2 - I wish for my internet connection to permanently
stabilise, never to freeze suddenly or cut out whilst I am listening to
the radio again.
3 – I wish for a cheap and easy cure for hay
fever to be discovered tomorrow.
These are quite modest wishes to
make to the genie of a magic lamp.
But I know from a close study of fiction that making grand or
purely selfish wishes can lead to trouble.
In a wonderful story entitled “The monkey’s
paw” by W.W. Jacobs, an elderly couple are granted three wishes. For their first, they ask to be rich. The next day their son is killed in a tragic
accident at work and they are paid a large sum of money as compensation. Oops.
The boy’s mother then wishes for the son to
be brought back from the dead. At first
the couple think that nothing has happened but, later that night, they hear an ominous
thudding noise approaching their door. The
old man imagines the horror of his son’s rotting corpse shambling
back to them in a nightmarish parody of life. So he uses the third wish to cancel the
second one just before his wife can open the door.
An episode of the X-files also explores the
idea of people being given three wishes and having them granted but with
unforeseen consequences. A man wishes
for the power of invisibility and is then quickly run over by a car as
he is crossing the road in search of a changing room full of unsuspecting women.
I read the Arab folk story “Aladdin and the
magic lamp” the other day. In it
Aladdin’s wishes are very straight-forward.
He is only interested in bling.
He has a huge palace constructed of diamonds and rubies, and he uses his
power to win for himself the beautiful princess and a position of authority in
the kingdom. He lives happily ever after
in the end, but only after attracting powerful sorcerers as enemies who
constantly try to kill him or trick him into giving up his magic lamp.
I also noticed that Aladdin doesn’t even
think about using his wishes to help others.
Shouldn’t he wish for at least one nice thing for the rest of us? An end to plague, perhaps? A new Disneyland to open up in the centre of Baghdad? (Although the original story is set in China,
perhaps because it sounded exotic to the Arabs.)
I’ve got to go now to blow my nose, while I
wait for wish number 3 to be granted. I
wish you all a pleasant week.
Vocabulary:
to cut out – For a signal, electrical supply etc. to disconnect or stop working suddenly
to cut out – For a signal, electrical supply etc. to disconnect or stop working suddenly
hay fever – an allergy to pollen, which
often causes sneezing, a runny nose etc.
modest – humble; small in scale or ambition
a genie – a mythical creature said to have
magic powers, such as the ability to grant wishes to its master
grand – large in scale or ambition
compensation – A sum of money paid in
exchange for loss, injury, death etc.
ominous – suggestive of coming bad
consequences, evil etc.
a corpse – a dead body
to shamble – to walk in a stiff and poorly controlled
manner, like a zombie
a parody – an imitation; a cheap, poor, or
comic version of something
to be run over – to be hit by a car,
especially when it passes over the top of the victim
bling – this is slang, meaning a garish
show of wealth, jewellery etc.; over the top use of gold,jewels and other
symbols of wealth
plague – terrible deadly illness
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