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Sami continued his story:
“Not long after we moved to Paris, the Marquise caught Mathieu while he was summoning me. She forced him to tell her everything about me. But she didn’t take me away from him. Instead, she demanded that he would loan me to her from time to time. She presented me to all her noble friends as her Egyptian manservant. She even forced me to run around wearing Egyptian clothes and speak Egyptian – luckily I had lived in that period. This kindled the envy of Marianne and Julie, who thought that I was just another servant. Though all of us were slaves to this terrible Marquise, these two women used every possibility to blame me for things that went wrong. Only Madelaine was nice to me.
But soon, other events caught our attention: The Estates-General were basically a farce. Though the representatives of the common people got 600 seats, while the nobles and the clerics got 300 each, the voting was made by each section separately. So, the two sections of the nobles and the clerics could still dominate the section of the common people. Luckily, some rebels among the nobles and the clerics allied with the representatives of the commons. They declared the Estates-General to be the national assembly and vowed to develop a constitution.
Still, the situation in Paris was difficult: Bread was expensive and, at the beginning of July, there were rumors that the king was assembling his army outside of Paris. When word was spread that the king had fired the popular minister of finance, riots broke out on July 14th. The people of Paris stormed the Bastille, an old fortress, now used as a prison. The commander of the Bastille was beheaded and the building was demolished over the next few weeks. Julie and Marianne even took part in the storming of the Bastille. Our mistress, the Marquise, was outraged, but she didn’t dare to chase Marianne and Julie away. Most likely, she was too afraid to be killed, too.

A few days after the storming of the Bastille, I was sleeping inside my lamp, when I was suddenly summoned. But it wasn’t Mathieu who rubbed the lamp. The man introduced himself as Bernard Guy, a sculptor, who had also participated in the storming of the Bastille. Now he was waiting for the Marquise to receive him. Of course, I offered him the free wish.
‘I’m not interested in a wish right now, but I will come back to you later’ he said. Then, the Marquise arrived and the sculptor explained his endeavor: He planned to sculpt a sculpture of the goddess of freedom in celebration of the storming of the Bastille. Marianne should be his model. The Marquise called for Marianne, who was very excited about the offer. The Marquise allowed her to go. I think she was quite happy to get rid of Marianne that way. And so, Marianne left our house and moved to Bernard’s atelier.

I haven’t been summoned until the first week of August. Meanwhile, the French society had changed a lot. During the night from the 4thto the 5thAugust 1789, the nobility and the clerics abandoned all their privileges and special rights. And on August 26th, the national assembly declared human and civil rights.
Human and civil rights! What a fraud! Slavery was abandoned, every human was free. But I was still a slave of my master. These humans are such a false race. They declare these universal rights for everybody, but they keep us genies as slaves.” Sami sunk his heads in his hands.

To comfort her friend, Martha put her arm around his shoulder. “Sami, calm down. I learned about all of this at school. But I never care much about the importance of civil rights until I became a slave myself. It’s even worse for me since I had all of these rights, once. But if we genies support each other, we can live through it, ok?”

Sami nodded. “Wanna hear the rest of the story?”

“Sure. Carry on.”

Sami continued the story. “A few weeks later, I was entertaining the Marquise and her guests, when Bernard Guy and Marianne returned to the house of the Marquise de Douenville. He had brought the finished statue with him. It was covered with a huge blanket and placed in the salon. Then Bernard went to tell the mistress and her guests. Meanwhile, Madelaine and I sneaked into the salon to have a peak on the statue. Just when Madelaine was lifting the blanket, the door burst open.

“Hands off the masterpiece, you little fool!” Marianne yelled. Madelaine was so surprise that she stumbled against the statue, knocking it over. The statue shattered on the ground. “Look what you’ve done!” Marianne continued to yell. “Weeks of hard work: destroyed! You will pay for that.” Then she saw me. “Bernard says you’re a genie. Where’s your lamp?” I had a bad feeling about what she was going to do now. When Marianne spotted my lamp on a side table, she darted to it.

“Quick! Get my lamp!” I shouted to Madelaine.
Madelaine and Marianne raced for the lamp. I couldn’t see who reached it first, but soon I heard Marianne state a wish: “Turn Madelaine into a statue!”

