What would you do if you were granted three wishes? In the Short Story “The Third Wish” by Joan Aiken, a man, Mr. Peters is granted three wishes. Mr. Peters is a wise man, he chose to only use two wishes when he could have used three. Even if you get three wishes they may leave you worse off than when you started.
“The Third Wish” is a Romantic Story. The mild conflict that starts us off is When Mr. Peters realizes how lonely he is, and after rescuing the king of the forest he uses his first wish up just like that. After wishing for a wife he ends up getting “the most beautiful creature he had ever seen” named Leita. Not long after bringing her home and marrying her he sees that Leita is not happy. The mild conflict continues when Mr. Peters finds out that Leita is a swan and cannot stand to be away from her sister, who is also a swan. One night he finally uses up his second wish to turn her into a swan. The new beginning is when Mr. Peters is introduced to a life of more loneliness and eventually dies happy, with “a smile upon his face.”
While every story has a mode, a story without characters is no story at all. The main character is Mr. Peters. Mr. Peters is getting to the older ages. Frail, kind and composed, Mr. Peters cannot leave a creature struggling in a thorn bush. Leita is a human turned swan. As Mr. Peters’ wife she can’t stand to be away from her sister but, couldn’t leave Mr. Peters. The king of the forest is a small man with a malicious personality and green garments. As the king he is very haughty and powerful.
As every story needs characters, without symbols the point is none. Some symbols in “The Third Wish” are, the leafs, which symbolize the three wishes that Mr. Peters is granted. The Time of spring show the beauty of nature and weather. The feather that Mr. Peters dies with is showing his love for Leita and his acceptance of nature. The story contains many realistic and unrealistic things. Some Unrealistic things are, the king of the forest and his magic. The three wishes are untrue but as in all fairytales no one has used their three wishes wisely. The realistic aspects of the story are, Mr. Peters driving his car in the beginning and, when Mr. Peters dies he dies happy. Mr. Peters also doesn’t have a wife and dies that way.
All stories have symbols and realistic or unrealistic aspects. As you can see the story is touching and I couldn’t put it down. Most fantasy tales have kings and queens and castles, but this one doesn’t and maybe that is what I like the most about this story.
