The Story of The Wishing Well
Bobby was an ordinary boy. He liked to play ball. He liked to play hide and seek. He had a pet dog named Fred. He didn’t like little girls.
Bobby lived in a town that had a legend. A legend is a very old story that might be true, but then again, it might not. The legend of Bobby’s town was the legend of the magical wishing well. On the edge of town, not far from Bobby’s house, was a well. Bobby liked to go to the well. People said it was magical.
This is how the legend of the magical wishing well began. Many, many years ago in Bobby’s town there was a young prince named Prince Robert. Prince Robert had about everything a prince could want. He had his own pony. He had his own wagon for the pony to pull. Of course, he had plenty to eat. He had the finest clothes in all the land. His pockets were always filled with gold and his shoes were made of leather. You would think that Prince Robert was a happy prince but he was extremely sad and gloomy. Every morning he would wake in a grump.
The king and queen were worried about Prince Robert. When they saw him at the breakfast table moping, they asked, “Prince Robert, what is wrong?”
Prince Robert replied, “Hrrrrrmph.”
This really worried the king and queen. They took Robert to their wizard from a faraway land. He spoke with an accent, “Prince Robert, vhat seem to be matter?”
Prince Robert replied, “Hrrrrrmph.”
This left the wizard quite concerned. He said, “Prince Robert, vhat is matter, boy? Vhy are you always going ‘round castle saying, ‘Hrrmph’? I don’t understand dees. You are luckiest boy in all realm. You have leather shoes, finest clothes in land, and your bery own pony and wagon. I do not understand vhat matter must be.”
Prince Robert just replied, “Hrrrrrmph.” In fact, it was getting to the point where that was all the prince ever said. No one could figure out what was wrong.
The wizard went to the king and queen, “I cannot figure out vhat is wrong with Prince Robert. All he ever says to me is ‘Hrrmph’. I am bery worried.”
The queen nodded her head and agreed,”Yes, that’s all he says to his father and me, as well. We are getting quite tired of hearing ‘Hrrmph’. What can we do?”
The king added,”Yes, what can we do, magical wizard?”
The wizard knew of a magical wishing well. He said, “I have plan. See vhat you think. We go down to magical well at edge of town near castle wall. We say to Robert, ‘Now, dees is magical well. Now, vhat you do. You take dees gold coin. You toss it into magical well. As coin is flying through air, you say magical words, I wish for... and after you say I wish for... then you say vhat it is you wish for. For instance, let’s say that you want magical unicorn. You throw coin up in air and you say I wish for...magical unicorn. Or let’s say, you want magical crown of rubies and emeralds. Then you throw coin in air. As golden coin is flying through air, you say I wish for...magical crown of rubies and emeralds. And pooft, out of well, magical light will shine. Golden light will flow from wishing well. Rainbows, stars, confetti, all kinds banana splits, and sometimes even golden animals and strange things from underworld will fly from well and disappear in sky right before your eyes, pooft, just like that. And in middle of well, there it will be; magical golden crown of rubies and emeralds or magical unicorn, vhatever it is that you said right after you said I wish for... then you say vhat it is you wish for.’ Get it?”
Well, the king and queen were quite confused by all this but they were willing to try anything because they were quite tired of hearing “Hrrmph” from Prince Robert. The king said to the wizard, “Anything is worth a try. Go ahead and take him down to the well and see what happens.”
The wizard went to Robert the next morning and said, “Robert, I want you should come down to magical wishing well with me and see if you would like to make magical wish.”
Prince Robert replied, “Hrrrrrmph.”
After breakfast they set out; the king, the queen, the wizard and Prince Robert behind “Hrrmphing” the whole way. When they got to the well, there was an old woman drawing water from the well. She pulled and pulled until the bucket came up filled with water. She poured the water into her pitcher, put the pitcher on her head, balanced it carefully, and started to hobble away to her hut. The king and queen paid no attention to her. The wizard was far from worried about the old woman. But, Prince Robert noticed that she was having quite a hard time struggling with the water.
The wizard began to explain to Robert. “Now, Robert, dees is magical wishing well. All you do, you take golden coin, throw it in air, while it is in air, you say magical words I wish for... and then you say vhatever it is you wish for. So, if you are going to wish for magical horse, you say, I wish for... magical horse. Or let’s say, you are going to wish for beautiful princess to marry. You say I wish for... beautiful princess to marry. And then pooft, out of the well golden light will flow. Rainbow, confetti, streamers, all kinds strange animals from underworld will fly out well and disappear into sky right before your eyes. And in middle of well will be a beautiful princess for you to marry.”