Since Marianne was holding the lamp, I had no other choice but to grant that wish. But I made the petrification a slow process. Madelaine saw her chance and seized it. With her already petrified hand, she hit Marianne right in the face. Marianne fell to the ground, losing the lamp in the process. Marianne made a dive for the lamp and caught it. Meanwhile, her arm was completely petrified. “Sami, save me!” she yelled.

I happily granted that wish and redirected the magic towards Marianne. The magic forced Marianne to stand up and assume the pose of the destroyed statue. Then the petrification process started and soon Marianne was a magnificent marble statue wearing a Phrygian cap and clad in a roman dress. Suddenly, we heard footsteps outside the room. We just had time to cover the broken debris with the blanket before the door opened and Bernard, the Marquise and the others entered the room. “Didn’t I tell you not to touch anything?” he scolded us.

“I will have you punished.” The Marquise chimed in. “Madelaine, Sami, you have kitchen duty for the next month in addition to your normal tasks. And now let’s have a look at your masterpiece.”

The statue got a lot of praise and some guests even called her a symbol for the storming of the Bastille. Eventually, the guests left the salon. Only Bernard, Madelaine and I were left behind. Bernard took my lamp. “I know this is not my statue. Did you have a hand in this?”

“This is Marianne. I transformed her into that statue.” I explained.

Bernard just shrugged his shoulders. “I guess she had it coming. Now I have to look for a new model.”

“I thought you and Marianne were…” Madelaine asked.

“A couple? No! I never get into a relationship with my models. When the work is done, I look for a new one.” Bernard looked at Madelaine. “How about you? Do you want to be my new model?”

Madelaine glanced at Bernard, then at the statue of Marianne, then back at Bernard. She was terrified. “Noooo! I don’t want to end up as Marianne.” She stormed out of the room. I bid Bernard goodbye and followed Madelaine. The last thing I heard was the Marquise returning and calling for Bernard. But I had other things on my mind now. I had to console Madelaine.” Sami ended the tale.

“Wow, that was very compassionate by you, Sami.” Martha said. “It was a very… human behavior. If you already lived among humans, why are you still so determined to avoid them?”

“The story isn’t over yet. And the worst part is still to come.” Sami said.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Part 1: [link]
Part 2: [link]
Part 3: [link]

Part 5: [link]
Part 6: [link]
Part 7: [link]
Part 8: [link]

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Description
Sami continued his story:
“Not long after we moved to Paris, the Marquise caught Mathieu while he was summoning me. She forced him to tell her everything about me. But she didn’t take me away from him. Instead, she demanded that he would loan me to her from time to time. She presented me to all her noble friends as her Egyptian manservant. She even forced me to run around wearing Egyptian clothes and speak Egyptian – luckily I had lived in that period. This kindled the envy of Marianne and Julie, who thought that I was just another servant. Though all of us were slaves to this terrible Marquise, these two women used every possibility to blame me for things that went wrong. Only Madelaine was nice to me.
But soon, other events caught our attention: The Estates-General were basically a farce. Though the representatives of the common people got 600 seats, while the nobles and the clerics got 300 each, the voting was made by each section separately. So, the two sections of the nobles and the clerics could still dominate the section of the common people. Luckily, some rebels among the nobles and the clerics allied with the representatives of the commons. They declared the Estates-General to be the national assembly and vowed to develop a constitution.
Still, the situation in Paris was difficult: Bread was expensive and, at the beginning of July, there were rumors that the king was assembling his army outside of Paris. When word was spread that the king had fired the popular minister of finance, riots broke out on July 14th. The people of Paris stormed the Bastille, an old fortress, now used as a prison. The commander of the Bastille was beheaded and the building was demolished over the next few weeks. Julie and Marianne even took part in the storming of the Bastille. Our mistress, the Marquise, was outraged, but she didn’t dare to chase Marianne and Julie away. Most likely, she was too afraid to be killed, too.

A few days after the storming of the Bastille, I was sleeping inside my lamp, when I was suddenly summoned. But it wasn’t Mathieu who rubbed the lamp. The man introduced himself as Bernard Guy, a sculptor, who had also participated in the storming of the Bastille. Now he was waiting for the Marquise to receive him. Of course, I offered him the free wish.
‘I’m not interested in a wish right now, but I will come back to you later’ he said. Then, the Marquise arrived and the sculptor explained his endeavor: He planned to sculpt a sculpture of the goddess of freedom in celebration of the storming of the Bastille. Marianne should be his model. The Marquise called for Marianne, who was very excited about the offer. The Marquise allowed her to go. I think she was quite happy to get rid of Marianne that way. And so, Marianne left our house and moved to Bernard’s atelier.

