da!

ALADDIN: (Rubbing his wrists) I'm a--I'm a fool

OLD MAN: You're only a fool if you give up, boy.

(We see an OLD MAN sitting in the corner that neither ALADDIN nor ABU

have seen before.)

ALADDIN: Who are you?

OLD MAN: A lowly prisoner, like yourself. But together,

perhaps we can be more.

ALADDIN: I'm listening.

OLD MAN: There is a cave, boy. A cave of wonders. Filled

with treasures beyond your wildest dreams.

Treasure enough to impress even your princess, I'd

wager.

(Listeners will note that the OLD MAN pronounced the word

'princess' as "prin-CESS" rather than the standard pronunciation

of "PRIN-cess." The OLD MAN turns his back, and IAGO sticks

his head out of JAFAR's "old man" disguise.)

IAGO: Jafar, can ya hurry it up? I'm dyin' in here!

ALADDIN: But the law says that only a prince can marry--

OLD MAN: You've heard of the golden rule, haven't you boy?

Whoever has the gold makes the rules.(He grins,

showing a hideously bad mouth.)

ALADDIN: So why would you share all of this wonderful

treasure with me?

OLD MAN: I need a young man with strong legs and a strong

back to go in after it.

ALADDIN: Ah, one problem. It's out there, we're in here?

(The OLD MAN walks to a wall and pushes open a hidden exit.)

OLD MAN: Mmm, mmm, mmm., Things aren't always what they

seem. So, do we have a deal?

(ALADDIN looks at ABU, who shrugs his shoulders.)

ABU: Oh, hmm.

(Cut to desert scene. We see ALADDIN leading a horse with the

OLD MAN and ABU on it. Diss. to cave of wonders.)

CAVE: Who disturbs my slumber?

ALADDIN: It is I, Aladdin.

CAVE: Proceed. Touch nothing but the lamp.

(The cave opens up with a roar, and a staircase appears in front of

ALADDIN. )

OLD MAN: Remember, boy--first fetch me the lamp, and then

you shall have your reward.

ALADDIN: C'mon, Abu. (to ABU hiding under the shoulder of

his vest.)

(ALADDIN begins to descend the staircase. He reaches the bottom

and enters a golden chamber filled with treasure.)

ALADDIN: Would ya look at that!

ABU: Uh oh!

ALADDIN: Just a handful of this stuff would make me richer

than the sultan!

(ABU peeks out, sees the treasure, then bolts for it.)

ALADDIN: Abu!

(ABU stops in mid run, hovering over a rug on the floor.)

ALADDIN: Don't...touch...anything! We gotta find that lamp.

(They begin to make their way through the room when the CARPET rises

off the floor and begins following them. ABU gets the feeling

they're being followed.)

ABU: Huh?

(He turns, and the CARPET lies flat on the floor. He continues, and

the CARPET begins to follow again. Again, ABU turns back, but the

CARPET is rolled up and leaning against a pile of treasure. ABU

runs to ALADDIN and tugs his pant leg.)

ABU: Aladdin! Aladdin!

ALADDIN: Abu, will ya knock it off?

(Again the CARPET follows, but this time, when ABU turns, the carpet

jumps to the other side. It reaches down with a tassel and pulls

ABU's tail. When ABU jumps around, CARPET again goes to the other

side. This time, ABU lands in a karate stance. CARPET reaches

down and plucks ABU's hat off, then puts it on himself. ABU sits

thinking for a second, until CARPET waves a tassel in front of his

face. ABU and CARPET both jump scared, and run away. ABU tackles

ALADDIN and turns his head to look at the CARPET.)

ALADDIN: Abu, what are you--crazy?

(The CARPET peeks out from behind a pile of treasure.)

ALADDIN: A magic carpet! C'mon. C'mon out. I'm not gonna

hurt you.

(The CARPET slowly comes out, shyly, then picks up ABU's hat and dusts

it off. It flies over to ALADDIN and hands the hat to ABU next to

him. ABU screeches, and jumps onto ALADDIN's shoulder.)

ALADDIN: Take it easy, Abu. He's not gonna bite.

