Death
Wish
Once
upon a time an Adventurer told the Genie of the Lamp, “But I know how this
works! The third wish is always to unwish the first two wishes!”
The
Genie said, “Indeed that is generally the case.”
The
Adventurer said, “And the first two wishes always go wrong because of a loophole!
Or a trick! Some ironic reversal! Well I don’t want that!”
The
Genie said, “So your first wish is…?”
The
Adventurer said, “My first wish is: that these wishes have no loopholes! And no
tricks! Nothing ironic! – and that you grant compound wishes!”
“No loopholes,
tricks, or irony; plus compound wishes. Granted!”
“Good!
Now, for my second wish…” The Adventurer
paused. This wish counted, for he had to
keep the third in reserve. “I wish for health and wealth, love and luck,
friendship and family, honor, happiness, wisdom and longevity. May I and my
loved ones live long and prosper.”
The
Genie said, “Granted,” and vanished.
The Adventurer
left the desert, bearing the Genie’s lamp. At the nearest trading post he sold
the lamp; and starting from that money he built his fortune. Wealth was his,
and so was health, and so was everything else in his wish.
Many
decades later, the Genie appeared at his bedside. The Genie said, “Old man, you
are dying. There’s no time left. Make the unwish, now! Then time will unwind, and you will be back in the desert,
young again!”
“Unwish
my children? No.” The Adventurer turned to the wall, and he died.
“Alas!
Alas!” the Genie cried out. “The second wish was fatal!”
Moral: Be careful what you wish for, you might get it.
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