The Princess Jinni

This story logs in at just about 1100 words.

The Princess Jinni

         The beautiful maiden strolled gracefully to the lakebed and looked into the shimmering water. There she caught a glimpse of the afternoon sunlight reflected off her long auburn hair. She looked into her blue eyes in search of the flecks of gold all knights assured her were present, and indeed she found them. She examined her fair pink skin in search of a blemish, and beheld not one.
         She glanced at her slender figure in the clear lake water and found no deformity or bulge. She examined her flowing dress, glittering with diamonds sewn onto the sun-yellow fabric. The dress was, indeed, perfect. She looked at her manicured fingernails with pleasure as she noted the diamond dust that accompanied the polish. She smiled at herself.
         “You are perfect, mademoiselle!” she laughed.
         Her face changed to a shy bashfulness and she blushed. “Why, thank you kind lady.” She straightened up and looked eagerly around. “Tell me, do you know where I might find a jinni? You know, one of those itty bitty things that pop out of the mud if you rub your foot in it just right?”
         She started giggling for a moment, then abruptly stopped and looked a bit annoyed. “Why, kind lady, what have I said that causes you to laugh so?”
         She looked away, ashamed. “Forgive me, mademoiselle; I meant not to be rude. It’s just that jinn are not small things that live in the mud; they are large things that live in the water. If you wish to call one up, you must spit into the water.”
Her face changed to one of eager anticipation and she made as if to spit into the clear lake water.
         In an instant she put out a hand and stopped herself. “No!” she cried. “You must have perfect saliva in order to call up a jinni. Imperfect saliva will bring the evil jinni, and he will destroy you.”
         She laughed mockingly. “Why, kind lady, do look at me. I am perfect in every way, so why should my saliva not be perfect as well?”
         She eyed herself with one eye. “You are indeed perfect, mademoiselle, but any trace of imperfection in the saliva will bring the wrath of the evil jinn, who will destroy you.”
         She looked distressed. “But I simply must have a jinn,” she pouted and stomped her foot in anger. “How do I get a jinn?”
         Her face changed to an all-knowing smile and her words grew thick with accent. “Ah, fair mistress. Do not be deceived by the kind lady. The jinn do not live in the mud, nor do they reside in the water.”
         The maiden’s frown sank deeper. “But where do I find a jinni, old woman?” she asked her reflection.
         Smiling, “Jinn live in the air. They may only be summoned by a whistle.”
         Her face changed to a look of hope and she puckered her lips to whistle.
         Again she caught herself. “No, fair mistress!” she cried in horror. “The whistle must be only the most perfect of whistles, and it must be....”
         “But I’ve whistled all my life, old woman. I am a good whistler.” She again puckered her lips.
         “Yes, a good whistler you may be,” she said quickly. “But can you whistle in the key of A minor for thirty seconds without wavering or taking a breath?” she waited for an answer, but none came so she continued. “For if you cannot, then you will summon Asjinn, the evil jinni. He will obliterate you.”
         Sadness crept into her lovely countenance and she began to pout. “But I need a jinn, old woman. How do I get a jinn?”
         Brightness dawned instantly in her eyes and her mouth contorted to an all-knowing grin. “Practise whistling on the top of Mount Vesuvias for two years (the jinn cannot hear anything up there), and you will be able to whistle in the key of A minor for thirty seconds.”
         Her face twisted in sadness and she let out a large sob of despair. “But I don’t want to go to Mount Vesuvius,” she wailed, hiccoughing wildly.
         She gathered her dress and sat down on a patch of grass beside the lake. Burying her head in her hands, she sobbed again.
         “Do not cry fair maiden,” came a muffled voice. She looked up and saw her reflection in the water. The setting sun caught the reflection and gave it an almost magical glitter.
         “Why shouldn’t I cry?” she sobbed.
         The reflection looked powerful and it smiled at her. “For I am the great jinni!”
The maiden wiped a tear from her eye, almost completely in control of her emotions now, and examined the jinni in the water. It does look somehow magical, she thought, smiling. “But fair jinni, I did not summon you.”
         The jinni smiled. “Ah, but you did!” it said loudly with great gesticulation. “You sat on my grass, therefore summoning me. I am the Grass Jinni.”
         She quickly stood up, so as not to anger the jinni. “Do I get three wishes, fair jinni?” she asked eagerly.
         “One,” replied the jinni. “As tradition goes, you should get three, but I am merely a grass jinni. So, fair maiden, be wise with your wish for you will only have that one.”
         She smiled at the jinni in the water and thought of all the things she wanted. She could ask for wealth, but she was already a wealthy princess. She could ask for beauty, but she was perfect. She could ask for a prince, but she had her pick of hundreds of suitable men. The more she considered, the more she realized that there was nothing for her to wish.
         She began to pout, and then a thought occurred to her. She smiled, looking through the old woman and kind lady and took in all the glorious details of the jinni: the beauty of its face, the radiance of its dress, the lovely long hair tired in a red satin bow. She wanted what the jinni possessed.
         “I wish,” she began, thinking of all she would shortly possess, “that I was a jinn. Not like you,” she added hastily, “but a royal jinni; a Princess Jinni!”
         She stood on the edge of the lake, basking in the thought of being a Princess Jinni. The Grass Jinni on the water nodded and the change was made. There were no flashes of light, nor rumbles of thunder, to announce her entrance into jinni hood. Nevertheless she knew that the change was finalized.
         She looked down at her reflection in the water and gasped as she saw the lovely pink face with the golden-blue eyes. She sighed as she saw the long auburn hair tied with a satin bow, and giggled uncontrollably when she saw the radiant dress; the diamonds sparkling with the setting sun.