“I’m the best of friends of children,
And I’ll help you if I can;
Now tell me what your wishes are,
For I’m the Wishing Man.”
They told him that they had decided to wish that every day should be just as nice as Christmas—different, but, then, just as nice.
“That is a good wish,” said the Wishing Man. “I hope that you will get it, but you never can tell.”
“You never can tell! Arn’t you the Wishing Man? Don’t you know? Don’t you give folks their wishes?”
“Oh, no! I am not wise enough for that. The Angel of Blessings does that. I merely go through the world and carry to him all the wishes that I hear people make.”
“How do you carry them?” asked the prince.
“Oh, right here,” and he pointed to a little jeweled box that he had at his belt. “Right here. You see I have a padlock on it and I never lose a wish.”
“Are you the only wishing man in the world?” asked the princess.
“Oh, bless my soul, no! If I were, do you think I would have time to sit here on this nice cool seat and chat with you? There are a great many of us, but we all look just alike, we are all dressed just alike, and we are all twins.”
That seems strange, but it was not strange at all in the Land of Nothing Strange.