THE THREE WISHES

By Karuna Kumar

Arjun was a poor fisherman and Laila was his young and
beautiful wife. They lived in a small house near the sea.
Sometimes Arjun managed to earn a little money when he
caught some fish but there were days when he could not catch
any. On such days, Arjun and Lakshmi got little to eat. They
were both quite disgruntled with their life. Arjun never stopped
complaining about how cramped and uncomfortable their house
was, how dirty and ragged his clothes were, how little he had to
eat and how hard he had to work. But Lakshmi was different,
she always dreammed of big house, fancy clothes and
ornaments, servants and good food.

One day, Arjun went fishing at the sea..but he was not able
to catch any fish. The sun began to set but his fishing net was
empty. Arjun thought “What will we eat today? Oh, I hope
we don’t have to starve yet again.”

Just then, he felt a strong pull at his net and His spirits
lifted. “Yess….. big fish! Laila will cook fish curry for me
tonight.”

But when he pulled his net out of the water, he was very
disappointed to see that there was only one and tiny little fish
at the net. Suddenly he noticed something strange about the
fish, it was gold golour and shining like the sun. As Arjun looked
on mystified, the fish began to speak. “Please save my life,” it
said. “Please throw me back into the water. I am the King of the
Sea.”

“The King of the Sea!” Shankar was alarmed by the very

idea. He opened his net and the fish fell back into the water.

At once, the water became the color of gold. Shankar

watched spellbound as the mighty King of the Sea rose up from
the waves and spoke out loud, “Thank you fisherman. I can
grant you three wishes in return for your kindness. Come to the
sea-shore and call out to me whenever you want anything.”

Shankar bowed happily and replied, “Thank you, King of

the Sea. But I need to talk to my wife before I can tell you my
first wish. I’ll be back soon!”

Shankar was elated. He ran back home to Lakshmi and

told her excitedly, “The King of the Sea came into my net today
and I saved him by throwing him back into the water. And he
has granted us three wishes so we can have all the things we
want now.”

Lakshmi was thrilled. “Oh, how wonderful! Don’t you think

we should straightaway ask the King of the Sea to give us
some respectable clothes at least?”
 Shankar was delighted by the idea. “I’ll do just that,” he
said. “And I’ll ask him for some ornaments as well. I’m sure that
will please you.”

So Shankar rushed back to the seashore. He stood at the

edge of the water and called out, “O King of the Sea! Please
come and bestow upon me the wish you promised.”

Immediately, the water turned the color of gold and the

King of the Sea rose up from the water, “Yes, Shankar. What is
your wish?”

Shankar answered eagerly, “Lakshmi and I would like

some decent clothes and ornaments.”
The King of the Sea replied, “Go back. Your wish has come
true.”

Shankar looked down and noticed that he was now

wearing a fine set of clothes. A long gold chain dangled from
his neck and there was a gold ring on his finger. He rushed
home to see his wife adorned in a beautiful sari and gold
ornaments. She was happily examining her many gold bangles.
When she saw him, she called out, “Shankar! Look! How
gorgeous these bangles are! Oh, how fortunate I am!”

Shankar and Lakshmi were content for just two days. Then
they began to moan again. Lakshmi complained incessantly
about her housework while Shankar lamented all day about the
amount of work he had to do just to catch a few fish. Finally
Shankar decided that he would go to the King of the Sea and
ask for servants who could help them with their daily chores.

So Shankar rushed again to the seashore and standing at

the edge of the water, called out, “O King of the Sea! Lakshmi
and I both need some servants. Please grant me my second
wish.”
At once, the water became the color of gold and the King of the
Sea ascended from the waves and said, “Your second wish too
is granted. But be careful. Remember you have only one more
wish left so make sure you do not become too greedy.”

Shankar went back to his hut to find Lakshmi lying on a

mat while a maidservant massaged her feet. One servant was
busy with the cooking. Another was mending his fishing net
while yet another rushed forward with a mat for him.

Lakshmi beamed up at him from her mat, “Oh, Shankar!

Isn’t this life wonderful? For the first time in my life, I feel so
relaxed.”

Shankar also lay down on his mat. He closed his eyes to

savor the pleasure of the moment as one of the servants took
off his slippers and began to massage his feet.

Life now seemed blissful and trouble-free for Shankar and

Lakshmi. But it was only a week before they began to grumble
again. They began to whine that their hut had become even
more cramped and uncomfortable with so many servants. Then
Shankar thought of asking the King of the Sea for a bigger
house. Lakshmi was overjoyed at the idea!

So Shankar rushed once more to the seashore and

standing at the edge of the water, called out, “O King of the
Sea! I want you to give me the third wish you promised. We
need a bigger house so can we have that now?”

Again the water turned the color of gold and the King of the
Sea appeared from beneath the waves. “This wish too is
granted,” said the King of the Sea. “But I warn you again.
Greed will bring about your downfall and give you nothing but
unhappiness.”

Shankar hurried back home to find Lakshmi standing

outside a big fine house. “Look at our lovely house, Shankar!
Now we have everything we always wanted.”

Shankar was pleased too. “Yes, I am satisfied. We have

everything now.”

But their satisfaction did not last long. After a few weeks,
Lakshmi told Shankar, “Do you know that in spite of our fine
house and servants, the village women still call me a
fisherman’s wife? It makes me feel quite humiliated.”
 Shankar reacted immediately. “Yes, they still call me a
fisherman too. We need to do something about that. We need
to be treated with more respect. I’ll tell you what – I’ll go and tell
the King of the Sea to make me a king. Then the village women
will have to call you a queen.”

Fantastic though the idea seemed, Lakshmi was afraid.

“Shankar, aren’t the three wishes you were granted over? I
really like the thought of your becoming a king but I’m not sure
we should ask the King of the Sea for anything more.”

“Don’t be afraid,” said Shankar. “I saved the life of the King

of the Sea. Surely he cannot refuse me this one last wish.”

Shankar then walked back to the seashore and called out,

“King of the Sea! Grant me one more wish. Make me a king
and my Lakshmi a queen.”

But this time the water did not turn the color of gold. This
time the King of the Sea did not appear. Instead the waves rose
up high and the sky turned dark and menacing even as an
angry voice arose from the water, “Go back Shankar! You’re
too greedy! You’ll lose everything. But I hope you’ll both learn a
lesson.”

Shankar was stunned. As he walked home sadly, he

noticed that he was again wearing his dirty ragged clothes.
When he reached home, he saw that Lakshmi was standing
outside their dilapidated mud hut, wearing her old torn sari. The
house, their beautiful clothes and ornaments, the servants were
all gone. With tears in her eyes, Lakshmi told him, “We should
never have been so greedy. We should never again ask for
more than we have.”

From that day on, Lakshmi and Shankar became

contended with whatever they had and for the first time in their
lives they became truly happy.