Once upon a time, in a fantastical Arabian kingdom, there was a young man named Blake. Having grown up alone and in poverty, Blake had to survive by stealing food and gold - but he would only target the wealthy and shared a small portion of his loot with those who faced the same struggles he had. One fateful day, the lowly thief happened upon a suspicious-looking merchant stand, and sitting there was a beautiful, golden lamp! The stand was currently unattended, so Blake went ahead and swiped the lamp before retreating to his secret hideaway, thankfully unnoticed.

Now that Blake was safe in his “home”, the young man mulled over what to do with his latest prize. Just then, he noticed a bit of writing on the side of the lamp; too faded for anyone to make out. Blake rubbed the lamp to dust it off, only for its opening to release a cloud of yellow smoke…and from that smoke cloud emerged a lovely, dark-skinned genie dressed in golden, midriff-baring garb!

“Ahh…” the genie sighed with a smile. “Five thousand years will give you such a cramp in the legs!”

Blake blinked, unsure what to make of what just happened here. “Wait, you were inside this lamp? For five thousand years?!”

“To be honest, I lost track of time ages ago…” the genie chuckled. “Anyhow, I’m Goldie, the genie of this lamp! And for rubbing the lamp, YOU are my new master! I can now grant you three wishes!”

For a moment, Blake stared silently with his mouth agape. Never in his life had he met anyone with the ability to grant anything he desires! “So can you really make ANY wish come true?”

“Well, almost…” Goldie began to explain. “Genie law forbids me from killing anyone, forcibly making anyone fall in love, bringing back the dead, or erasing taxes. But other than that, pretty much anything is fair game!”

Oof…that last limitation would be a tough one to deal with, but hey, Blake was a genie’s master now! He was ready to have so much fun with this. “In that case, my first wish is for you to shrink me down!”

This time, it was Goldie’s turn to blink. “Shrink you..?”

“Yes! Shrink me down to an inch tall, so that my heists are even harder to detect!”

Goldie couldn’t help but smile at Blake’s foolhardy determination. “Ah, so you’re a thief aiming for better stealth? I respect that, Master. Your wish is my command!”

With a snap of Goldie’s fingers, Blake was surrounded by more yellow smoke and gradually shrank until he was his desired size: an inch tall! Now no one would be able to catch him in his thieving acts…right?

Thanking the now-towering genie, Blake readied himself to pursue his next treasure…