Photo by Sue Vincent
“Are you the Wish Master?”
The man in front of Yashri was in the finest silks and covered in the most expensive jewels. “Yes,” he answered.
“Good, then you will fulfill my wishes,” the jeweled man said.
“I am sorry sir, but there are proper procedures and protocols to go through.”
The jeweled man’s face turned red. “No! You will grant my wish now! Look over there.” He pointed to a haze on the horizon. “I have 10,000 soldiers. If you do not grant my wish, I will send them in to kill all in this village.”
Yashri frowned. “What is your wish?”
“To conquer the world.”
“Go back to your army. Your wish will be granted in time.”
The next day the jeweled man came back. Yashri could tell that he was furious.
“Is there a problem, sir?” he asked.
“Yes! My army has multiplied so I now have a million men!”
“You want to conquer the world?” Yashri asked. “Then you need an army large enough to do it. Your wish was granted.”
“But I can’t feed them or pay them! They are hungry and beginning to rebel.”
“If you had followed…”
“Shut up! I demand another wish.”
Yashri nodded.
“I wish I had wealth enough to pay for and support the troops I need to conquer the world.”
“This has been granted.”
The next day the jeweled man returned, his face even redder. He stamped his feet as he approached.
“You do not look happy,” Yashri said.
“Of course not! I have a mountain of gold coins to deal with!”
“Yes, it is enough to pay for and buy provisions for the million troops for the twenty years it will take to conquer the world.”
“But it is useless to me! I need half of my men just to guard it. I can’t move it. It is a burden.”
“If you had followed…”
“Shut up! I demand another wish!”
Yashri sighed, but nodded his head.
“I wish I could just suck everything I need from the ground!”
There was a bright flash and a large puff of smoke. When the smoke had cleared, it was obvious that the mountain of gold coins and the army of a million men were gone. All that was left was a large shrub covered in shreds of silk and bits of jewels.
Yashri studied the bush for moment and than began to talk to it as if it were sentient.
“All anyone really needs is the food, water and protection to be able to live and thrive. As a shrub you suck these things from the ground, as was your wish. It was thus granted exactly as asked.”
He watched the plant and cocked his head to the side, as if listening to a voice that nobody else could hear.
“Yes, there are many rules for a proper wish. A wish needs to be well formed and well intentioned. The one making a wish needs to fully understand that there are consequences for all wishes, proper and improper. The key rule, though, is the simplest: be careful what you wish for, it might be granted.”
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OK, I know, “groan”… I guess I didn’t know what to write after spending the last several #writephoto s building a single story, The Mad Quest.
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Written for Sue Vincent’s #writephoto challenge.
Pingback: Photo prompt round-up – Wishes #writephoto | Sue Vincent's Daily Echo
Funny, Trent.
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Thanks :)
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Oh, I liked that! What is the saying . . . Buyer beware!
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Buyer beware, but if you give him the chance, he will explain the small print on the contract ;) Thanks.
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An excellent, moral story, well told.💜
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Thanks!
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😀😀
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Pingback: Wishes ~ Trent P. McDonald #writephoto | Sue Vincent's Daily Echo
I can hear the Rolling Stones in the background. That was really good!
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I didn’t even think of that, but it is fitting. You can’t always get… Thanks!
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Simple yet effective :-)
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Thanks
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Great story, Trent
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Thanks, Tena.
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Loved it, Trent. No-one ever bothers thinking these wishes through … and we never learn ;)
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Thanks, Sue. Nobody thinks it through, which is the Wish Master’s job – making sure people make the wish they think they are making. And no, we never learn, no matter how much the Wish Master tries to teach us…
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Still, the choice is ours, to listen and learn or to turn ourselves into a variety of ridiculous objects ;)
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yep
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This was really well written!! 😊
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Thanks!
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Well, technically, the bush also needs sunlight, and there had better be sufficent rain.
I laughed at your first line.
“Are you the Wish Master?”
My response would have been:
“No, I’m the Keymaster, and this is my friend the Gatekeeper.”
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Yes, technically it would need sunlight, but since Sue didn’t post a photo of a mushroom… ;)
I think you can only use that line about the gatekeeper if you are hanging out with Sigourney Weaver. I think back in the mid-1980s I would have loved to have a chance to hang out with her!
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Still one of my favorite movies.
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Yes, it was a great movie. I haven’t seen it in ages, but I think I remember half of the lines in it.
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I watch it every Halloween.
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