Princess Morbucks traveled the world in her daddy's private jet. She paid enormous bribes for information. She threw spectacular tantrums when a lot of that information was lies. She made horrible threats to the liars. And finally, she got what she was looking for.
She got out of the limousine and into the hot sun. Princess showed disgust on her face. It was just a run-down old shack in the middle of the Syrian desert, far away from her lush hotel suite in Damascus. The old man who told her to come here had better hope she wouldn't find him!
The building was made from earthen brick, and sat low to the ground. It had no windows that she could see. There was sand everywhere. It was blowing into her eyes. The place didn't even have a door. There was just a canvas flap over the entranceway. There wouldn't be any magic lamp here. Nothing but old junk, probably. Princess went inside anyway.
She was surprised by what she saw. It was dark, like she expected. The only light came from a few oil lamps scattered about. But it was nice and cool, instead of hot and dusty like she thought it would be. When her eyes got used to the dark, she saw treasures lining the shelves. There were gold, brass and bronze figurines of camels and other animals. There were beautiful scarves made of the finest silk. Patterned rugs of every size and color were hanging on the walls or sitting in piles on the floor. And there was a lot more, all neatly arranged, and the shop was clean, too. Princess smiled. Anything this nice out in the middle of nowhere had to be special. She knew she had come to the right place!
"May I assist you?"
Princess heard the old shopkeeper before she saw him. He stood behind the old-fashioned glass counter. There were more treasures filling its shelves. He was very short, and wore plain dark trousers and a white shirt with a camel-skin vest. On his head, instead of a turban like the ones worn by many of the men she had seen, was a red and gold fez with a gold tassel. His moustache and short beard had turned gray to match his hair. He didn't smile.
Princess walked up to the counter. "Do you own this shop?"
"Yes, Miss. It has been in my family for generations. Now, what interests you?"
"I'm here to buy a lamp."
The old man smiled for the first time. He came out from behind the counter. "Ah! I have some fine lamps. Some are quite old and have a story behind them. Please, come this way!"
Eagerly, Princess followed. All of the lamps were in one place. There were maybe twenty, on three shelves. A few were new, polished brass ones. The rest were older. There were many different shapes, including a few that looked a lot like Aladdin's lamp.
"I'm looking for the magic one," she said.
The old man stopped suddenly. He turned around to face her, chuckling, "If I had a pound for every time I've heard that!"
"I'm not kidding!" Princess said, indignantly. She wasn't quite ready to get angry, yet.
The shopkeeper continued to smile. "That is a fable. There are no magic lamps."
He turned again, and picked up an antique brass lamp that had aged to a dull brown. He showed it to Princess. It was a very pretty oval-shaped lamp. It had intricate Arabian-life scenes etched into both sides.
The old man told Princess, "This one has a wonderful story behind it, and you may have it for only three thousand pounds."
Princess knew that was around sixty dollars. It was cheap. She could sell it for a lot more back home. Not that it would be worth her precious time.
"Don't waste my time, old man. I know there's a magic lamp here. How much do you want for it?"
The old man fingered his moustache and smiled again. He walked back to his counter and went behind it. "Suppose you tell me, Miss, how much you would pay for a magic lamp."
Princess was ready to get angry now. "Stop wasting my time! I want that lamp, now, you camel jockey!" she screamed, stamping her foot.
"Camel jockey?" The old shopkeeper blinked at the insult. "There is no reason to be rude, little girl. I have no need for the money of someone such as yourself. Please leave my shop."
Princess wasn't that easily put off. "I'm not leaving until I get what I came here for!"
If there had been a window in the old shop, it would have shattered. The man could see that he was beaten. "Very well. I ask you again, what will you pay for such a lamp? When you find one…"
"When I find it, I won't have to pay you anything for it," Princess answered snidely.
"And why not?"
"Because," said the haughty little girl. "I'll find it by rubbing it, and when the genie comes out, then I'll have my three wishes, and you won't see a penny!"
"Ah, yes. The three wishes." The old man paused, as if remembering something. "If wishes were horses, beggars would ride…"
"And if wishes were fishes, I'd have mine fried!" shot the brat.
"You are buying nothing but trouble, little girl," the man said sternly. "I do not want trouble. But if you insist…"
He came out from behind the counter. Instead of going to where his lamps were, he disappeared for a moment, into a small back room. Its entrance was hidden by a large, hanging bokhara-style oriental rug made of lamb's wool. It was a deep ruby color, and it had a pattern of geometric shapes in ruby, black, white and gold.
"Daddy has one just like that in his library," thought Princess.
The shopkeeper returned, holding what looked to Princess like a small, dirty old piece of junk. It didn't look anything like Aladdin's famed lamp. But when she took a closer look at it, it wasn't a piece of junk. Princess knew gold when she saw it. The many gold items in this shop were all clean and polished. The old man didn't know what he had in his hands.
"This is what you want," he said, holding it tightly in both hands. "It may not look like much, but the d'jinni inside chose it centuries ago for that very reason, so as to be left alone. It has brought great wealth over the centuries to whoever summoned it, but it has brought great, bad luck also. I ask you to reconsider."
"You're just trying to scare me!" snapped Princess. "I don't scare so easy. How much do you want for it?"
The old man paused before answering. "One million pounds," he said.
That sum was around twenty thousand American dollars. Princess thought that this old man didn't see that much money in a whole year. But to her, it was nothing. That made her suspicious.
"Hey, wait a minute. If it's really a magic lamp, how come you never used it? It's worth a lot more than you're asking!"
The old man sighed. "All the riches on earth are not worth trouble. And I should be very glad to get rid of this thing. It came into my possession quite by accident, and though I have been tempted many times to summon the d'jinni, I have always resisted. My needs are simple. My asking price is fair to both of us."
"I'll pay four hundred thousand."
"Nine hundred."
"Five hundred."
"Nine hundred."
Princess scowled at the man. "I thought you people were supposed to haggle. Six-fifty, and that's my final offer."
"I will take not a pound less than nine hundred thousand. But, I will tell you what. We both know the value if there is indeed a d'jinni inside. I will accept five thousand American dollars now. If a d'jinni appears, you pay me the rest. If not, we are even."
"Oh, goody!" Princess Morbucks thought. An antique gold lamp was a good buy at five grand, even if there wasn't a genie. But now she was sure there was. "I win!"
At that moment, on the other side of the world, the Powerpuff Girls and Professor Utonium were shopping. The girls had been extra-good lately, which meant they hadn't wrecked the house in over a week. So, to reward them, Professor Utonium took them toy shopping. Blossom wanted a video game, Buttercup a remote-control monster truck, and Bubbles got a new wardrobe for her Babsie doll. It proved she was the smartest of the three. The doll clothes cost a small fortune. Professor Utonium also bought a board game for them to play together. None of them had any idea of what Princess was scheming, halfway around the world.