Genie
A genie or djini (from the Arabic language Jinni) is a mythological creature
from arabian folklore. A powerful spirit of the air, the most famous genie is
the one that Aladdin, found trapped inside a magical oil lamp, that obeyed the
commands of whoever released it.
Aladdin is one of the tales from The Arabian Nights. It concerns a young man
named Aladdin living in China, who is recruited by a sorcerer to retrieve a
oil lamp from a booby-trapped magic cave. After the sorcerer attempts to
double-cross him, Aladdin keeps the lamp for himself, and discovers that it
contains a genie that is bound to obey the orders of the person holding the
lamp. With the aid of the genie, Aladdin becomes rich and powerful and marries
a princess. The sorcerer returns, and is able to get his hands on the lamp (by
tricking Aladdin's wife, who is unaware of the lamp's importance), but Aladdin
wins out in the end.
The theme of the wily trickster of lowly birth who outfoxes the Trickster
himself, is a widespread motif in fables.
No medieval Arabic source has been traced for the tale, which was incorporated
into The Book of One Thousand and One Nights by its French translator, Antoine
Galland, who heard it from a Syrian Christian storyteller from Aleppo.
Galland's diary (March 25, 1709) records that he met the Maronite scholar, by
name Youhenna Diab, ('Hanna') who had been brought from Aleppo to Paris,
France by Paul Lucas, a celebrated French traveller. Galland's diary also
tells that his translation of 'Aladdin' was made in the winter of 1709-10. It
was included in his volumes ix and x of the Nights,
published in 1710.
Source:
Wikipedia |
