Stanley and the Magic Lamp (5 page)

Amazed, the robbers stumbled backward, dropping money and jewelry all over the deck.

“Oh, lordy!” one robber yelled. “Who are you?”

Remembering his favorite comicbook hero, Arthur could not resist showing off. He flew ten feet up in the air and stayed there, looking fierce.

“I am Mighty Arthur!” he shouted in a deep voice. “Mighty Arthur, Enemy of Crime!”

Exclamations rose from the robbers and passengers and ship’s officers. “So strong, and a flyer too! … Who
expected Mighty Arthur? … Are we
ever lucky !
…

This ought to be on TV!”

Now Stanley swooped down from the sky with his bathrobe belt untied, so that his robe flared behind him like a cape. “I’m Mighty Stanley!” he called. “Defender of the Innocent!”

“I do that too!” Arthur cried, wishing he had made
his
robe a cape.
“We both do good things, but I’m the really strong one!”

He saw suddenly that several robbers were trying to escape in the helicopter. It was already rising, but Arthur flashed through the air until he was directly above it, and with one hand pushed it back down onto the deck. When the frightened robbers jumped out, the ship’s officers grabbed them and tied them up.

Now the passengers were even more amazed. “Did you see that?” they said, and “Mighty Arthur and Mighty Stanley, both on the same day!” and “This is
better
than TV!”

The brothers flew up to join Prince Haraz, who had been circling over the ship. “What a pair of show-offs!” said the genie. “Even worse than I used to be.”

As they set out for home, the cheers of the grateful passengers and crew floated up behind them. “Hooray for our rescuers!” they heard, and “Especially Mighty Arthur!” and a moment later, “Mighty Stanley too, of course!”

Soon the big ship was no more than an outline of tiny lights in the black sea below, and the last cheer was only a whisper above the rushing of
the wind: “Three cheers … for … the Enemy … of … Crime … and the … Defender … of the … Inno … cent!”

The brothers felt very proud, but it had been a tiring adventure, and they were not sorry when the city came into sight.

Flying back into the bedroom, the three adventurers found Mr. and Mrs. Lambchop waiting anxiously. The Liophant, who had just finished an enormous bowl of spaghetti mixed with chocolate cookies and milk, was asleep.

“Thank goodness!” Mrs. Lambchop ran to hug her sons.

“Where have you been?” Mr. Lambchop was stern. “Is that you, Prince Haraz, behind that dragon face?”

The genie took off his mask. “Were you worried? Sorry. We went for a little flight.”

“Wait till you hear!” said Arthur. “You can’t tell from looking, but I’m the strongest man in the world, and—”

“Take off those robes and gloves,” said Mrs. Lambchop. “It is not wise to get overheated.”

She went on, as they put their things away. “
Such
an evening! The phone never stopped. I was asked to go on four TV shows, and to advertise a new soap—they wanted to photograph me in the bathtub, so of course I said no!—and then, to find the window open and the three of you
gone
! Such a fright!”

“We thought we’d be right back,” said Stanley, apologizing. “We didn’t know so many exciting things would happen.”

Everybody sat down, and Stanley told about wishing Arthur strong, and the flying, and chasing the airplane,
and the robbers on the ship. Mr. and Mrs. Lambchop both gave deep sighs when Stanley was done.

“It seems, Prince Haraz,” Mr. Lambchop said, “that there are often unexpected consequences when wishes come true.”

“Oh, yes,” said the genie. “That’s what got me into a lamp.”

“It’s not just the Askit Basket problem,” Mr. Lambchop said. “Mrs. Lambchop has been famous less than a day, and already she is exhausted and has lost all her privacy. And though Tom McRude deserved what he got, his tennis comes from natural ability. I am not proud of having shamed him by using magic.”

“And Arthur’s great strength will make other boys afraid of him,” Mrs. Lambchop said. “And flying, mixing with criminals … Dear me! We must consider all this. I will make hot chocolate. It is helpful when there is serious thinking to be done.”

Everyone enjoyed the delicious hot chocolate she brought from the kitchen, with a marshmallow for each cup. The Lambchops sat quietly, sipping and thinking. Prince Haraz, having said twice that he was sorry to have caused problems, began to
pace up and down. The Liophant was still asleep.

At last Mr. Lambchop put down his cup and cleared his throat. “Your attention, please,” he said, and they all looked at him.

“Here is my opinion,” he said. “Genies and their magic, Prince Haraz, are fine for faraway lands and long-ago times, but the Lambchops have always been quite natural people, and this is the United States of America, and the time is today. We are grateful for the excitement you have offered, but now I must ask: Is it possible for Stanley to
un
wish all
the wishes he has made?”

“It is, actually,” said the genie.

“How clever of you, George!” cried Mrs. Lambchop.

Arthur sighed. “I don’t know…. I really like the flying. But being so strong, I guess nobody
would
play with me.”

