Fairy Tales

Once upon a time, when it was still of some use to wish for what one wanted… …there lived a King and Queen who had a daughter who was lovely to behold but who never laughed, or perhaps, …there lived an old fisherman by the side of a sea that had hardly any fishes in it. If you are like me, you are already hooked. In the many stories of the three magic wishes, promises of infinite riches are just for the asking, but the wishes are always spent, first on foolishness, second on disaster, and third on bare recovery. In the Monkey's Paw, the old couple's first wish is for 200 pounds. The second wish is the return of their just-killed son.