The Three Wishes

Long ago, a poor woodcutter lived with his wife at the edge of a great forest. Every morning, he took his ax and went into the woods to cut down trees.

One day, he came to a huge old oak tree. “This tree will make lots of good wood,” he said, and he lifted his ax. But before he could swing, a tiny voice cried, “Stop, please stop!” There, on a branch, stood a little fairy. “This oak is my home,” said the fairy. “Please do not cut it down!” The woodcutter was so surprised that he put his ax down at once. “All right,” he said kindly. “I will find another tree.” “Thank you,” said the fairy. “For your kindness, your next three wishes will come true.” And then the fairy was gone.

The woodcutter walked home slowly, thinking about what had happened. When he got home, he sat down by the fire, and his tummy began to rumble. “Is supper ready?” he asked his wife. “Not for a long while yet,” she said. “Oh, I wish I had a nice big sausage to eat right now,” he sighed. And down the chimney came a long, fat sausage, and it landed right on his plate!

His wife stared at the sausage. “Where did that come from?” she cried. So the woodcutter told her all about the fairy and the three wishes. “You silly man!” said his wife. “You could have wished for a palace, or a bag of gold!” “And you wasted a wish on a sausage!” She was so cross that she said, “I wish that silly sausage were stuck on the end of your nose!”

Pop! The sausage flew up and stuck right on the end of the woodcutter’s nose. He pulled, and his wife pulled, but the sausage would not come off. “Oh dear,” said his wife. “We still have one wish left.” “We could wish for a palace, or for a bag of gold.” The woodcutter looked down his nose at the long sausage. “A palace is no fun with a sausage on my nose,” he said.

So they wished one last wish together. “We wish the sausage would come off!” Pop! The sausage fell back onto the plate, and the woodcutter’s nose was just a nose again. The woodcutter and his wife laughed and laughed. They had no palace and no gold, but they had a very good sausage for supper. And they cut it in half, and they shared it by the warm fire.