In the story about Aladdin that I read in an old edition of 1001 Nights books the genie never restricted the number of wishes in the first place. I think that was introduced by Disney. Many <i>other</i> stories restrict wishes to three, but that one did not.
IIRC, the story with 3 wishes was the fisherman and the bottle. When he tricked the Djinn back into the bottle after it threatened to kill him, The Djinn offered first one wish, then two, then three to convince the fisherman to release him again. It wasn’t a limitation of the Djinn, but a bribe to let him escape.
Both Aladdin’s Ring and Lamp had Djinns with unlimited wishes (The Ring Djinn was weaker than the lamp Djinn, but the only limitation actually mentioned was that the Ring Djinn could not UNdo anything done by the Lamp Djinn.)
The three wish limit came from the 1001 Arabian Nights tale of "The Fisherman and the Bottle". Fisherman pulls a bottle up from the sea bed in his fishing net. It is marked with the seal of King Solomon. Opening it up, he frees a powerful genie who at first bows before the fisherman, begging for mercy and addressing him as King Solomon. When the fisherman tells him he is not King Solomon, the genie flies into a rage and tells the fisherman when he was trapped in the bottle he originally decided to grant any who would free him three wishes, but as the centuries wore on and no one ever freed him, he instead vowed he would only grant his rescuer one wish, to be able to choose how he died at the genie’s hands. Thinking fast the fisherman told the genie he was lying, that he was never trapped in that bottle, that no being so large as he could ever fit into such a vessel, it would be beyond even the genie’s power. Offended at the accusation, the genie proclaimed before he would slay the fisherman, he’d prove that he had such power, and returned into the bottle at which point the fisherman shoved the stopper back into the bottle and was ready to throw it back into the sea when the genie screamed from inside, begging for mercy and swearing an oath on the seal of Solomon that if the fisherman would release him, he’d not harm him but instead grant him three wishes. The fisherman released the genie once more and the genie honored his word. (The three wishes continue the story then in a different direction without the genie being involved)
The Rule of Three as a trope is, of course, a good deal older than that. We don't really know of a time when three wasn't a significant number in stories.
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Infinite wishes are a good compensation for most of them being misunderstood.
_If_ you survive the misunderstanding to ask again 😛
Yep, it’s official, he’s just that stupid.
I wonder what would happen if a person’s *first* wish is that the genie forever forgets how to count the number of wishes as they are used?
0.o
This. This is exactly what happens. And perhaps exactly what happened.
In the story about Aladdin that I read in an old edition of 1001 Nights books the genie never restricted the number of wishes in the first place. I think that was introduced by Disney. Many <i>other</i> stories restrict wishes to three, but that one did not.
The 3 wishes idea far predates Disney. I do believe it was in the 1001 Arabian Nights tales in at least some translations.
IIRC, the story with 3 wishes was the fisherman and the bottle. When he tricked the Djinn back into the bottle after it threatened to kill him, The Djinn offered first one wish, then two, then three to convince the fisherman to release him again. It wasn’t a limitation of the Djinn, but a bribe to let him escape.
Both Aladdin’s Ring and Lamp had Djinns with unlimited wishes (The Ring Djinn was weaker than the lamp Djinn, but the only limitation actually mentioned was that the Ring Djinn could not UNdo anything done by the Lamp Djinn.)
The three wish limit came from the 1001 Arabian Nights tale of "The Fisherman and the Bottle". Fisherman pulls a bottle up from the sea bed in his fishing net. It is marked with the seal of King Solomon. Opening it up, he frees a powerful genie who at first bows before the fisherman, begging for mercy and addressing him as King Solomon. When the fisherman tells him he is not King Solomon, the genie flies into a rage and tells the fisherman when he was trapped in the bottle he originally decided to grant any who would free him three wishes, but as the centuries wore on and no one ever freed him, he instead vowed he would only grant his rescuer one wish, to be able to choose how he died at the genie’s hands. Thinking fast the fisherman told the genie he was lying, that he was never trapped in that bottle, that no being so large as he could ever fit into such a vessel, it would be beyond even the genie’s power. Offended at the accusation, the genie proclaimed before he would slay the fisherman, he’d prove that he had such power, and returned into the bottle at which point the fisherman shoved the stopper back into the bottle and was ready to throw it back into the sea when the genie screamed from inside, begging for mercy and swearing an oath on the seal of Solomon that if the fisherman would release him, he’d not harm him but instead grant him three wishes. The fisherman released the genie once more and the genie honored his word. (The three wishes continue the story then in a different direction without the genie being involved)
The Rule of Three as a trope is, of course, a good deal older than that. We don't really know of a time when three wasn't a significant number in stories.