The Wish Granter | Story by Hannah Blank

In a high tower off to the east, there lived a girl of fourteen that worked very hard each day cleaning and cooking for a grumpy old man. The old man had adopted her many years ago, but he always kept her inside the tower, and she knew not a friend outside of it. The old man had a couple servants, but they were not friendly. They moaned and groaned all the while they worked, and were rather unpleasant company.

When the girl did not have work to do, she sat in her room reading. She was thankful to have many books, and also thankful that the old man had taken the time to teach her how to read. Aside from that kindness, he never troubled himself with her. He was quite a lonely fellow, and had many aches and pains that made it difficult to go out. So he had shut himself away.

Books were one of the few things the old man enjoyed. On special occasions, such as her birthday, he would give her a new storybook. She read of many things, and though she did her chores happily and loved to stay inside and read, she had become very lonely. She longed to have a friend. Every night she would open her window and make a wish. She wished for a friend every single time, but always in a slightly different way.

One night, she opened her window and saw a light falling from the sky. She stepped back and watched it fall all the way down, landing in her room.

She shut her window and went to see it. It was a quickly fading white light that looked like a crystal, but when she picked it up, it flashed brightly. The brightness dimmed enough to gaze once more, and it looked as though she held the starry night sky in her hands. She felt she could wish for anything in that moment and surely receive it. So without a second thought, she looked at it and said, “I wish I had a friend who would come here right now!” The beauty in her hands turned grew dark like a storm rolling in, and a loud THUMP was heard at her window.

THUMP! THUMP! She heard twice more, so she set the crystal down and went to her window. A small white bird with gray wings was flying right against the glass.

“Are you my friend?” she asked the small bird. The bird seemed to nod, then his form changed to a strange creature. He looked a bit like a frog, but one made of dark brown yarn and sackcloth. He fell to the bottom of the window as he changed then pulled himself back up and pressed both of his tiny hands against the glass.

“Yes, but I can’t get inside,” said the frog-like creature through the glass.

“Oh, here! I can open the window for you,” the girl told him, then opened the window up.

He hopped inside, but no longer did he look like a frog. Now he was a cat, and he was meowing quite loudly.

“Shh! Be quiet or you will wake my father,” she whispered, but he meowed all the way across her room then hopped onto her bed. He changed once again into the frog-like creature. He was smiling as he kicked his little round feet back and forth into the air while laying back on her soft pillow. The girl was not too happy to see him on her bed, because he looked a bit dirty in his frog-like form. This upset, however, was soon overcome with the joy of now having a friend.

“Is this your real form? What you normally look like?” she asked and his little feet stopped as he sat up and looked at her.

“No. I look different,” he answered, then he laid back again and started kicking his feet. She watched him for a moment as she thought things over. He didn’t seem very interested in conversation, but now she was too curious to end it there.

“Can you show me what you really look like?” she asked and he stopped yet again, though this time he was still laying back.

“Yes,” he answered. The girl was too excited to look at first, so she covered her eyes a moment and took in a deep breath before looking to see.

When she uncovered her eyes, the frog had changed into a man with twisty black hair, dark eyes and fair skin. His appearance would be very unusual to someone who had seen many people, as his eyes had no eyelashes, but were dark around the edges, and his clothes were dark gray and black with red designs. To the girl, he didn’t seem that strange.

Bored with sitting still, he got up and began looking around her room. She grinned at him then began asking more questions.

“So where do you live?” she asked sweetly.

“I live in a place where one hundred years is young, there’s light but not a sun, the grass is white as snow, and the trees are made of gold.”

“It sounds magical! How can there be light without a sun, though?” the girl asked, trying to imagine it.

“Lanterns.”

“Lanterns? …Well that’s not magical at all!” she complained and he smiled with amusement.

She thought a moment about what to ask him next, meanwhile he went to her bookshelf and scrolled his finger across a row of books, only seeming to count the number of them rather than read the titles.

