Short story about a genie

If Tima the genie was ever asked to produce more wishes than the three he usually granted, he would turn the greedy bugger into an atom that could wish all it wanted but really just jigged about and never even lived.

Jafir tracked the trail of Tima's lantern for 70 years of his life.  During the journey he nurtured a bonsai tree, and as it grew so too did his fondness for Tima's tricks.

Beneath a waterfall near a mountain village he found Tima's lantern and on the riverbank he evoked the genie.

Jafir knew that many attempts to ask for more wishes had failed, so first he wished "that I knew whether there is a way to get more wishes without being atomised" and he knew.  Tima laughed.

"Now I wish to know what that way is" demanded Jafir, nonplussed.  Tima lauged again,

"The way to get more wishes is to wish for the genie's good health thrice.  Ho ho ho!"

So Jafir, who had failed in his lifetime's quest, and admired Tima's honest victory, said

"Then I wish that this bonsai take your place in this lantern!", and he took the little plant he had carried to the very conclusions of his pilgrimage, and thrust it soil and all into the lantern.

Tima, now freed from his captivity, decided to take the form of a woman Saki, who stayed with Jafir all his life, bringing him a son and two faries, and many tactical victories in the wasteland battles.

The bonsai sits in the lantern on the roof of the university of magic in Pajekel.  The tree may not be removed by any physical force from the lantern, but soil from the lantern was scattered in the wastelands after the battles, and the area has ever since been fruitful in flora and fauna.