(The CARPET again picks up ABU's hat and hands it to him. ABU shakes

his fist and screeches at it. CARPET begins to walk away, "sadly.")

ALADDIN: Hey, wait a minute. Don't go. Maybe you can help

us. (CARPET looks back, excited. It then flies

over and wraps around the pair.) Hey, whoa! You

see, we're trying to find this lamp. (CARPET

motions for them to follow it.) I think he knows

where it is.

(They pass through a long cave, until they emerge in a giant

underground cavern. In the centre of the room is a tall pillar,

with a staircase going up to it. It is surrounded by water

with unevenly placed stones forming a bridge. At the top of

the pillar is a beam of light. ALADDIN begins to cross the bridge.)

ALADDIN: Wait here!

ABU: Oh. Huh?

(ABU sees a shrine with a golden monkey. The outstretched paws hold a

giant ruby. ABU is hypnotically drawn to it. ALADDIN climbs the

stairs quickly. CARPET sees ABU and grabs his tail trying in vain

to hold him back. ALADDIN finally reaches the MAGIC LAMP.)

ALADDIN: This is it? This is what we came all the way down

here to-- (He looks down and sees ABU break free

of CARPET's hold and lunge toward the jewel.) Abu-

NO!

(ABU grabs the jewel. There is a rumbling and the room begins to

shake.)

CAVE VOICE: Infidels!

ABU: Uh oh!

CAVE VOICE: You have touched the forbidden treasure. (ABU

places the jewel back into the paw, but the jewel

and the shrine melt into lava.) Now you

will never again see the light of day!

(ALADDIN races down the steps, but they flatten into a ramp, and he

skies down until he flies into the air. The water has turned into

lava. He is falling toward it, when all of a sudden CARPET appears

and catches him. ABU is standing on one of the rocks of the

bridge. He looks left and right and sees rocks exploding into lava.

Then CARPET races over and ALADDIN grabs him, just as the last rock

is exploding.)

ALADDIN: Whoa! Carpet, let's move!

(Together, they race back through the caves dodging walls and falling

debris. ABU grabs ALADDIN's head and covers his eyes.)

ALADDIN: Abu, this is no time to panic! (He pulls ABU off

his head and sees they are flying into a wall.)

Start panicking.

(CARPET goes into a dive, then through another cave. Finally, they

emerge through the internal entrance. Outside, the cave begins to

growl and close. CARPET and company are almost to the top when a

boulder drops on carpet, sending it to the floor. ALADDIN grabs

onto the rock wall and holds on. He sees the OLD MAN at the top,

within reach.)

ALADDIN: Help me out!

OLD MAN: Throw me the lamp!

ALADDIN: I can't hold on. Give me your hand.

OLD MAN: First give me the lamp!

(ALADDIN reaches in and pulls out the MAGIC LAMP. He hands it up, a

nd the OLD MAN raises it above his head.)

OLD MAN: Ha ha ha ha! Yes! At last! Ha ha ha ha!

(ALADDIN has climbed out with the assistance of ABU. But the OLD

MAN kicks aside ABU and grabs ALADDIN's wrist.)

ALADDIN: What are you doing?

OLD MAN: Giving you your reward. (JAFAR returns to his

normal voice.) Your eternal reward.

(He pulls out a crooked dagger and is about to stab ALADDIN, when

ABU bites him on the wrist. He screams, but lets go of ALADDIN,

who falls into the cave. OLD MAN throws ABU into the cave as

well. They fall. CARPET sees this, but is pinned under a

boulder. It struggles to break free, then does. It races

up and catches ALADDIN, but he has already hit the wall several

times, and is unconscious. On the surface, the cave roars one

final time, then sinks back into the sand. JAFAR pulls off

his disguise.)

JAFAR: Heh heh heh! It's mine. It's all mine! I (He can't

find it in his pocket)--- where is it? No. NO!!

(Kiss fade to JASMINE's bedroom. She is sitting on her bed, next

to RAJAH who looks sad. The SULTAN walks in.)

SULTAN: Jasmine? Oh, dearest. What's wrong?

JASMINE: Jafar...has...done something... terrible. (She

looks as if she's been crying.)