“Oh!” the girl expressed aloud as she came up with her next question. “Do you know my name?”

“Yes,” he answered with a perplexed look, wondering why she asked.

“Okay, well you know mine, but I still don’t know yours! What is your name?”

“…Nini…” he mumbled.

Unable to hear his answer, she asked again, “What is it?”

“Nini.” he said quite clearly this time.

A smile crept over the girl’s face and she found herself holding back laughter. What a silly name! she thought. He gave a somewhat displeased look and she quickly brushed away her smile. “Oh…that’s a nice name!” she told him in the most serious tone she could muster.

“I’ve answered all of your questions, would you please answer some of mine?” he asked.

She hadn’t thought he would have anything to ask her. But she happily and quickly nodded yes. “Can you read these?” he asked, gently putting his hand over her books.

“Oh, yes. I can read quite well! But why do you ask?”

“Could you teach me?” Nini asked, placing a hand over his chest.

“You mean you can’t read?” the girl responded in surprise. He only nodded his head. “Oh…” she said and thought over his request. “Okay, I can try,” she told him and he smiled a pleasant smile. The first smile he had made since he had transformed into his true self.

The girl picked up a book from her shelf and began reading to him, showing him the book and answering whatever questions he had throughout her reading. She found it funny to be the teacher for someone that appeared quite a bit older than her.

Later in the night she became tired and ready for rest, so Nini changed into a bird and flew out the window, leaving her to sleep.

The next evening, Nini returned and she began teaching him again. As she taught, she also asked questions she had after their last meeting.

“So I was wondering, if there is no sun, are there any stars?” she asked.

“Oh yes, lots of stars, but not one close enough that I would call it a sun,” he explained.

“Hm…I guess I can understand that,” she said before getting back to reading. She began reading out loud with more confidence when her father came and pounded on the door. Nini quickly changed into a cat and ran under her bed as she went to answer it.

“Good evening father. What’s wrong?” she asked sincerely.

“What’s wrong?! I can’t sleep with you talking so loud. And look at this mess! Pick those books up and go to bed!” the old man yelled then shut her door and left.

Nini came back out, still a cat in appearance.

“Sometimes I wish he didn’t get so angry,” she whispered with a sigh. “I’m sorry Nini, but we’ll have to continue tomorrow,” she whispered and Nini went to the window, soon changing into a bird and flying away.

For many evenings after that, Nini would come to visit her in her room and get reading lessons. She often asked him more questions about his homeland as he visited. Of course they were always very quiet from then on, too.

One night, as the two were reading, she brought up that she hadn’t seen her father all day, and that when he came home late in the night, he went right to bed.

“It’s strange for him to be out so long…” she noted as she told Nini about it.

“I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about,” he told her.

“Oh, Nini!” she began excitedly, “I’ll be turning fifteen tomorrow. My father probably got me a new book!”

“That’s nice…” Nini said in a less than enthusiastic way.

“Well what’s the matter?” she asked with slight disappointment heard in her voice. “I thought you’d be happy to know.”

Nini picked up a different book from the floor and began reading it. He was a fast learner, and in the time they had known each other he learned how to read and had almost finished all of her books now. The girl tried bringing his attention back to her birthday, but he would change the subject every time.

Finally the girl was feeling a bit frustrated, and quite ready for bed.

“We can pick up where we left off tomorrow,” she yawned and went to pull back her covers. “I’ll see you then,” she said, but Nini didn’t reply. She paused, then turned to look at him. He was still just sitting on the floor. “…Nini?” the girl asked and began to approach him.

“Tomorrow,” he said, standing up off the floor.

“Bye!” she waved with a smile.

“…Goodbye,” he said without looking back at her then he walked over to the window, transforming and flying off.

He hadn’t told her, as he knew she would be upset, but they would not be seeing each other again. Just as one awakens from a splendid dream and later forgets all about it, when she awoke the next morning, she had forgotten all about him.

