We shall now learn how the stranger passed the night and of three wishes he granted to the good old man and his wife. What do you suppose the good people asked for?
Narration.
THE KIND MAN GRANTS WISHES.
When the table was spread, they all sat down and ate. The plain food tasted good to them because they were all happy. After they had eaten, and bedtime had come, the good woman said to her husband, “Let us make for ourselves a bed of straw on the floor and give our bed to the traveler so that he may rest well. He has been traveling the whole day and must be very weary.” “With all my heart,” said her husband; “I will offer our bed to him.” Then he went to the stranger and said to him, “We want you to sleep in our bed to-night. You are tired and you can rest better there.”
At first the stranger would not take the bed from the old people. But they would not take no for an answer, so finally he consented and lay down for the night in the comfortable bed. The two old people made a bed of straw on the floor. Early the next morning they were up. They cooked their guest a breakfast of the best they had.
As the sun shone through the window the traveler arose, ate his simple meal with the good man and his wife, and was about to depart. As he stood in the door, ready to go, he turned to them and said. “Because you are so good and hospitable, you may make three wishes and I will fulfill them.”
The old people were surprised and at first did not know what to say. Then they wished as the first wish that they might always be contented. For the second, that they might always have health and their daily bread. For their third wish they did not know what to wish. But the wonderful traveler looked at their poor little house and said, “Would you not like to have a new house as your last wish?” “Oh, yes!” they cried. “A new house would please us best of anything.” The wonderful traveler then gave them their wish and changed their old house into a new, large and beautiful one. When he had done this, he bade them good-bye and departed.
Suggestions.
1. Why did the food taste good? What offer did the good man and wife make the traveler? Where did they sleep? What did the wonderful traveler offer to the good people? What was their first wish? Their second? Their third? Reproduction.
2. Tell in what ways the good man and wife were kind, generous, and hospitable. What pleases you in the treatment of the traveler? Do you like the three wishes? What might they have wished for? What is it to be contented? Do you know any who are never contented? Who was not contented in “Mother Frost”? In “The Wolf and the Fox”? In “Cinderella”?