“I care most about the Liophant,” Stanley said. “Couldn’t we just keep him?”

“He is very lovable,” said Mrs. Lambchop. “But he never stops eating! We cannot
afford
to keep him.”

“Sad, but true,” Mr. Lambchop
said. “Now please tell us, Prince Haraz, what must be done.”

“It’s called Reverse Wishing.” The genie took the little green lamp from the desk and turned it over. “The instructions should be right here on the bottom. Let’s see….”

He studied the words carved into the bottom of the lamp. “Seems simple enough. Each wish has to be separately reversed. I just say ‘Mandrono!’ and—” His voice rose. “Oh, collibots! Double florts! See that little circle there? This is a
training
lamp! There may not be enough wishes left!”

“A training lamp?” exclaimed Mr.
Lambchop. “What is that?”

“They’re for beginners like me, so we don’t overdo for one person,” Prince Haraz said unhappily. “The little ‘fifteen’ in the circle, that’s all the wishes I’m allowed for Stanley.”

The Lambchops all spoke at once. “What? … You never told us! … Only fifteen? … Oh, dear!”

“Please, I’m embarrassed enough,” said the genie, very red in the face. “A
training
lamp! As if I were a baby!”

“We are all beginners, at one time or another,” said Mr. Lambchop. “What matters is, are fifteen wishes enough?”

The genie counted on his fingers to be sure he got it right. “Askit Basket, Liophant—lucky he doesn’t count double!—that’s two, and fame for Mrs. Lambchop and the fancy tennis, that’s four. Making Arthur strong is five, flying for him
and
Stanley is two more …” He smiled. “Seven, and seven for reversing is fourteen! One wish left over for some sort of good-bye treat!”

“Thank goodness!” Mrs. Lambchop hesitated. “It is very late. Could you begin the reversing
now
, do you think?”

Prince Haraz nodded. “I’ll do the
whole family in a bunch. Let’s see … Strength, famous, tennis, two flying. Ready, Arthur? No more Mighty Man after this, I’m afraid.”

“Will I feel weak?” Arthur asked. “Will I flop over?”

The genie shook his head. “Mandrono!” he said. “Mandrono, Mandrono, Mandrono, Mandrono!”

Arthur felt a prickling on the back of his neck. When the prickling stopped, he gave the big desk a shove, but couldn’t budge it.

“I’m just regular me again,” he said. “Oh, well.”

“And I am just Harriet Lambchop
again,” said Mrs. Lambchop, smiling. “An unimportant person.”

“To all of us, my dear, you are the most important person we know,” said Mr. Lambchop. “Arthur, you are as strong as you were yesterday. Think of it that way.”

The genie sipped the last of his hot chocolate. “Where was I? Oh, yes …” He glanced at the Askit Basket. “Mandrono!” The basket vanished. “Just the Liophant now,” he said.

Everyone looked at the Liophant, who was sitting up now in the corner, scratching behind his lion ears with
his elephant trunk. Stanley patted him, and the Liophant licked his hand.

“How sweet!” Mrs. Lambchop said. “George, perhaps…?”

“What makes Liophants truly happy,” said the genie, “is open spaces, and the company of other Liophants.”

“Then send him where it’s like that,” Stanley said bravely,
patting again. The Liophant vanished halfway through the pat.

For a moment no one spoke.

“Good for you, Stanley,” Mr. Lambchop said softly. “And now you must think of a last wish to make.”

While Stanley thought, Mrs. Lambchop collected the hot chocolate cups. “Where will you go now, Prince Haraz?” she said.

“Back into that stuffy little lamp,” said the genie. “And then it’s wait, wait, wait! Hundreds and hundreds of years, probably. It’s my punishment for playing too many tricks. My friends warned me, but I wouldn’t listen.”

He sighed. “Mosef, Ali, Ben Sifa, little Fawz. Such wonderful fellows! I think of them when I’m alone in the lamp, the
fun
they must be having. The games, the freedom….” His voice trembled, and the Lambchops felt very sorry for him.

Suddenly, Arthur had an idea. He whispered it to Stanley.

“Why the whispering?” the genie said crossly. “Let’s have that last wish, Stanley, and I’ll smoke back into my lamp.”

The brothers were smiling at each other. “Good idea, right?” said Arthur.

“Oh, yes!” Stanley turned to the genie. “Here is my last wish, Prince Haraz. I wish for you
not
to stay in the lamp, but to go back where you came from, to be with your genie friends and have good times with them, forever from now on!”

Prince Haraz gasped. His mouth fell open.

Mr. Lambchop worried that he might faint. “Are you all right?” he asked. “Is Stanley not allowed to set you free?”

“Yes, yes … it’s allowed.” The genie spoke softly. “But nobody ever used a wish for the sake of a
genie. Not until now.”

“How selfish people can be!” said Mrs. Lambchop.