She got out of bed and stretched her arms. Before heading downstairs, she stopped and looked at her books laying about the room.

I must have been very tired to have left them out, she thought, picking them up and setting them on her shelf. Funny though…I don’t remember even reading them yesterday.

When she had finished putting the books away, she went down the stairs to the dining area. Then something quite strange but wonderful happened; Her foster Father turned and greeted her with a large chocolate cake and a cheerful demeanor. She had never seen him so happy before, he had always been such a grumpy old man.

“Father? What’s going on?” the girl asked him in bafflement. He had never made her a cake before.

“Why, it is your birthday, you silly girl!” he laughed as he set her cake down then motioned her over. “Now come and eat,” he insisted gleefully.

She sat down and he cut and served her a large piece of cake, then cut another for himself.

“Father…”

“Yes?”

“I thought you didn’t care for sweets. Has something happened?” she asked, mostly curious about his odd behavior.

“Oh yes, the most splendid of things!” he exclaimed. “You see, while I was out to find you a present yesterday morning, I came across an odd little shop that said it could grant wishes. I thought that to be a ludicrous assertion, so I decided I’d give it a shot and if my wish didn’t come true, I’d shut them down!”

“So what happened when you made a wish?” the girl asked, no longer eating her cake as she was too pulled into the story to eat.

“Ah, well, I went inside and a very strange fellow greeted me. I said I wanted a wish, then he said to go ahead and make it, so I told him I wished that my bones and joints didn’t ache. Now would you believe it, just like that and I felt as good as new!”

“That’s amazing!” the girl exclaimed. “What did you do after that?”

“Well, of course I asked if I could have another wish!” the old man laughed. “And that strange man said yes, but that I’d have to buy something first. Clever fellow! So I bought this,” the old man said, handing her a new story book.

“Oh, thank you!” she said with joy, accepting it gladly.

“You’re welcome. Well now, that brings me to the last part of the story!” he said and leaned forward. “I wished for a sweetheart. Someone to keep me company you see, and right after that a woman most beautiful for our age walked in! Well, I turned to the odd wish granting fellow and he said I should talk to her. So I did! I wasn’t sure what to say, but she certainly knew how to carry a conversation forward. She did most of the talking, haha,” he gave a hearty laugh, then he stood up and went to get something.

When he walked back into the dining room, he was holding a fine dress and hat. “These are for you,” he said, handing them to the girl.

“Ah…they're lovely! But what for, father? The book was more than enough,” she said most humbled.

“We’re going to the old Church! That woman I met, Tabitha, she invited me,” he explained.

“I can’t wait!” the girl replied. “When we’re done, can we stop by the odd little shop you were telling me about?”

“Oh… Well we would, but that’s something I forgot to tell you about. You see, Tabitha and I left the shop to get something to eat, and when we returned, it had vanished! We asked the people around the area if they knew what had happened, and they said there was never a shop there to begin with!” the old man explained, feeling quite puzzled by it himself.

“What about the strange man that worked there?” she asked.

“Gone without a trace. We looked for him, but couldn’t find him. I’d have recognized him if we did!” he said, snapping his fingers.

“Heheheh, that sounds like it should be in a book! What did he look like?” she asked, feeling a rush of energy from the mysterious story.

“Ah, he wore dark clothes unlike any I had ever seen. With stripes of red here and there, and black, twisty, messy hair!” the old man described.

It was strange, the girl thought. She was able to perfectly imagine what he had looked like as she thought of Nini’s appearance, but of course, she could not remember him or his name. She may never know it, so long as she lives, that the man who granted her father’s wishes, was the same man to grant hers.

The young fifteen-year-old girl went on to make many friends in the years to come as she went with her foster Father to Church. And in that Church, her foster Father later married Tabitha. They were now a happy family.

And one day, on the girl’s 18^th birthday, her father gave her many gifts, but her favorite was a book about a mysterious world and the people who lived there, written by an author simply named, Nini.