History Main / ThreeWishes

* In ''Fanfic/TheMermaidAndTheGenie'', when Ursula steals the Genie's lamp from Ariel when Ariel has only used one wish to become human, Ariel is able to retrieve the lamp from Ursula and use her ''second'' wish to undo all of Ursula's wishes.

** The first wish is used by a member of the group for "some excitement", leading to a fight against some [[Mook Mooks]] and introduction of the genie-like character.

** The first wish is used for some excitement, leading to a fight and introduction of the genie-like character.

** The last wish is used for a way to destroy the genie, but fails due to the rules which forbid the genie from being destroyed. Thus, the wish is wasted.
** The genie is set free and is revealed to be a [[SealedEvilInACan]]. As they begin to reek havoc, TheDitz seemingly betrays the group and switch sides. When allowed an extra wish, it's used to return the group to the point before they found the item that summoned the genie, and never discover it at all.

** The genie is set free and is revealed to be a [SealEvilInACan]. As they begin to reek havoc, TheDitz seemingly betrays the group and switch sides. When allowed an extra wish, it's used to return the group to the point before they found the item that summoned the genie, and never discover it at all.

** The last wish is used for a way to destroy the genie, but fails due to the rules which forbid the genie from being destroyed.
** When the genie is set free and reeks havoc, TheDitz seemingly betrays the group. When allowed an extra wish, they wish they never found the item whished summoned the genie in the first place.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone'' TOS episode "The Man in the Bottle". The genie actually granted ''four'' wishes; with the first wish being used solely to test the genie, the second being "one million dollars" (which they give away to friends, before federal and state income tax claim the rest), the third being a clear Type 2, and the fourth to return everything to normal. A closing KarmicTwistEnding ultimately undoes their first wish as well, leaving them with nothing but some wisdom learned from the experience.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone'' had an episode, "I Dream of Genie," where the Genie only gave one wish, saying there'd been cutbacks, so the man delayed making his wish and dreamed three possible scenarios (the classics: love, money, and power). Finding them all to be unsatisfying, he wished to be a genie himself, who granted three wishes. However, the condition was that his every recipient had to return his lamp to the alley, so that he'd only be found by (and thus help) people who were down-on-their-luck.

* Joan Aiken's short story "[[http://aparker.wiki.hoover.k12.al.us/file/view/The+Third+Wish+by+Joan+Aiken.pdf The Third Wish]]" has a protagonist who's GenreSavvy enough to not accidentally waste his wishes on something stupid and even pricks his tongue with a thorn to make sure he doesn't make any careless wishes. He uses his first wish for a wife "as beautiful as the forest" and does get his perfect wife - except that she's actually a shapeshifted swan who's unhappy at having left her sister and life as a swan behind, and he decides to use his second wish to [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy turn her back into a swan]]. After seeing what happened with his first two wishes, he decides not to use his third wish and actually lives pretty contentedly for the most part taking care of his swan wife and sister-in-law and [[GoOutWithASmile dying with a smile on his face]].

Also, as the Genie in ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}'' stresses, "'''[[PigLatin IXNAY]]''' on the WishingForMoreWishes!"

* Genies in Disney's ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}'' movies must give whomever hold their lamps three wishes, with three restrictions: they can't kill anybody (but, as the sequel ''Disney/AladdinTheReturnOfJafar'' made clear, "[[JerkassGenie you'd be surprised]] [[FateWorseThanDeath what you can live through]]"), they can't make anybody fall in love with anybody else (there's a moment when Jafar wishes for Jasmine to fall in love with him; Jasmine fakes it, much to Genie's surprise), and they can't bring people back from the dead ([[CameBackWrong it's not a pretty picture...]] ''[[CameBackWrong they don't like doing it!]])''. And of course, wishing for more wishes is strictly forbidden (but, as Aladdin proved, genies can apparently be tricked into using their powers without making an official wish, when he doubts whether Genie can even free them from the Cave of Wonders and Genie takes the dare, freeing them without realizing Aladdin never actually ''wished'' for it).
* From ''Disney/AladdinTheReturnOfJafar'', there's a subversion. Abis Mal frees Jafar and also gets the standard three wishes, despite Jafar demanding he take him to Agrabah first so he can get revenge on Aladdin, ''then'' he'll give Abis Mal his wishes. Instead Jafar takes the JackassGenie route and makes Abis Mal completely waste the first two, while saving the third one for getting himself freed from the lamp. Even so, he's in a good enough mood at that point that he gives Abis Mal an entire room of treasure as a reward for setting him free, but Abis Mal never gets to do so in the end.

* Another joke involves a bear and a rabbit who despise each other who both find a genie. The bear uses his three wishes to be surrounded by females to the point that his final wish is to be the only male bear in the world. The rabbit uses his first two wishes for a helmet and a motorcycle to make an escape, but not before wishing that [[IncompatibleOrientation the bear was gay]].

-->-- '''Granny Weatherwax''', ''Discworld/AHatFullOfSky''

* The [[DiscussedTrope implications of]] this version of the trope are part of the ultimate solution in ''Discworld/AHatFullOfSky''. The third wish is the one that undoes the harm of the first two because people don't think things through when they have that much power suddenly handed to them.

