The problem is that genies or djinns were believed to be mischievous. If you took too long for a wish, then they would cause trouble for you. They were also known to be very manipulative in convincing to make a quick and sudden wish without proper thought. Imagine you’re at a fast food restaurant, in the queue, but can’t decide what you want. The hungry people behind you are rushing you, the cashier is rushing you, and you eventually freak out and just order something random even though you know what you picked you might not enjoy. That’s a genies goal in most mythos
Yup. Djinn were, at best, mischievous. At worst, they were outright adversarial and would only begrudgingly grant wishes if you managed to force them into it. Basically, they had the ability to grant wishes, but didn’t want to. So you had to find a way to force them into it, usually by trapping them and striking a deal to release them if they granted your wish.
this is actually a plot point in the graphic novel Eight Billion Genies, where people would make a wish by reading a really long contract for hours that covers all the possibilities and caveats. You’d enjoy it, OP.
Related: Legislation should come with test cases.
What’s the monkey’s paw when simply adding “that works how I expect it to” to the end of any wish?
“You expected me to grant the letter of your wish in a way that subverted the spirit of your wish or you wouldn’t have put ‘that works how I expect it to’ on the end. I fulfilled your expectations exactly as requested. Having a 10-inch penis on your forehead was exactly the sort of result you expected given how too-good-to-be-true your stumbling onto my lamp was, was it not?”
For example?
