The Genie In The Lamp

One fine sunny morning a man was walking along the shore of a deserted beach. Marine debris was strewn about the sand for as far as he could see in every direction, most of it being the waste and refuse irresponsibly discarded by boaters, lost cargo from freighters, or the floating remains of shipwrecks that had been washed ashore with the tides.

His eyes generally danced over the scraps of wood, plastic and glass as he navigated a path that skirted the coastline, until the rays of the rising sun chanced upon an unusual object that reflected the early light brightly.

The man picked his way through the scattered oceanic trash, making his way toward the unusual object until he stood looking down at what he recognized to be an old slipper lamp, of the type made in the Eastern Mediterranean, most likely in the 3rd or 4th century CE. He bent over and picked it up, surprised to discover there was considerable heft to his find.

He shook the lamp expecting water to slosh around inside and to come splashing out of the tapered spout, but no such thing happened. Lifting the lamp up to his eyes, he attempted to peer into it through the spout, but he was not able to discern anything but the pitch black of a light-less space.

Holding the lamp firmly with his left hand he then attempted to pry the lid away from the center of the lamp, but the lid held fast. Thinking to himself he mused that the lamp must be of considerable age for the elements to have caused the lid to have fused to the body.

Taking a closer look at the lamp he noticed the faint impression of elaborate scrollwork and what appeared to be ancient script encircling the base of the lamp.

With the hem of his shirt he started to wipe away grit and sand that had filled in the majority of the letters in an effort to possibly identify the script. As he vigorously rubbed the fabric of his shirt over the band of script, smoke began to pour forth from the spout of the lamp.

At first he stared in surprise at the smoke as it billowed forth, and then, after recovering from the initial shock, tossed the lamp to the ground and recoiled in stunned amazement.

The smoke began to take the shape of a large man wearing a turban in the center of which sparkled an extraordinarily large diamond. The man formed by the smoke was clothed in a simple vest and what appeared to be silk pajama bottoms. As the smoke thinned, details of the face of the man in the smoke became clearer, and the man who had picked up the lamp stood with his mouth agape as the man of smoke looked down upon him.

The man of smoke suddenly spoke; "I am the genie of the lamp! For hundreds of years I have been trapped inside the lamp, imprisoned by the curse of a wicked Vizer who had sought to use my powers to rule the world. You have freed me! For that I will grant you three wishes!"

Whereupon the man who had picked up the lamp grabbed at his chest as his heart, which had been weakened by the earlier shock of the sudden passing of his wife and children in an auto accident, gave out under the stress of his mind trying to make sense of the physical impossibility that stood before him.