Aladdin and the Magic Lamp

What would you wish for?

Hello again, readers! This week's story is probably familiar to you. It's Aladdin and the Magic Lamp. What surprised me was that this story is set in China. I thought it was part of One Thousand One Nights, or Arabian Nights, but apparently not. It was associated with that book later. Either way, it's still a fun story, so let's dive in.


I have to start with the magician. They tell us that he's evil, but I don't see anything to support that. He certainly lost his temper when Aladdin asked to be helped out of the cave before Aladdin would give up the lamp. But really, anyone with common sense would have done the same as Aladdin. The magician had some shady behavior already, so it makes sense that Aladdin wouldn't fully trust him. But his tantrum also doesn't make the magician evil.

Later in the story, when the magician finds out how well Aladdin is living, the magician comes by to steal back the lamp. Again, not necessarily evil, as heroes steal things like this all the time in stories. Once the magician had the lamp, he did wish Aladdin's palace and princess far away. Again, this could be because of the magician's temper. After all, the magician saw himself as being cheated out of this lamp for years, so he was probably angry. That doesn't make his actions good, but it means the magician is not necessarily evil, either.

I also have to wonder about what lies Aladdin told after he suddenly lived in a palace. He had to have said something to end up marrying a princess. I wonder if the lies were hard to keep up with, or if they just became his life. I also wonder if he loved the princess or if she was just a status symbol for him. There's no way to tell, but for her sake, I'm going to hope they were in love. Otherwise she married a peasant who used to be penniless and only got riches through magic. Which isn't terrible, but probably wouldn't help their kingdom's image if that got out.

So, really I'm not sure there is a "good guy" and a "bad guy" in this story. There's just people. Hopefully the genie banished that magician somewhere nice...

The moral of this story is don't lose your temper. Alternatively, if you get stuck in a magic cave, you better start looking for magical help.

Have a different moral? Annoyed that neither the princess not Aladdin's mother had a real role in the story? Have a different story you want me to talk about? Comment below!