Once upon a time there was a lumberjack who lived very happily with his wife in a log-cabin in the center of the forest. Every morning he went to his work, singing, and in the evening, when he came home, a hot bowl of soup awaited him. One day he saw a tree with strange holes in the trunk. This one looked quite different from the others and just as he was about to fell the tree, a fairy's head appeared through one of the holes. 'What is all this noise?' the fairy asked, 'I hope you are not going to cut down this tree, are you? This is my home!' The lumberjack was astonished and he dropped his axe. 'Well, almighty,' he stammered. 'There are so many trees in the forest, why do you have to cut down this one,' the fairy said with an stern voice. Even though he was surprised and also a little afraid, the lumberjack said bravely: 'I will fell any tree I want to ….' 'Right,' the fairy interrupted him. 'Let me put it this way; if you do not cut down this tree, you are allowed three wishes. Deal?' The lumberjack scratched behind his ear. 'Three wishes? Okay' and he began to look for another tree. While he worked he kept thinking of the magic wishes. 'I wonder what my wife will think of this' he mumbled.  The lumberjack's wife was busy cleaning a pot outside when her husband came home. He took her by the waist and turned her around merrily. 'Hurray, hurray! We are so lucky!' The wife just could not understand why her husband was so excited and she shook herself loose. Later when he sat with a jug of wine at the simple table, the lumberjack told his wife about the fairy. She immediately began to think of all the wonderful things the three wishes could bring them.  The woman took a sip from her husband's jug. She smacked and remarked 'I wish I also had a string of sausages …. She immediately bit on her tongue, but it was too late. Suddenly a string of sausages appeared.  'Sausages,' the lumberjack shouted. 'What a waste. I wish those sausages were stuck to your nose'. He had hardly said this when the sausages jumped up and were stuck to the woman's nose. 'You idiot. Look what you've done.' The womand cried. 'Think of all the things we could have asked!' The lumberjack felt insulted and called out: 'For two cents .....' Startled he halted, for he had nearly said: 'For two cents you can cut off my tongue'. But when he saw how his wife was complaining bitterly, he burst out laughing. 'If only you knew how funny you look with those sausages dangling on your nose!'  The woman pulled the sausages, but they stayed in their place. She pulled and pulled again, but in vain. The sausages were solidly attached to her nose. 'They will remain there for the rest of my life,' she cried. 'Let me try,' said the lumberjack who began to feel sorry for his wife and wondered how he could endure living with a woman with such a strange nose. He held the sausages tight and pulled with all his might. But he only managed to pull his wife on top of him. The couple sat on the floor and looked with sadness at each other.  'What can we do now?' they said, but both thought the same thing.'There is only one solution' the lumberjack's wife said timidly. 'Yes, I agree', her husband sighed, thinking of their dreams and very bravely he declared 'I wish the sausages fell off the nose of my wife'. And so it was done. The man and the woman immediately hugged each other and cried. 'If only we had known how to guard our words', they said.  The fairies had expected that something strange would happen and had secretly watched everything that happened to the lumberjack and his wife. They thought it very funny. For they knew something humans apparently don't. They could not fulfil any wish at all. All the time humans fulfil their wishes by themselves. Everything they believe always manifests. All their thoughts and words have power, because they express what they believe. And if they don't believe in something, that will not manifest. The lumberjack and his wife believed that fairies have power to do magic and their faith made their words very powerful. They were just another example of all those people who wish for the strangest things all the time and don't even know they do it themselves. Even though the fairies don't understand humans and their funny wishes, they have great fun with them! After all, isn't it very odd that people just don't see that everything they believe always happens! |