In this story, Brainy and Clumsy both discover a genie in a bottle who calls himself Genie Meanie, which turns out to be an appropriate name since he is a Jackass Genie who likes to play magical pranks at the expense of those he comes across. He says that he comes out of his bottle once every 100 years to grant wishes to whoever can come up with the magic words to summon him, but he will only do so until the sun goes down, at which point he goes back into the bottle for another 100 years, wishes or no wishes. Brainy and Clumsy try to guess what the magic words are, but none of their guesses are correct, so they decide to take the genie back to the Smurf Village so that Papa Smurf could find out the magic words. Unfortunately, Papa Smurf is gone on an errand and won't return until near sundown, but the village provides plenty of entertainment for Genie Meanie as he plays his magical pranks on the Smurfs.
Meanwhile, Gargamel, who has caught wind of this genie by using a magical projector, finds out the magic words from his spellbooks, "pumpernickel pickle", and broadcasts it out in the forest for the genie to hear. Genie Meanie hears the words and appears before Gargamel, allowing him to have three wishes granted, one of which was for Gargamel and Azrael to appear in the village so that they could catch all of the Smurfs.
Papa Smurf, who has returned to deal with Genie Meanie only to be the butt of one of his magical pranks, finds himself and Brainy the last two Smurfs left in the village even after Gargamel has used up his last wish. He frantically searches through one of his books to find the magic words to summon Genie Meanie as Azrael has him and Brainy backed into a corner. Then suddenly Papa Smurf finds and uses the words "pumpernickel pickle", and Genie Meanie must now give Papa Smurf three wishes. His first wish was to have Gargamel and Azrael shrunk to Smurf size, and after that wish is granted, the freed Smurfs run both the wizard and his cat out of the village. With not much time left before the genie goes back into the bottle, Papa Smurf asks for Genie Meanie to undo all the things he has done with his magic, and one of those things was the last wish that was granted, restoring Gargamel and Azrael to their proper size just as they are floating downstream toward a waterfall. With only a few seconds left, Papa Smurf commands Genie Meanie to stay in his bottle from now on until he stops being mean. Genie Meanie doesn't like granting that last wish, but has no choice as he is swallowed up by the bottle. With the genie safely sealed up again, the Smurfs throw his bottle into the river.
This episode provides examples of
- Edible Ammunition: Gargamel gets pelted by smurfberries.
- Inevitable Waterfall: Brainy and Clumsy get carried down one, and so do Gargamel and Azrael near the end of the story.
- Jackass Genie: Genie Meanie.
- Magitek: Gargamel's magical projector, which allows him to find out about the genie.
- Mercury's Wings: Genie Meanie gives Brainy and Clumsy feet wings when they are not convinced that he is truly a genie.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Genie Meanie's ultimate fate.
- Three Wishes: Genie Meanie will grant three wishes to anyone who says the magical words "pumpernickel pickle" for as long as the wishes are made before he has to return to his bottle.
