Abdulla and The Half-Magic Lamp

There once was a poor young man named Abdulla who within a cave found half a magic lamp and when he rubbed the half a magic lamp then half a genie came out.

"Can you grant me wishes?", asked Abdulla.

"I can", said the half a genie, "Unfortunately, my wishes only last a very short time".

And to demonstate, the Genie turned some rocks nearby into diamonds.

Amazed, Abdulla picked the diamonds up and examined them, watching them sparkle in the sun.

But then, as he was looking at the diamonds, suddenly they turned back into ordinary rocks.

"You see", said the Genie, "My wish only lasted a few minutes and then it wore off. That always happens. You see, once upon a time I was a whole genie and had a whole magic lamp to live in but then an evil magician, with a magic scimitar cut my lamp in two and me with it so now my magic doesn't work as it should".

"Never mind", said Abdulla, "I'm sure your magic will still be useful".

Then Abdulla asked the Genie,

"Can you conjure me up a magic flying carpet?".

The Genie sighed,

"I can, oh master, but I strongly advise against it".

"Please", asked Abdulla.

So the Genie conjured up the flying carpet and, taking hold of his half- lamp, Abdulla commanded the carpet to take him where he might find a beautiful princess.

And at enormous speed the carpet flew with him upon it over land and sea but then, as it was crossing a wide river, suddenly, the carpet disappeared, the Genies spell having worn off, and Abdulla and the lamp went crashing down into the river.

Fortunately Abdulla was a good swimmer and managed to swim to the other side of the river with the half-lamp and crawl onto the bank but then, on the other side of the river Abdulla saw a giant wearing an enormous turban as big as the top of a minaret who was guarding a cave with a gigantic scimitar hanging from his belt.

"Can you put that giant to sleep?", asked Abdulla.

"I can", said the half-Genie, "But not for very long".

"Then put him to sleep for as long as you can", said Abdulla.

And so the Genie blinked its eyes three times and the giant, falling asleep, closed both of his.

Then, when the Giant was snoring, Abdulla crept past it and into the cave.

Within the cave Abdulla saw a beautiful princess and a magic pot full of gold coins with the words, "This pot shall never run out of gold" upon it.

Quickly, placing his half-lamp in the pot full of gold, he picked it up by its handle and, took hold of the Princess's hand with his other hand, then he ran out of the cave as quickly as he could.

As he was leaving the cave, however, suddenly, the Giant woke up and, drawing its gigantic scimitar that looked almost as big as a crescent moon in the sky, it chased after him and the princess.

But then as Abdulla was running back towards the river that he had fallen into earlier, he shouted to the Genie,

"Quick Genie. Conjure up a bridge over this river".

"But Master", said the half-Genie, "The bridge will not last. It will vanish just as the carpet did".

"It doesn't matter", said Abdulla.

And so the Genie conjured up a bridge across the river and, as fast as he could, Abdulla ran across it, pulling the princess behind.

But then, just as they reached the other side of the river, they saw the Giant start to cross the bridge, roaring with evil laughter as loud as thunder, an evil blood thirsty look in its gigantic eyes as it look at them.

However, when the Giant was only half way across the bridge, suddenly, just as the Genie had said, the bridge dissappeared and, when it did, the giant went crashing down into the river and the giant was so heavy that it sank to the very bottom and was never seen again.

After that Abdulla went home with the Princess and they married and, thanks to the half-magic lamp, lived happily ever after.