I haven’t been summoned until the first week of August. Meanwhile, the French society had changed a lot. During the night from the 4thto the 5thAugust 1789, the nobility and the clerics abandoned all their privileges and special rights. And on August 26th, the national assembly declared human and civil rights.
Human and civil rights! What a fraud! Slavery was abandoned, every human was free. But I was still a slave of my master. These humans are such a false race. They declare these universal rights for everybody, but they keep us genies as slaves.” Sami sunk his heads in his hands.

To comfort her friend, Martha put her arm around his shoulder. “Sami, calm down. I learned about all of this at school. But I never care much about the importance of civil rights until I became a slave myself. It’s even worse for me since I had all of these rights, once. But if we genies support each other, we can live through it, ok?”

Sami nodded. “Wanna hear the rest of the story?”

“Sure. Carry on.”

Sami continued the story. “A few weeks later, I was entertaining the Marquise and her guests, when Bernard Guy and Marianne returned to the house of the Marquise de Douenville. He had brought the finished statue with him. It was covered with a huge blanket and placed in the salon. Then Bernard went to tell the mistress and her guests. Meanwhile, Madelaine and I sneaked into the salon to have a peak on the statue. Just when Madelaine was lifting the blanket, the door burst open.

“Hands off the masterpiece, you little fool!” Marianne yelled. Madelaine was so surprise that she stumbled against the statue, knocking it over. The statue shattered on the ground. “Look what you’ve done!” Marianne continued to yell. “Weeks of hard work: destroyed! You will pay for that.” Then she saw me. “Bernard says you’re a genie. Where’s your lamp?” I had a bad feeling about what she was going to do now. When Marianne spotted my lamp on a side table, she darted to it.

“Quick! Get my lamp!” I shouted to Madelaine.
Madelaine and Marianne raced for the lamp. I couldn’t see who reached it first, but soon I heard Marianne state a wish: “Turn Madelaine into a statue!”

Since Marianne was holding the lamp, I had no other choice but to grant that wish. But I made the petrification a slow process. Madelaine saw her chance and seized it. With her already petrified hand, she hit Marianne right in the face. Marianne fell to the ground, losing the lamp in the process. Marianne made a dive for the lamp and caught it. Meanwhile, her arm was completely petrified. “Sami, save me!” she yelled.

I happily granted that wish and redirected the magic towards Marianne. The magic forced Marianne to stand up and assume the pose of the destroyed statue. Then the petrification process started and soon Marianne was a magnificent marble statue wearing a Phrygian cap and clad in a roman dress. Suddenly, we heard footsteps outside the room. We just had time to cover the broken debris with the blanket before the door opened and Bernard, the Marquise and the others entered the room. “Didn’t I tell you not to touch anything?” he scolded us.

“I will have you punished.” The Marquise chimed in. “Madelaine, Sami, you have kitchen duty for the next month in addition to your normal tasks. And now let’s have a look at your masterpiece.”

The statue got a lot of praise and some guests even called her a symbol for the storming of the Bastille. Eventually, the guests left the salon. Only Bernard, Madelaine and I were left behind. Bernard took my lamp. “I know this is not my statue. Did you have a hand in this?”

“This is Marianne. I transformed her into that statue.” I explained.

Bernard just shrugged his shoulders. “I guess she had it coming. Now I have to look for a new model.”

“I thought you and Marianne were…” Madelaine asked.

“A couple? No! I never get into a relationship with my models. When the work is done, I look for a new one.” Bernard looked at Madelaine. “How about you? Do you want to be my new model?”

Madelaine glanced at Bernard, then at the statue of Marianne, then back at Bernard. She was terrified. “Noooo! I don’t want to end up as Marianne.” She stormed out of the room. I bid Bernard goodbye and followed Madelaine. The last thing I heard was the Marquise returning and calling for Bernard. But I had other things on my mind now. I had to console Madelaine.” Sami ended the tale.

“Wow, that was very compassionate by you, Sami.” Martha said. “It was a very… human behavior. If you already lived among humans, why are you still so determined to avoid them?”

“The story isn’t over yet. And the worst part is still to come.” Sami said.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Part 1: [link]
Part 2: [link]
Part 3: [link]

Part 5: [link]
Part 6: [link]
Part 7: [link]
Part 8: [link]

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