Saturday Rave: Aladdin.

Sometimes things are just too easy, and I'm afraid that's how it is for Aladdin.

I really don't think there's a story in the whole world that wouldn't buckle a bit under the weight of a magic lamp, complete with its own genie, to provide the hero with endless power and wealth.

Still, the story has an idle hero with whom we can sympathise; a splendidly frustrated and infuriated old lady; an exotic genie; and the most dastardly of villains (can there be a more sinister name than Abenazar?) And it makes the most glorious of pantomimes.

Best of all, it ends happily ever after. Well, it does for those who deserve to be happy, anyway.

The story arrived in Europe courtesy of a man called Youhenna Diab in the early 1700s. He was from Aleppo, and although the story is set in China, it's a very Middle-Eastern China, and the story is probably originally from Syria or somewhere near there.

Word To Use Today: lamp. This word is from the Latin lampas, from the Greek lampein, which means to shine.