Hello everyone, can I get an Abra
Cadabra?!
As you all know, I am Aarif, the guy
who
gets pinned as the evil magician in the story about Aladdin, but I
would like to tell you what really happened.
Some say I did everything based on
greed, but the reason I had to get my hands on the magical lamp was
more out of jealousy than greed. Yes, my original intent for
gaining power of the lamp was to become the most powerful magician in
the world, but after Aladdin outsmarted me, I just wanted to find a way
to even the score.
It all started when I heard a tale
about a magical lamp. This lamp was said to have amazing powers;
it could give you anything you desired. Of course anyone would
want a piece of that, so I decided to find out how I could get my hands
on that lamp.
After several years of researching
old historical stories and geographical sites, I narrowed down the
burial site of the lamp to one place. Based on the historical
accounts, I only needed to find someone else who would grab the lamp
for me. According to the tales, only a person who did not intend
to use the magic of the lamp for themselves could remove the lamp from
the magic cave where it is hidden.
I started hanging in the shadows
of the nearby town, listening to gossip and the daily stories.
Soon it wasn’t hard to realize this lad named Aladdin was the guy I
required. Everyone in the town kept mentioning how lazy this boy
was and how he only cared about doing nothing other than hanging out
and enjoying life. Now I only needed to figure out a way to get
the boy to follow me.
After learning more about the boy
and his family, I discovered that he longed to be rich and
famous. I came up with a plan to make Aladdin think he could get
his deepest desires if only he followed me. Once I led him to the
place of the buried lamp, I explained what he had to do in order to get
this old heirloom of mine and I promised that he would be paid
generously for his trouble. I told him if he would wear this
special ring, one that I tracked back to the original stories, he would
be able to grab the lamp. If he could bring the lamp back to me
without touching any of the other treasures, he could have anything he
wanted in the magical cave.
Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp
Web Source: Screen
Shots
Well, we all know the plan didn’t
work out like I wished. Aladdin escaped with the lamp and I ended
up with nothing. For several years I lost sight of where
Aladdin had gone after escaping with the lamp, until one day I heard of
a huge wedding going on for the Sultan’s daughter. Lo and behold
it was Aladdin whom the daughter was marrying.
I knew if I could just get within
sight of Aladdin I could figure out a way to get the lamp. After
knocking out one of the palace guards and stashing him in a hall
closet, I was able to transform myself into an exact replica of the
guard and wearing his clothing I
become one of the newlyweds’ bedroom attendants.
Once night fell, I snuck into the
room and looked around for the lamp. To my glee it was sitting on
the nightstand next to Aladdin where he slept with his bride. I
went to the lamp at once and picked it up, when much to my surprise my
entire body was sucked into the lamp.
Inside the lamp, it was like
another room. The genie sat in a chair just reading a book as I
fell to the ground after being taken into the lamp. I at once
asked what had happened. It turned out the lamp only worked if
you had the magical ring, the one I gave Aladdin.
However, when I had grabbed the
lamp and disappeared inside it, the lamp had fallen to the ground and
made a crashing noise, waking Aladdin. After looking around and
seeing no one, he summoned the genie to find out what had caused the
noise. The genie told him all that had happened. Because
Aladdin had grown into a humble man, he felt bad for the situation and
wished to free me from the lamp. Even though the genie was
displeased,
he released me. Aladdin then made me promise to give up the hunt
for the lamp or he would arrange to have me sent back inside the lamp.
Since
that day on, I have stuck to learning magical spells and stayed away
from any magical objects. I hope you all enjoyed the story and
understand the difficulty in chasing magical objects.
Author’s
Note: I have based my
story on the plot and characters of the first part of the original
Aladdin tale. Keeping with the original plot line and characters
for the tale, I changed the evil magician into a more misguided
character. Like most people in his situation, he just wanted to
make life easy by getting all his wishes granted. The problem
Aarif encountered was he tried to bite off more than he could chew
using Aladdin to get the lamp.
Because
the traditional tale is very long, I shortened mine
by omitting everything that happens after Aladdin's marriage. The magician,
Aarif, just tricks Aladdin into following him for the search of
treasure. In the original story, the magician pretends to the
brother of Aladdin's dead father, but in my story, he just uses Aladdin
to retrieve the lamp.
Another contrast between the
original tale and my retell, is the way I have Aladdin deal with the
magician. After the magician is caught trying to steal the
lamp, Aladdin offers him the chance of freedom. In the
traditional tale, Aladdin kills the magician by poisoning his
wine.
I hope you enjoyed my
retelling. If you would like to see the original story,
click
here. Aladdin and the
Wonderful Lamp. From Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book. 1889.
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