A Book of Folktales

The Wishing Well

A story of greediness and selfishness...

Once upon a time there was a village in the mountains.There was a massive forest surrounding it isolating it from the rest of the world. In the tiny village there was a young boy named Yoshway. Yoshway was in a family of four. His little sister Akila and parents were his only family.

At school everybody would tease him about being poor and laugh at his tattered, old clothes. He was an outcast, a person everybody avoided, because he was poor and didn't have money.

There was a witch in this small town. She was clever and evil. Everybody called her, The Moshav Witch. After she cursed a family to starve forever, the settlement drove her out of town. When she was well into the forest, out of revenge, she cast a spell for the village to suffer forever from a drought that would never quit. No more dew,waterfalls,rain,drizzles. Everything drop of water ceased to exist.

The village wondered what had happened. None of them knew what the cunning witch had done. They tore through the forest in search of water. None of them found even a drop of water. Yoshway decided to try to find water so that he could save everybody. He knew he was an outcast, but he thought if he saved the settlement he would be accepted,  be appreciated.

The next day when he went out he heard wind, strange sounds coming from the wind. It sounded almost like words...

"Make a wish boy, make a wish."

He followed the sound to a dried out well. It was a deep well but the sound came from somewhere deep within. He was right. The wind was speaking.

"Make a wish boy, make a wish. Choose carefully, you only get three."

At first he was frightened. But as he listened he was intrigued. He leaned over it and listened harder. As the well spoke again he forgot about the drought, forgot about the people who were suffering. He had his chance to save the community and he didn't, he said,

"I wish for money. I wish for gold." 

Darkness was beginning to fall so he ran back to the settlement. When he approached his house he heard his mother shouting. He knew his wish had come true.

But it was not so.

When he walked in he heard crying.

His little sister, Akila had died. She had not had water.

He realized he had been selfish and greedy so he stumbled blindly back into the forest searching for the well. He heard the wind whispering again and found the well. Yoshway collapsed in tears next to it saying,

"I wish for the water to be prosperous. I wish for the drought to end."

The wind whistled saying,

"No boy, you failed the test. You were greedy, your little sister died because of you. You have lost your last wish."

Yoshway begged and begged for his last wish. At last he fell asleep from pure exhaustion. 

The next morning when he woke up he said quietly, "I repent, I own my mistake and I wish for the drought to end."

There was a sudden gust of wind and he could faintly hear the words,

"I forgive you, you have owned your mistake, I give you grace." Water poured down and streams beds filled, he could hear the waterfalls splashing down in the distance. Yoshway walked back to the village his heart heavy from not saving his sister, but a weight lifted off his shoulders because he was forgiven. He had learned his lesson, he would never be greedy again.

Moral: Being greedy can hurt other people.

By: Me