Definition Of A Wish
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In fiction a wish is a supernatural gift granting the recipients unlimited request. The wish is usually a template for a morality tale, “be careful what you wish for” writ large.
The template for most fictional wishes is The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, specifically the tale of Aladdin. Although in the tale of Aladdin the actual wishes were only part of the tale and his demands, while outrageous per se, were mainly variations on wealth (which is still often taken as the most common request).
Classically the wish provider is typically a spirit, jinni or similar entity. The entity is bound or constrained within a commonplace object (Aladdins oil lamp for example) or a container closed with Solomons seal. Releasing the entity from its constraint, usually by some simple action, allows the objects possessor to make a wish, that is present their demands to the entity.
The subservience of the, by necessity, extraordinarily powerful entity to the wishee is explained in a number of ways. The entity may be grateful to be free of its constraint and the wish is a thank-you gift. The entity may be bound to obedience by its prison or some other item in the wishee possesses. The entity may, by its nature, be unable to exercise its powers without an initiator.
Other wish providers are a wide variety of, more or less, inanimate objects. W.W. Jacobs Monkeys Paw being a well-known example. The manga Doraemon is a modern spin on this theme.
The number of wishes granted is variable. Aladdin had an unlimited number, but three is more common. Several authors have spun variations of the wish for more wishes theme, though some sources see this wish as cheating. For example, in Douglas Hofstadters Pulitzer Prize winning book GĶdel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid,