I haven’t been posting, but I’ve been WRITING… The following snippet of conversation is growing into a mystery novel. We’ll see where it goes!
Dragon Footprints
“Trick question: Do dragons leave footprints in the snow?”
“Um…ah…” Peter paused. He was thinking.
“I told you that it’s a trick question, if you say YES than you are admitting to believing in dragons and if you say NO than you are admitting to having no imagination—or not enough to imagine that dragons are real—which is pretty sad, right?”
“Well, I could say, that I believe in dragons; and I KNOW that they do not leave footprints in the snow, because they don’t like the cold and stay inside when it’s snowing.” He grinned.
“Shit!… You did it again…”
“Don’t mess with the master…”
“Never again Peter. Really, never again… but… a real question—this time I mean it. I want an answer to this one. It’s been bugging me for years. Why is THREE always the magic number? It’s three all the time, all over the world…”
“Lots of theories on that one—religious, artistic, mathematical…all that stuff about triangles and the horizon and creating the illusion of depth in a flat image; the sun, moon and earth; the father, son and the holy spirit, and…”
“But THREE wishes? It’s always three wishes—not one, not five, not two…THREE. A genie always offers you three wishes. Why?” I was exasperated.
“Oh, is that all you wanted to know? Really Mary, that one is easy. The first wish is the extravagant, ridiculous wish that wreaks havoc. You know, those impossible wishes for immense wealth, or perfect beauty, or outstanding talent… those wishes smack you in the face. The excess turns the long-cherished desire into a nightmare. The second wish is the one you use to correct the situation—to erase the smack-in-your-face consequences of the crazy ass big wish. Wish number three is the only real one. That’s when you must think about what you really want and what it really means…That’s why there are three! You need the third one. It’s the only legitimate wish!”
4 Responses
I love a fable with a moral. Thank you. 😊 Looking forward to seeing how this develops.
This conversation is a memory that Mary recalls as she’s about to start a quest to solve the biggest mystery in HER life. The characters are telling me the story as I write. It’s a ride!
First of all there are Dragons. The Komodo Dragon is the world’s largest lizard. There are Komodo Dragons at the National Zoo in Washington DC. It does snow in Washington DC, so it is possible that you can find Dragon footprints in the snow.
In the original Arabian Nights tale, Aladdin was given no limit to the number of wishes he was given. I suppose that a limit was set by someone that got tired of trying to think up things to wish for.
Sigh…. This is a conversation between characters in a work of fiction. Neither of them felt the need to vet for factual accuracy. The idea of 3 wishes, as expressed by the 17-year old Mary, comes from her frame of reference. You’re obviously much more informed about dragons and about the historical & literary references to wishes.