Just One Wish

Once upon a time, there was a woodsman and his wife. They lived together in a small shack in the middle of the forest. The hardworking woodsman spent everyday either chopping down trees or bringing the lumber he cut into town to sell. When he would make these trips into town, his wife would join him and bring along her freshly baked pies, so fragrant and sweet, to offer for sale to the townspeople. Their life was a simple but happy one indeed.

One day as the woodsman started to walk into the forest, he heard whimpering. As he looked around to see where the sad sound was coming from, he came across a fox who's leg was caught in a trap. Without hesitation, the woodsman worked hard to pry the trap open and free the fox and after much effort, he finally did. He expected the fox to go limp off into the woods but instead, the fox just sat there licking his injured leg. Not wanting to leave the fox injured and alone in the woods, the woodsmen took off his coat, wrapped the fox up in it, and brought him back home to his little shack.

Once he was home, his wife looked at the poor, wounded creature and said to herself, "you poor little thing". With that, she cleaned up it's wound as best as she could and wrapped a bandage around it. Suddenly, the room filled up with a light so bright, you would have thought it was coming straight through the clouds right down from heaven. When the light subsided, the fox was gone and in his place was a man...or rather a PRINCE!

The woodsman and his wife looked on in astonishment at what they were seeing. The woodsman asked, "Where did you come from?". The prince replied, "I am a prince from a faraway kingdom. One day a poor woman came before my throne to ask me for some food to feed her children. When I refused to help her, she revealed to me that she wasn't just some poor woman but rather she was a powerful witch. Because I was selfish and didn't offer any kindness to someone in need, in spite of the fact that I had so much and could have done so quite easily, she would turn me into a fox and I would stay that way until I met a truly good and kind person who offered me the kindness that I had refused to show her. And to that person, I would have to grant one wish of ANYTHING they wanted, or else I would be changed back into a fox and stay that way forever. Woodsman, you are that good and kind person and I thank you and your wife for your kindness. So with that, what would you like to wish for?"

"Well, I really don't know what to wish for?", the Woodsman replied. The prince then said, "well this shack is rather small and is not that much to look at. How about I give you a grand palace to live in instead?" "My wife and I built this shack together from the wood in this forest. We put our hearts and souls into building our home together. It might not be much, but it's ours. Every morning I watch the sunrise outside that window. Every evening we share our dinner together at this table. Each night we lay our heads down together in that bed after putting in a hard, honest days work. Nope, this shack is fine and we are happy with it."

"Alright, that is your choice", the prince said, "but how about some new clothes then. That coat you are wearing is all tattered and torn. I can offer both you and your wife the finest robes and garments, woven from golden threads and only the finest of materials. How about that?"  Without hesitation, the woodsman said, "Last Christmas, my wife made me this coat. She bought the material for it in town with the money that she saved up from selling her pies. This coat means more to me than any golden robe ever could so nope, sorry, I'm not interested."

"Well, you have to eat and judging from this shack, I assume that you don't eat very well. How about I grant you the finest banquet of food that you have ever set your eyes upon with every kind of lavish and extravagant morsel you can think of."  With a bit of a chuckle, the woodsman replied, "there couldn't POSSIBLY be any kind of food or any meal finer than what my wife cooks for me. Her pies and her meals are made with the kind of love and care that no exotic meal could ever duplicate, no matter what it is, so I'm going to have say no to that idea, too, but thanks anyway."

By this time, the once grateful prince was starting to become irritated.  He replied rather sharply, "Well you have to want SOMETHING. Everyone wants SOMETHING???" "Well, not me" the woodsman replied. "I have a roof over my head, food in my pantry and someone to love and share it all with. What else could I want? What else could I wish for? I already have it all." "But you have NOTHING", the prince rebuffed, "how could you possibly be happy?" "Well prince let me ask you, just how happy are YOU with your palace, golden robes and banquets of exotic of food? My wife and I might not have much but we have something that no amount of money could ever buy.....we have each other."

The prince looked at him puzzled for a moment, but then he looked again at the woodsman and his wife and how they were with each other. He watched as the woodman put his arm lovingly around his wife and how his wife looked up at him with a warmth and love in her eyes that he had never seen in anyone else's eyes ever before. Suddenly, the prince got it. He started to understand what the woodsman meant. He then told the woodsman, "But if I don't grant you a wish, I will turn back into a fox and stay that way forever."  The woodsman thought for a moment, and then asked the prince, "well, if you had one wish, what would you wish for?"  The prince was shocked by the woodsman's question and took a moment to think. After a brief silence, the prince quietly replied, "I wish I had a life as happy as yours." Besides being kind and good, the woodsman was very wise, too, and thought of the perfect solution for everyone. "If I have to have one wish, then my one wish is for YOUR wish to come true."  With that, the room lit up once more with the brightest of lights, accompanied by some sweet, tinkling bells in the distance. The light soon vanished as quickly as it had appeared. The woodsman and his wife looked around and found that the prince was gone and that everything was back to the way it was before....but not quite EVERYTHING was. 

In another part of the forest, a simple little shack appeared out of nowhere. Inside of that shack was the prince, now in much simpler clothes and with blisters on his hands from a long day of chopping wood. He sat down to a simple dinner of stew and biscuits that his wife had just prepared. As he ate his meal, the man who was once a prince and ate the most exotic of meals, realized that no meal he had eaten before had ever tasted as good as this one did. He also realized that he had never felt happiness before like he was feeling now. The man who was once a prince, who had all of the material possessions that he could ever asked or hoped for, had found true happiness living a simple life of a woodsman. The former prince also realized that perhaps that witch hadn't cursed him by changing him into a fox afterall, but instead had given him the gift of a chance to find a life he NEVER would have known before if it weren't for him winding up in the home of a single kind woodsman and his wife. And needless to say that both woodsmen and their wives all lived.....

Copyright September 7, 2010

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