Three wishes

You probably already know the story of the magic lamp and the three wishes. Also, you probably have already said that if it happened to you, your first order would be to have infinite orders. What few people know is that it really happened to someone.

It started in an ancient Eastern city. A merchant called Nidala was returning home after a hard day of work in the market. He could hardly imagine that the biggest bargain of his life was so close.

When remembering a negotiation that hadn’t worked out as well as he wanted, Nidala kicked a rock in reaction to his own thinking. To his surprise, it was not a stone. Yes, just as you thought it was a magic lamp. Of course, he still didn’t know that at the moment. Magic lamps do not come with a label.

Nidala looked at the lamp and thought that there was another good product for her trade. All he had to do was to give a good shine and… Yes, the great genie of the magic lamp appeared and said that, from now on, Nidala would be entitled to three wishes.

Like any good businessman, his first reaction was to bargain. And since every bargain starts with an absurdly high value in order to have some margin, Nidala said that he wanted infinite desires. To his surprise, the genie said that the wish was an order. If only all negotiations were that easy.

His first thought was to be absurdly rich. Of course, so obvious. Soon, Nidala was in the largest palace in the region. So immensely huge that to go from his bedroom to the ballroom, he had to go by camel. The problem was the dirt that got in the way. Problem soon solved with the wish to have cleaner camels, able to collect their own dirt.

Probably Nidala was the first eccentric super-rich in history. And most of the wealthy become like that just out of boredom. Not counting the discrimination implicit in the difference in terms used to the description. Nidala became eccentric only after getting rich. If he took similar actions when were a simple trader, he would be considered just a crazy man.

Another proof of his eccentricity was the horse racing events organized in his palace. Of course, there were horse races before. But for the first time, mounts and riders swapped places in a bizarre spectacle that mixed strength and patience on the part of the audience. To be honest, when Nidala got the idea, it looked like it would be much more fun than it really showed to be.

He also had an enviable harem and, in his desire, included the condition that his wives were all friends. After all, he thought, someone so rich and powerful shouldn’t have to worry about minor problems like intrigue, jealousy and other disagreements that could arise within his own palace.

Nidala turned his palace into a large ballroom, with extravagant banquets, costume parties, circus shows. The best thing was that nothing was ever missing and, when he was tired, he didn’t even had to end the party. It was enough to go to his bedroom and wish not to be disturbed by kind any noise. Automatically, the walls of the palace became anti-noise as if they were from a sound recording studio.

In every room of his house there were magic carpets: all someone should do was to sweep the dirt under them and it would automatically disappear. Then, the magic carpets gained the function of flying and in this practical way, Nidala got to know the whole world. He was intrigued by the different cultures that existed and knew that with his lamp, he could have the best of each place whenever he wanted.

There were no limits to what could be done. There were snow in the desert, which allowed people to make snowmen ad play snowball war. And it wasn’t even winter. In fact, there were no more seasons, everything could change completely at any time.

Nidala’s satisfaction was limitless, he was sure he would never be bored again in his life. And soon after he had that certainty, he realized that he had been bored for some time. Everything happened exactly as he wanted and exactly because of that, everything was predictable. He wished he had some surprises in his life, but after a while, he began to suspect how much better or simply different those surprises could be.

After much thought, the only alternative found by Nidala was to wish that no one could make more than 3 wishes any longer. The temptation to raise someone’s power to infinity was wonderful in theory, but in practice it didn’t work so well. And that is why, my friends, there is a rule against the possibility of having endless desires, and you certainly do not know anyone who has found a lamp capable of offering unlimited powers.