Related to the RuleOfThree. For this to work, the person with the wishes has to not be GenreSavvy enough to know to use the first wish to wish for the knowledge and wisdom to know what to use the last two wishes for. Kind of a DeadUnicornTrope, as the origin of the rule is not from the original Aladdin story in ''Literature/ArabianNights'', the genie does not have a limit on wishes he just only got to three before the lamp was stolen, nor Djinns in Arab mythology have a limited number of wishes in folklore.

Related to the RuleOfThree. For this to work, the person with the wishes has to not be GenreSavvy enough to know to use the first wish to wish for the knowledge and wisdom to know what to use the last two wishes for.

* WesternAnimation/WoodyWoodpecker gets three wishes from a leprechaun woodpecker. The first wish gets Woody in trouble with the law, so he uses the second wish to get out of the jam. Woody uses the third wish to tell the leprechaun (in G-rated terms) to go to Hell.

** he henpecked fisherman catches a fish which says he'll grant him three wishes if he spares his life. The fisherman agrees, and wishes for a castle. The wife isn't satisfied and wants to be the Pope, so she sends the fisherman back to catch the magic flounder and get that wish fulfilled as well. Still not enough. Now she wants [[AGodAmI to be like God]], so the fisherman gets sent back one last time. This wish [[{{Wishplosion}} undoes everything]], as the fish [[LiteralGenie interprets the wish]] in the context, as ''VideoGame/AmericanMcgeesGrimm'' points out at the end, that God has no need for material possessions - in short, to "be like God" means absolute destitution, which is no big deal for the divine, but utter hell for the insatiable wife.

* Used in the fairy tale "Literature/TheFishermanAndHisWife": the henpecked fisherman catches a fish which says he'll grant him three wishes if he spares his life. The fisherman agrees, and wishes for a castle. The wife isn't satisfied and wants to be the Pope, so she sends the fisherman back to catch the magic flounder and get that wish fulfilled as well. Still not enough. Now she wants [[AGodAmI to be like God]], so the fisherman gets sent back one last time. This wish [[{{Wishplosion}} undoes everything]], as the fish [[LiteralGenie interprets the wish]] in the context, as ''VideoGame/AmericanMcgeesGrimm'' points out at the end, that God has no need for material possessions - in short, to "be like God" means absolute destitution, which is no big deal for the divine, but utter hell for the insatiable wife.

*** In yet another version, the wife progressively makes more and more demanding wishes, and when the wife is about to make the ultimate wish, the fish is annoyed and says to the fisherman "Every time you come here, you bring a wish for your wife. Don't you have any wish of your own?" to which the fisherman replies "I just wish for my wife to be happy" to which the reset button is applied, and the couple are returned to their original poverty, but now the wife is satisfied with her lot in life and no longer seeks to rise in social status nor wealth. [[{{Glurge}} Awwww.]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/TheThiefOfBagdad''. Why Jasmine never took the opportunity to use three wishes before Aladdin freed the Genie is not shown.
[[/folder]]

* In the ''Series/{{Charmed}}'' season 2 finale, the genie grants the sisters a wish each. Piper vaguely wishes for Dan to move on with his life (as in stop pining over her and Leo) which backfires and he ages rapidly. Prue wishes for love to feel "like it used to" and she ends up transformed into a 16-year-old. Phoebe wishes for an active power but hers gets stolen from a Dragon demon (which becomes HilariousInHindsight as she gains the exact same power naturally in the next episode).
** "I Dream of Phoebe", Phoebe accidentally wishes that Chris wouldn't leave and that ends up stopping him from being able to orb. So her second wish is for him to be able to orb again. Her third wish sets the genie free...and traps her in the bottle instead. Chris becomes her master and accidentally wishes for Leo to get over his prejudice towards him. He then wishes for Piper and Leo to sleep together ([[KidFromTheFuture long story]]) but Phoebe makes them fall asleep next to each other. He doesn't get his third wish however as the original genie steals the bottle. Her three wishes are to kill the sister, raise a lost city and (through some heavy trickery) wish the new genie free which imprisons her again.

* Used in the fairy tale "The Fisherman and his Wife": the henpecked fisherman catches a fish which says he'll grant him three wishes if he spares his life. The fisherman agrees, and wishes for a castle. The wife isn't satisfied and wants to be the Pope, so she sends the fisherman back to catch the magic flounder and get that wish fulfilled as well. Still not enough. Now she wants [[AGodAmI to be like God]], so the fisherman gets sent back one last time. This wish [[{{Wishplosion}} undoes everything]], as the fish [[LiteralGenie interprets the wish]] in the context, as ''VideoGame/AmericanMcgeesGrimm'' points out at the end, that God has no need for material possessions - in short, to "be like God" means absolute destitution, which is no big deal for the divine, but utter hell for the insatiable wife.

* "Literature/TheLudicrousWishes": While this story is a little obscure, it ''may'' be the TropeMaker, as it dates to 1697 at the latest.