“I have it,” burst forth the woodman, “let us wish for a fine large family, five sons and five daughters, What say you to that?”
“Oh!” returned his wife, “I think I prefer six sons and four daughters.”
So they continued weighing one wish with another until they seemed almost in despair about coming to a decision regarding which three wishes would be the wisest and best. They finally stopped talking and ate their simple food in silence. The woodcutter did not seem to relish his soup and dry bread.
“Oh,” he cried out suddenly, “how I wish I had some nice savory sausage for dinner!” No sooner had the words fallen from his lips than a large dish of fine sausages appeared on the table. What a surprise! The two were so astonished that for a few moments they could not speak. Then the wife said impatiently:
“What do you mean by making such a foolish wish? Do you not see that this dish of sausage means that one wish has been granted and that there are but two left? How could you make such a stupid, stupid wish?”
“Well,” replied the husband, “to be sure I have been foolish. I really did not think what I was saying. However, we may still wish for great riches and an empire.”
“Humph!” grumbled the wife, “we may wish for riches and an empire, but what about a fine large family? You have certainly been foolish in wishing for that horrid sausage. I suppose, however, you prefer sausage to a fine family;” and she burst out into tears of lamentation, crying: “How could you? How could you be so foolish? Oh, dear! Oh, dear! How very foolish and stupid you have been.”
Finally her husband lost all patience and cried out: “I’m tired of your grumbling! I wish the sausage were on the end of your nose!”
In an instant the sausage was fastened to the end of the poor woman’s nose. How comical she did look! The husband and wife were so astonished that they could not speak. The poor woman again burst into tears.
“Oh!” she cried. “How could you? How could you? First, you wished for sausage, and second, you wished that the sausage were fastened to my poor nose. It is terrible. It is cruel. Two wishes have been granted. There remains but one! Oh, dear, dear!”