These are not real Fairy Tales...
There is a dark room, and there is a Monster in this room. But the room is so dark, pitch black, that you cannot see the Monster. You have a sword. What do you do?
Avoid the Monster? But you cannot see it. If you enter that room, you will certainly bump into the monster, and it may kill you.
Kill the Monster? Again, you cannot see it. You can slash wildly, hoping to hit the Monster by chance, but there are also important and fragile objects in the room, glass and ceramic figurines, that will certainly break if there is random slashing, and that would be unfortunate. And more unfortunate, you may break a supporting pillar in the room, and the whole room might cave in, killing you as well.
Run away? But inside that room is one of your primary food and energy sources, guarded, perhaps, by the Monster. Losing it fully would really be a hit, and you're already starving.
No. There is only one way. Starving, you must wait, and learn to see.
***********************
A man wandered down the street one day, and spied a pile of discarded trash. He noticed something glinting in the sunlight, and picked it up, hoping it was something valuable that he could sell. He found an old metal oil lamp, and took a corner of his shirt to dust it off. To his surprise, a genie popped out of the lamp. She was beautiful.
"What would you like, Master?" She asked. "You have three wishes." He seemed bemused, but after a moment, searched his thoughts and said, "I want a woman who'll love me." The Genie, knowing that she could not wish love upon someone, told him that she would do her best. He pointed out to her a woman who he had admired from afar, and said he wished he could connect with her.
The Genie snapped her fingers, and suddenly they were in a beautiful park, the man and the woman, and they were surrounded by flowers. "Funny, I can't remember how I ended up here," she told him. "You know, neither can I," he said, and they both laughed. They began to talk and laugh, and when they finally walked back home, the sun was setting, and she had in her hair flowers that he had placed there, and his hand linked in hers.
Things went well for the young couple, as the Genie learned, as the man told her of it all. She became his confidante. Soon, the woman began to grow suspicious, though, and felt that he was hiding something from her, after all, how could he tell her that his secret to winning her affections was a magic Genie? Eventually, the suspicion became too much, and she left him. Saddened, the man asked the Genie for his second wish: to find someone who was sweet and trusting.
The Genie brought him someone of that nature, and they took off much like the first couple. But the Genie soon learned that this couple too would not work, as they had little in common, and when he truly was himself around her, this became all too apparent. This she learned as he he told it to her, in detail, anguishing that he once again may lose his love.
Over time, the Genie grew rather fond of the man, and their conversations included more than his happiness and woes with the women, but his thoughts and feelings, the inanities of his days, and eventually, his hopes and dreams. One night, the Genie heard arguing in the man's house, and realized that the woman was leaving him, and knew that he would soon come into the room and make his third wish, and at that point she would have to leave him.
Anguished at the thought, she sped away from the room as fast as she could. When the man entered to look for her, finding only the empty lamp, he ran around the area to look for her, sadly finding no one. Finally, a girl stopped him, asking him what was wrong. He explained that he had lost his love and his best friend, and did not know what to do. The two got to talking, and days later, when the Genie, overcome with missing him, returned, she found him happy and excited to tell her of a new love.
This time, he said, it had happened naturally, and he was not going to mess it up. He was careful about how he presented himself to the girl, and slowly started spending less and less time with the Genie. Soon, she saw him only rarely, and when she did, she saw that he was not fully happy, and found that they were soon going to be married.
Hearing him talk to his fiancee in the other room, she gleaned that his next wish was coming soon: a perfect wedding. Realizing that her time with him was short, and that she believed he deserved better than someone who did not truly make him happy, she decided to offer herself to him. She would tell him of her love when he next saw her, and surely he would choose the loyal friend over the woman he was afraid to really share himself with.
But, to his surprise, it was the girl who opened the door. Try as he might to stop her, she saw the Genie before she could hide herself in the lamp. Cornered, he told the girl everything, including the friendship he felt for the Genie, the way the others had left him, the way he had anticipated giving her the perfect wedding, and how much he worried about disappointing her.
But she took it all in stride, telling him that she wanted to know him for all he was, and did not want to keep him from his close friend, and that the perfect wedding didn't matter, for it mattered only that he loved her. The Genie realized then that the two were meant for each other, and the man realized too, that he didn't need to hold back, and loved her all the more. The two were married in a modest fashion, but never were there two happier newlyweds. Finally, the man told the Genie that he needed nothing more, for he had everything he needed to be happy, and used his third and final wish to free her from the lamp, so she too could be free to pursue her own happiness.
