Reading Notes: The Three Wishes #1

The Three Wishes

In this story, once upon a time, there was a poor woodman in a forest. Every day, he went out to the forest to get timber. One day before he left, his wife filled his wallet and gave him meat and water for his day in the forest.

He found huge old oak tree and thought it would be perfect for a plank. He swung his axe but before it hit the tree, he saw a fairy standing next to him. He was confused and speechless, but he ended up saying "I will do as you wish," to her.

The fairy then went on to tell him that she would grant him three wishes and disappeared, so he grabbed his things and headed home. When he got home to his wife he asked her, "Have you thought about dinner yet?"

"Not for a couple of hours," she replied.

"I wish I had a good link of black pudding here before me!" he groaned.

And suddenly, down the chimney, a link of the finest black pudding he could ask for appeared.

The married couple stared at each other. "What is all of this?" the wife said.

Then the woodman suddenly remembered what had just happened in the forest. He told his wife exactly what happened, and towards the end she burst out: "You're nothing but a fool! I wish the pudding were at thy nose."

And before they knew it, the husband sat and his nose turned into black pudding. They both tried to pull it off, but it was completely stuck. "What do we do now?" he said.

"It's very unsightly." she replied.

Then he wished that the the black pudding would come off, and he did. It was suddenly on the table. And if they didn't wish for anything else, at lest they had a fine black pudding for their dinner.

The fairy named Tinkerbell. Link here

Bibliography: The Three Wishes in More English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1894).