Jinnicky the Red Jinn is a powerful jinn, or genie, who lives in the Land of Ev.
Description[]
Unlike the usual genie who lives in a lamp or a bottle, Jinnicky lives in a red ginger jar; his head, arms, and legs emerge through holes in the glass, though he can retract himself inside, like a turtle in his shell. The red glass of his jar is so congenial for him that he has his own red glass castle, situated by Ev's Nonestic Ocean shoreline.
Jinnicky is a good jinn, in that he uses his power for moral and ethical purposes, to counter evil magic and to help those afflicted by it. He is a portly and generally jovial character; his hair and beard are red.
History[]
Jack meets the Red Jinn for the first time.
The Red Jinn was first encountered by Jack Pumpkinhead, who had discovered the Jinn's Magic Dinner Bell, which summoned one of the Jinn's slaves with a ready made dinner. Jack grabbed ahold of the slave in one desperate situation, and was teleported into the Jinn's red castle, where he was able to ask for help. (Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz)
Randy and Kabumpo later visited the Jinn to ask for help after Faleero had captured Kabumpo's home kingdom of Pumperdink, since they had received a clue that he was the only one who could help them. The Red Jinn journeyed with them to Oz, where he helped them restore the Royal Family of Pumperdink and overcome Faleero. (The Purple Prince of Oz)
The Red Jinn was responsible for creating Pigasus and his strange rhyming ability is the result of the Jinn's taste for rhyme. (Pirates in Oz, The Wishing Horse of Oz)
He was also a friend of Captain Samuel Salt, and when Salt became the Royal Explorer of Oz, the Jinn helped refit his ship, the Crescent Moon. (Captain Salt in Oz)
The Red Jinn was kicked out of his red glass castle when some of his slaves revolted, lead by Gludwig, who used to work in the Red Jinn's ruby mines. Gludwig personally kicked the Red Jinn off the highest cliff into the sea, where he stayed until he was dragged up by a fisherman. Then, using the Magic Dinner Bell, he was reunited with his loyal slave Ginger, as well as Kabumpo, Randy, and their friends Planetty and Thun from Anuther Planet. The party then teleported back to Jinnicky's castle and defeated Gludwig. (The Silver Princess in Oz)
Appearances[]
- Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz (first appearance)
- Pirates in Oz (mentioned only)
- The Purple Prince of Oz
- The Wishing Horse of Oz
- Captain Salt in Oz (mentioned only)
- The Silver Princess in Oz
- Yankee in Oz
- "Merry Christmas from Jinnicky," The Baum Bugle, Christmas 1968. Reprinted in Sissajig and Other Surprises
Jinnicky appears simply as "the Red Jinn" in Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz, and is named beginning in The Purple Prince of Oz. John R. Neill changed the character's likeness between the two books, going a from a grotesque figure to one that is cute and endearing.
Background[]
Ruth Plumly Thompson modeled Jinnicky on the standard genie of Arabian Nights lore. In Arabian culture, genies were "slaves" of a lamp, jar, or other container. Thompson inverts this by making Jinnicky the lord of many servants, who are identified both as black and as slaves - which has caused offense among some modern readers. (Arabian slavery was very different from American slavery, and slaves in Arabia were not typically black Africans.) Most controversially from the viewpoint of contemporary political correctness, she had the slaves rebel, and their rebellion suppressed by the story's heroes, in The Silver Princess in Oz.
A modern edition of that book -- the Empty-Grave Retrofit Edition -- has sought to correct this point by calling the slaves "gravel" men instead of "black men" (with a list of changes in the back), a perspective that Carrie Bailey follows in her book Bungle in Oz.
Jack Snow's Who's Who in Oz is confused about Jinnicky, stating that he first appeared in The Purple Prince of Oz, overlooking his earlier role in Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz. Ginger is stated to be the slave of Baron Mogodore. A portrait of Jinnicky's barber from Purple Prince is misrepresented as the Barber of Rash from The Hungry Tiger of Oz. This has led to fan speculation that the same barber found new employment, as the Jinn's domain is fairly close to Rash. While the supposition is plausible, Thompson never implies it.
Jinnicky's third appearance Silver Princess went into the public domain in 1967, however his first two appearances remain under copyright. Both are expected to expire by 2028, allowing modern authors to use Jinnicky freely.