Jasmine's Play

Jasmine rushed to her quarters with a plan in mind that would require several unusual preparations. Quickly, she made those preparations, then went back to the Sultan. "Why are you not busy preparing my wife to be for tomorrow's wedding?" he asked her. "The guards have been given their orders. All is in readiness. But there is just one small request I would make of you before then," Jasmine told him. "Name it, and if it be reasonable, it shall be done." "You know that I have a gift for story-telling, and that I am widely versed in all the stories of the 1001 Nights, even the obscure tales and the tales added later, such as the tale of Al Adin and the magic lamp. Well, one thing would put my mind at rest before the events of the morrow, and that would be to have the two of us act out one such tale, \'The Story of The Beggar and the Djinniyeh'." "I do not believe you have ever recited that one to me," the Sultan replied in thought. Jasmine thought, "Of course not, you fool. I just made it up!" However, what she said was, "I have taken the liberty of writing your lines down on this piece of parchment," she said, handing it to him. "You would play the role of the Beggar, who finds a cave of wondrous treasures..." Jasmine then continued to instruct the Sultan on the part that he would play. Once the Sultan grasped what he was supposed to do, Jasmine hid behind some pillows. The Sultan (as the Beggar) began, saying, "Oh, look at this cave that I have found!" Then turning to the pillows, imagining them to be a pile of treasure, he said, "Ah, such treasures! Can it be true!" Then peering carefully at a pillow, while feeling somewhat self-conscious at the silliness of this game, he said, "How odd, a dull lamp. Here let me shine it!" So saying, he picked up a pillow and wiped it against his sleeve. At that moment, Jasmine lept forth from the pillows. "Who...Who are you?" The Sultan/Beggar asked. "I am the Djinni of the lamp," Jasmine replied. "For freeing me, I shall grant you one wish!" As she said this, she walked over to him and held his hand, with the magic rock in her palm, so that the rock was between their hands. "Very well," the Sultan replied. Jasmine watched as the Sultan pulled out the parchment in order to remember what his lines were supposed to me. She knew that he was supposed to say, "I wish that the wish written on this piece of paper would be fulfilled," and then throw the (folded up) paper into one of the braziers full of burning coals. Jasmine had sealed the paper with wax, so that he wouldn't be able to see what was really written thereon. Then, she would ask, "But what was that wish?" and he would reply, "I wish that someone as beautiful as you would fall in love with me." Then, in the play, they would kiss and...well, that's as far as she expected things to go, since they had made love just a short while ago. Then, the Sultan looked up from the parchment and began to speak...