The story of Aladdin
and the magical lamp is part of the European cannon of fairy tales thanks to
its publication, by French Scholar Antoine Galland in 1717. Though originating from Syria, the tale is
popular in European lands and countries like the United States and Australia,
which derive from European nations. It has been retold in a thousand ways, from
Galland's version to the Disney Aladdin
with Robin Williams as the voice of the genie.
The set-up to the story has become a proverbial. An
example is an old Twilight Zone episode. A man and his wife encounter a genie
but end up squandering their wishes. And the wishes don't make them happy. So
the moral is, Be content with what you
have; or, If you're not happy with
what you have, magic won't really change that. Another Twilight Zone episode using the genie was called I Dream of Genie. In this one, the man
finds the proverbial lamp, sees a shabby genie dressed in a rumpled three-piece
suit who tells him he has one wish. The man says, "Isn't that three wishes?"
and the genie tells him they're unionized now and only give one wish.
He has a day to decide what it will be. He imagines
being married to a famous movie star, being a celebrity, and, finally, serving
as the President of the United States. But he sees the drawbacks of these and
their problems. Then (and the ending still delights me) he suddenly has an epiphany.
He says to his beloved dog "Old boy, you and I are going to ask for
something unique." Next scene, a
homeless drunk sees a lamp and rubs it. Out comes not the rumpled, bored genie
who will only grant one wish, but the main character, dressed in the
traditional genie costume of turban, baggy pants, and sleeveless shirt (his dog
has on a turban too). He going to give the poor man three wishes.
And there are other "takes": I Dream
of Jeannie, where a man puts up with the presence of a real, live female
genie who causes him endless trouble; or The
Seventh Voyage of Sindbad, where the hero and his girlfriend are told how
being a genie, "the slave of the lamp," is not all it's cracked up to
be.
My story The
Woman in the Lamp plugs into all of this.
The main character, Curtis, an illustrator with
aspirations to be a famous artist of the ilk of Van Gogh, finds the lamp and
the genie, a beautiful woman (not blonde, she looks Persian or Arab) informs him
she is his slave and he has not three wishes but unlimited wishes. After a wish
for a pizza confirms that the genie—named Nadria—is real and not a delusion, the
narrator begins to use her magic. He becomes inconspicuously rich. He begins to
think he can now be a world-famous artist. But here, the considerations begin
to bother him.
He is disturbed by Nadria calling him
"master" and herself his "slave." He ends up yielding to
the desire to sexually exploit her. He also uses her to fulfill one of his
hidden desires. He is enamored of a female classical guitarist named
Sigourney Chantrelle. By his wish, he meets her one night in a bar and ends up
sleeping with her. Things are going well … sort of.
Sigourney Chantrelle's life and
career take a nosedive after her encounter with him. She goes through a divorce,
which results in drinking and depression. She fades as a guitarist and ends up
teaching students at a small college. He splits up with Alicia, his girlfriend,
who finds out that he has been unfaithful to her. He also finds he is afraid to
paint the art he wants to do—the art that will launch him from being an
advertising illustrator to being a true artist. He feels remorse for sexually exploiting Narida. Magic indeed has a dark side.
 |
| Sindbad's girlfriend promises to help the Genie |
Curtis wonders how he can get out
of his dilemma. Then he remembers The Seventh Voyage of Sindbad, a movie he saw
as a child. In the end, the captive boy genie is freed by Sindbad and his
girlfriend. They are able to do this because of a cryptic message in the lamp
that tells how to break the spell that has enslaved the genie. Though his
source is a Hollywood movie, Chad thinks perhaps they did some research for it
and there might be a shred of truth in the story. Sure enough, Nadria shrinks
him down so he can enter the lamp. He finds a message in Persian, has an
Iranian friend translate it, and learns how he can free Nadria. After he does, Alicia returns to him. He determines to give away all the money he has accumulated through Nadria's magic. He and Alicia will live off their salaries, meager though they are. Nadria will be free after a millennium of slavery to the lamp. Curtis has learned the true nature of magic and why it doesn't really "work" when you use it for selfish purposes.
The story appeared in the journal Aphelion. Read it here.
For additional titles, see my Writer's Page.
I would love to hear your comments.
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