Genie in a bottle

When he had got over his surprise at releasing a genie from the bottle of olives in which it had inadvertently become trapped, he quickly set about establishing the ground rules. It seemed that the traditional, three-wishes-none-of-which-is-a-wish-for-more-wishes set-up applied. As a starter, he wished for a bag full of diamonds. A specific bag. With diamonds of a stated quality and coming with full provenance. He was a quick thinker and had heard stories.

The second wish came after a certain amount of thought. Whilst wishing for more wishes was out, it was apparently acceptable to wish that he was “lucky”. That he was the sort of person for whom things just worked out. That was the spirit of the second wish but the actually wording covered several pieces of paper. It was carefully thought out and, he believed, contained no scope for unpleasant surprises. As well as being a quick thinker, he was an intelligent man who planned ahead.

And the third wish? He decided to defer the exercise of the third and final wish for the foreseeable future. As well as being a quick thinker and an intelligent man, he was a wise man, which is a different matter altogether.