Aladdin had escaped the King's guards and was hiding down by the beach. A thief by trade, Aladdin had eluded the King's men many times before. He simply had to wait it out for a few hours before it was safe to return to the city.

Aladdin passed the time by practicing his handstands. An accomplished acrobat, Aladdin had built an impressive body in his twenty-four years. Wearing only pantaloons and a vest, Aladdin could tumble and flip to earn a few coins in the market square. His skimpy attire helped show off his physique, gaining the eye of the passing maidens (and a fair number of the gentlemen as well). Aladdin didn't mind who paid attention, as long as he got paid.

While practicing a new handstand and flip, Aladdin tumbled over an object wedged in the sand. Standing up and brushing himself off, he uncovered the object. It was an oil lamp and it appeared to be made of gold.

Excited by his find, Aladdin examined the lamp. There was an engraving on the side, but it was too tarnished to read. So he rubbed the lamp to try to clean it up.

Suddenly, a big puff of smoke came out of the lamp. Aladdin was startled and dropped the lamp to the sand. The smoke billowed out of the lamp and formed a shape before him. Slowly the shape took form until a giant of a man was standing over him.

The man was at least ten feet tall, and very muscular. He had strange eyebrows that pointed at the ends, as did his ears. He was dressed similarly to Aladdin, and his skin had a bit of a blue tint to it.

"Who are you," Aladdin asked in a quivering voice.

"I am the genie of the lamp. You have released me and I am your servant. Before I can be free, I must grant you wishes three."

"Three wishes?" Aladdin asked, his fear changing to intrigue.

"Three wishes asked for, three wishes done. My eternity of torment ended, yours just begun," the genie said. Aladdin missed the warning in the genie's words, thinking only of the wishes.

"And how shall you grant these wishes?" Aladdin asked.

"You need only ask of me, Master, and I will fulfill."

Aladdin thought long and hard. He didn't want to waste his wishes, but he wanted to make sure that the genie was telling him the truth.

Finally, he said, "I wish to be the happiest man in the world."

"As you wish, Master," the genie said.

Suddenly, the ground opened up below Aladdin and he was swallowed by the sand. Within seconds, he was up to his neck in the sand. Then, the sand shift and moved around him, bending his body at the waist, raising his legs, until Aladdin's feet broke the surface just a few inches in front of his head.

The genie came and laid on the sand in front of Aladdin. He sprinkled a glowing powder over Aladdin's feet that made his bare soles and toes tingle.

"A wish to be happy, more than the rest. Happy is the man, that is laughing best."

The genie reached down with one of his giant hands and started to scratch the sole of Aladdin's right foot. Aladdin had never been very ticklish before, but that powder must have done something to him, for as soon as the genie touched his feet, Aladdin burst out laughing. The genie had long nails that he used to scrape across Aladdin's bare feet. Aladdin was hysterical in seconds.

The genie tickled all over his feet, tickling is soles and toes. Trapped in the sand, Aladdin could not break free. His upturned feet were defenseless against the genie's tickling fingers. And they were even too far apart to rub together. There was no relief from the insidious tickling.

Hysterical and red-faced, Aladdin managed to squeal, "Stop! Hee hee hee! This does not make me happy."

"Surely you are happy, Master," said the genie, "Does one not laugh when one is happy? I dare say there is not a man in the world that is laughing as hard as you are. So surely you must be the happiest man in the world."

The genie suddenly produced a feather out of thin air and applied it to Aladdin's bare soles. Aladdin's laughter doubled as he wiggled his toes frantically and laughed until he was almost screaming.

Exhausted and hysterical, Aladdin tried to muster up enough breath to speak. The genie had been tickling him for many minutes already, and it was difficult for him to manage any words. But he finally was able to croak out, "I wish for you to stop tickling me now!"

There was a bright flash, and Aladdin was momentarily blinded. He could feel that he was no longer in the sand, but he was flat on his back, his arms and legs stretched out in a spread eagle position. When he tried to move them, he realized they were bound.

Aladdin's eyes recovered and he saw that he was in the King's dungeon. He'd been in this place more than once before. He was tied spread eagle to the interrogation table. Four of the King's torturer's were standing around him.

