Saturday, July 6, 2013

Three wishes

It is a famous fairy tale.

One day, a demon appears in front of you. The demon says that he will realize three requests whatever you wish.
What do you wish?

Mr. Charles Perrault created the story of three wishes.

In his story, an old man got the right of three wishes. He hoped a delicious sausage as the first wish. (It is sympatric for I also like sausage very much.)
Then, his wife appeared, to blame him for his too humble wish.
He got angered and hoped to fix the sausage on her nose.
Immediately after the second wish realized, he regretted. He wished the sausage separated from her nose.
After all, the couple got only a sausage for three wishes.

It is an ironic story of a foolish couple.
In a penetrating insight, this story is a little discriminating for women. The wife was described as greedy and hostile to the husband.
Actually, I have read an established theory that fairy tales are usually critical for women. It may be mirroring the culture in those days.

Mr. Tokumyo Shonai, a Japanese blogger, offers another point of view in this story. He points out that the old man should eat the sausage fixed to his wife’s nose completely before deciding his last wish. If he did, he would save the last wish. Mr. Shonai says cautious thought would compensate for the past failure. It is a very interesting thought.

Submission Holds of Wisdom: Why did not he eat sausage? (in Japanese)

There are a lot of variations of the three wishes. Most of them describe the ironic outcome resulted from the selfish desires of the hero. “The Monkey’s Paw” by Mr. William Wymark Jacobs is an excellent horror story.

To be honest, I shall not wish any desires if I can ask to the demon. Wishes are to be realized by my own power. If never accomplished, it is also the life of mine.

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