The Ridiculous Wishes

The Ridiculous Wishes or The Three Ridiculous Wishes (French: Les Souhaits ridicules) is a French literary fairy tale by Charles Perrault published in 1697 in the volume titled Histoires ou contes du temps passé. It is Aarne-Thompson type 750A.[2]

"A long black pudding came winding and wriggling towards her" Illustration by Harry Clarke.[1]

Plot

A woodcutter complained of his poor lot. Jupiter (or, alternatively, a tree spirit or fairy) granted him three wishes. The woodcutter went home, and his wife persuaded him to put off the wishing until the next day, after he had thought, but while sitting by the fire, he wished for sausages. His wife taxed him for his folly, and angry, he wished the sausages on her nose. Finally, they agreed to use the last wish to take the sausages off her nose, leaving them no better off than before (apart from having gained the sausages).

In some different types of versions of this tale, black pudding is used instead of sausages. And also in some versions, it's the woodcutter himself that gets the sausage stuck on his nose.

See also

References
  1. The fairy tales of Charles Perrault, 1922. The Ridiculous Wishes p. 130
  2. D. L. Ashliman, Foolish Wishes: tales of Aarne-Thompson-Uther type 750A and other stories about the foolish use of magic wishes
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