Once upon a time

Helen Edom, ISLE OF WIGHT u3a Creative Writing Group

Once upon a time there lived a wise peasant woman. She was feeding her chickens when a tiny man popped out of the air. The wise woman knew magic when she saw it.

“I have come to give you three wishes.”

”Why?”

“Because that’s what I do.”

There was no arguing, she had to have three wishes whether she liked it or not. On the whole she didn’t like it because wishes were tricky. There was that man who accidentally wished for a sausage, then lost his temper and wished it onto his wife’s nose. He had to use his third wish to remove it. The woman pondered.

“I’d like my cottage to be less draughty.”

“That’s easily done,” said the man.

“My second wish is for a bag of corn for my chickens.”

“You can have an everlasting bag if you want.”

“No, one bag will do,” answered the wise woman, having no wish to be buried under an unstoppable torrent of corn.

The woman thought carefully about her final wish. She could ask for world peace but perhaps everyone would end up dead, it would be peaceful then.

The wise woman asked:

“I’d like the wish in this box to keep on my shelf and use when age becomes a burden.”

The tiny man granted the wish but warned it couldn’t be changed. Then he blinked out of existence.

That evening the woman sat inside her cosy cottage. The wind whistled outside but her mended shutters kept draughts out. On the whole the wise woman was pleased but every wish had its price. There was always the warning of Midas’s fatal golden touch. Her price was wondering what would have happened if she had been greedy enough or bold enough to dare to ask for more.