Aladdin had just figured out his predicament when the four men struck. Two men at the end of the table started tickling his bare feet with feathers. Aladdin's vest was gone and the other two men used their fingers to tickle Aladdin's ribs. Again, something the genie had done to him made him extremely sensitive and the moment the tickling started he was hysterical.

The genie was no where to be seen, and Aladdin was bound and helpless. The four torturers took great pride in their work as they tickled Aladdin's racked body, trying to find the most ticklish spots. The man at his left foot was stroking his feather back and forth along the base of Aladdin's toes, while the other man was concentrating on a particular sweet spot that he'd located on Aladdin's right arch. One of the men beside him was playing Aladdin's ribs like a harp, while the other was applying excruciatingly adept tickles to Aladdin's super sensitive armpits. Aladdin laughed and laughed, growing hoarse.

The men never stopped tickling for a second. Aladdin felt as if he was going to pass out from the endless tickle torture, but he never quite reached the edge of his endurance. Surely the doing of the diabolical genie.

For the next two days, the torturers' tickled Aladdin, stopping only briefly to feed him or allow him to relieve himself. Four other men switched with his four original torturers, tickling Aladdin for hours on end, and allowing him only a few scant hours each night to sleep and recover from his ordeal.

After the second full day of tickling, the torturers finally left him for a short rest. Still tied to the table, Aladdin panted and gasped, only half-aware of his surroundings. Slowly, he realized that there was someone else in the room. Opening his eyes, he saw the genie standing at the end of the table.

"Tickling you, I'm not, as was your wish. But others I have found to give you tickling bliss."

"Please, please, I'll do anything you want. Just please don't let them tickle me any more."

"But, Master, the power is with you, as it has always been. You still have one more wish."

Two days of tickle torture made it difficult to concentrate, but he tried to be careful how he worded his request. "I wish," he said, "that you ensure that no man... or woman!... ever tickle me again."

Again, there was a flash and Aladdin knew right away he was no longer in the King's dungeon. Indeed, he felt himself laying on very soft, comfortable cushions. They were quite warm too, and very comforting after two days in the cold, damp dungeon.

Aladdin was exhausted and felt he was about to fall to sleep right away. He was still laying with his arms and legs outstretched. When he tried to pull them away, he could not.

Aladdin opened his eyes. He was in a strange room. The walls curved upward to a domed ceiling and both walls and ceiling appeared to be made of gold. Aladdin lifted his head to try to see what he was laying on. It was not cushions, but something flesh colored. At his ankles and wrists, large hands came out from the flat surface of the thing and were gripping him tightly. Along the edge of this rectangular mass, there were arms coming out every foot or so. All the arms suddenly lifted so that they were raised up above Aladdin's prone body. Some of the arms ended in normal hands, while others had hands with feathers where there should be fingernails. Others had fingertips with skin that looked very rough. Still others had fingertips with short, straight hairs so tightly packed they looked like brushes. All the hands started to descend toward Aladdin's now naked body.

"Genie, what it this?" he yelled. "I wished for no more tickling."

"No master," the voice of the genie came from out of the air, "you wished to never again be tickled by a man or a woman. I have fulfilled your wish, and I am now free. And you can now take my place in the lamp. You and your own personal tickle monster to help you pass away the centuries until another poor soul finds the lamp and sets you free."

Then the genie said, "Wishes three are done at last, and in the lamp you now are cast."

The arms of the tickle monster made contact with Aladdin's skin. A monster created specifically to tickle, it started stroking Aladdin's most ticklish places, making him laugh hysterically.

Realizing his fate, Aladdin, over his ringing laughter, heard the genie's voice once more as he said, "A creature not of human kind, to tickle you 'til the end of time."

Then the genie, with a mighty toss, hurled the lamp into the sea. He could hear the laughter fade away as the lamp was swallowed up by the ocean.

And as the genie flew off to explore this new world, he couldn't help feeling sorry for Aladdin. After all, he didn't create the tickle monster. He'd been its victim for the last three thousand years.