Avoid the Monster? But you cannot see it. If you enter that room, you will certainly bump into the monster, and it may kill you.
Kill the Monster? Again, you cannot see it. You can slash wildly, hoping to hit the Monster by chance, but there are also important and fragile objects in the room, glass and ceramic figurines, that will certainly break if there is random slashing, and that would be unfortunate. And more unfortunate, you may break a supporting pillar in the room, and the whole room might cave in, killing you as well.
Run away? But inside that room is one of your primary food and energy sources, guarded, perhaps, by the Monster. Losing it fully would really be a hit, and you're already starving.
No. There is only one way. Starving, you must wait, and learn to see.
***********************
A man wandered down the street one day, and spied a pile of discarded trash. He noticed something glinting in the sunlight, and picked it up, hoping it was something valuable that he could sell. He found an old metal oil lamp, and took a corner of his shirt to dust it off. To his surprise, a genie popped out of the lamp. She was beautiful.
"What would you like, Master?" She asked. "You have three wishes." He seemed bemused, but after a moment, searched his thoughts and said, "I want a woman who'll love me." The Genie, knowing that she could not wish love upon someone, told him that she would do her best. He pointed out to her a woman who he had admired from afar, and said he wished he could connect with her.
The Genie snapped her fingers, and suddenly they were in a beautiful park, the man and the woman, and they were surrounded by flowers. "Funny, I can't remember how I ended up here," she told him. "You know, neither can I," he said, and they both laughed. They began to talk and laugh, and when they finally walked back home, the sun was setting, and she had in her hair flowers that he had placed there, and his hand linked in hers.
Things went well for the young couple, as the Genie learned, as the man told her of it all. She became his confidante. Soon, the woman began to grow suspicious, though, and felt that he was hiding something from her, after all, how could he tell her that his secret to winning her affections was a magic Genie? Eventually, the suspicion became too much, and she left him. Saddened, the man asked the Genie for his second wish: to find someone who was sweet and trusting.
The Genie brought him someone of that nature, and they took off much like the first couple. But the Genie soon learned that this couple too would not work, as they had little in common, and when he truly was himself around her, this became all too apparent. This she learned as he he told it to her, in detail, anguishing that he once again may lose his love.
Over time, the Genie grew rather fond of the man, and their conversations included more than his happiness and woes with the women, but his thoughts and feelings, the inanities of his days, and eventually, his hopes and dreams. One night, the Genie heard arguing in the man's house, and realized that the woman was leaving him, and knew that he would soon come into the room and make his third wish, and at that point she would have to leave him.
Anguished at the thought, she sped away from the room as fast as she could. When the man entered to look for her, finding only the empty lamp, he ran around the area to look for her, sadly finding no one. Finally, a girl stopped him, asking him what was wrong. He explained that he had lost his love and his best friend, and did not know what to do. The two got to talking, and days later, when the Genie, overcome with missing him, returned, she found him happy and excited to tell her of a new love.
This time, he said, it had happened naturally, and he was not going to mess it up. He was careful about how he presented himself to the girl, and slowly started spending less and less time with the Genie. Soon, she saw him only rarely, and when she did, she saw that he was not fully happy, and found that they were soon going to be married.
Hearing him talk to his fiancee in the other room, she gleaned that his next wish was coming soon: a perfect wedding. Realizing that her time with him was short, and that she believed he deserved better than someone who did not truly make him happy, she decided to offer herself to him. She would tell him of her love when he next saw her, and surely he would choose the loyal friend over the woman he was afraid to really share himself with.
But, to his surprise, it was the girl who opened the door. Try as he might to stop her, she saw the Genie before she could hide herself in the lamp. Cornered, he told the girl everything, including the friendship he felt for the Genie, the way the others had left him, the way he had anticipated giving her the perfect wedding, and how much he worried about disappointing her.
But she took it all in stride, telling him that she wanted to know him for all he was, and did not want to keep him from his close friend, and that the perfect wedding didn't matter, for it mattered only that he loved her. The Genie realized then that the two were meant for each other, and the man realized too, that he didn't need to hold back, and loved her all the more. The two were married in a modest fashion, but never were there two happier newlyweds. Finally, the man told the Genie that he needed nothing more, for he had everything he needed to be happy, and used his third and final wish to free her from the lamp, so she too could be free to pursue her own happiness.