Prince Robert looked at the wizard, crossed his eyes, and said, “Hrrrrrmph,” because he didn’t even like girls.
The king and queen didn’t know what to do. The king decided that if he showed Prince Robert that it really worked, then the prince might try it. The king stepped up to the well. He took a golden coin and threw it up into the air. As it flew through the air, he said, “I wish for... a golden crown with the largest diamond in all the realm.” The coin went over the well. He could hear it hit the side of the well, dink, and drop into the water, plop. Nothing happened; no golden light, no streamers, no confetti, no strange animals from the underworld. And in the middle of the well…there was WATER.
The queen, who was very tired of hearing “Hrrmph” all the time, decided that the king had not made a proper wish. She decided to try herself. She stepped up to the well, took a golden coin and threw it into the air. As it flew through the air, she said, “I wish for... a happy prince that does not say ‘Hrrmph’ all the time.” The coin flew into the well. She could hear it hit the stones of the well, dink-a-link, and drop into the water, kerrplop. Nothing happened; no magical light, no magical rainbows, no stars, no banana splits. No magical animals from the underworld disappeared before her eyes because none ever appeared in the first place. And in the middle of the well…there was WATER.
The wizard said, “I do not think you are waving hands in air in magical way you are supposed to wave hands when making magical wish. You must wave your hands like dees and throw coin. Then you say I wish for... and then you say vhatever it is you wish for after you say,I wish for...”
The queen said, “Well, you try it then, if you are so magical.”
The wizard stepped up to the well. He took a magical coin from his magical purse and tossed it in the air waving his hands in a dramatically magical way. As the coin was flying through the air, he said, “I wish for... “ And then he said, “vhatever it is you say after you say ‘I wish for...’ vhat it is that you want to wish for.” The coin flew threw the air, hit the side of the well, tink-a-link-a-link, fell into the water, plop-splash. And...nothing happened; no golden light from the well, no rainbows, no stars, no streamers, no comets, no strange animals from the underworld disappeared because nothing appeared. And in the middle of the well...there was THE BUCKET.
Prince Robert noticed that the adults were having no luck at all. He turned to them, crossed his eyes, raised his hands in the air and said, “Hrrrrrrrr-double-rrrmph!” He picked a coin from his pocket which was always filled with gold. He tossed the golden coin in the air. As it was flying through the air, he said, “I wish that the old woman that was carrying the water would have a young boy to carry it for her.” The coin hit the side of the well, dink, but this time there was NO plop, NO splash. No one heard any sound of the coin falling in the water at all.
All of a sudden golden light streamed from the bottom of the well. Stars shot from the bottom of the well. Magical animals from the underworld came flying out of the well. Rainbows, confetti, streamers, and all kinds of strange magical banana splits disappeared before their very eyes. And in the middle of the well...there was PRINCE ROBERT.
The only difference was that he no longer had leather shoes. His feet were bare. He no longer had the finest clothes in all the realm. He was dressed in rags. His pockets were not filled with golden coins. They were filled with rocks. Robert had gotten his wish, you see, for he was the young boy who would carry the water for the old woman. You might think that Robert would be sad to be so poor. But, he was extremely happy and hopped off the side of the well. He ran to the woman’s side and said, “Can I carry that water for you?” Not a single “Hrrmph” came out of his mouth and he didn’t even cross his eyes.
The king and queen were somewhat puzzled. They were glad to see that Robert was happy but they knew that they had lost their son forever. He would never be a prince again. The wizard was quite confused. He took his magical hat off and threw it in the well. The three adults went back to the castle. That is how the legend of the magical wishing well ended.
Now, have you forgotten our boy, Bobby. I hope not because this story began with Bobby going to the well. Now, as I told you before, Bobby was an ordinary boy. He wasn’t a prince. He didn’t have golden coins in his pockets but he was not a poor boy either. He didn’t have rocks in his pockets. In his pockets he had pennies, ordinary copper pennies. He pulled a penny from his pocket and said, “I wonder if the legend of the magical wishing well is true or just make-believe. I don’t have a golden coin. Maybe I’ll try this penny.” He tossed the penny into the air. As the penny was flying through the air, he waved his hands in the air in the best magical way he knew, and said, “I wish I knew if this wishing well is magical.” He heard the penny hit the side of the well, dink, but there was NO plop, NO splash, NO sound of the penny falling into the water. The only thing Bobby heard was dink.
The Wishing Well by C. Walker ©03