The Wish

A man walking along a beach was deep in prayer. Suddenly the sky clouded above his head and, in a booming voice, the Lord said, "Because you have TRIED to be faithful to me in all ways, I will grant you one wish."

The man said, "Build a bridge to Hawaii so I can drive over anytime I want."

The Lord said, "Your request is very materialistic. Think of the enormous challenges for that kind of undertaking. The supports required for it to reach the bottom of the Pacific! The concrete and steel it would take! It will nearly exhaust several natural resources. I can do it, but it is hard for me to justify your desire for worldly things. Take a little more time and think of something that would honor and glorify me."

The man thought about it for a long time. Finally he said, "Lord, I wish that I could understand my wife. I want to know how she feels inside, what she's thinking when she gives me the silent treatment, why she cries, what she means when she says 'nothing's wrong,' and, how I can make a woman truly happy."

The Lord replied, "You want two lanes or four on that bridge?"

Wish

Source of this part is Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text is licensed under the GFDL.

In fiction a wish is a supernatural gift granting the recipient's unlimited request. The wish is usually a template for a morality tale, "be careful what you wish for" writ large.

The template for most fictional wishes is The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, specifically the tale of Aladdin. Although in the tale of Aladdin the actual wishes were only part of the tale and his demands, while outrageous per se, were mainly variations on wealth (which is still often taken as the most 'common' request).

Classically the wish provider is typically a spirit, jinni or similar entity. The entity is bound or constrained within an commonplace object (Aladdin's oil lamp for example) or a container closed with Solomon's seal. Releasing the entity from its constraint, usually by some simple action, allows the object's possessor to 'make a wish', that is present their demands to the entity.

The subservience of the, by necessity, extraordinarily powerful entity to the wishee is explained in a number of ways. The entity may be grateful to be 'free' of its constraint and the wish is a thank-you gift. The entity may be bound to obedience by its 'prison' or some other item in the wishee possesses. The entity may, by its nature, be unable to exercise its powers without an initiator.

Other wish providers are a wide variety of, more or less, inanimate objects. W.W. Jacob's Monkey's Paw being a well-known example. The manga Doraemon is a modern spin on this theme.

The number of wishes granted is variable. Aladdin had an unlimited number, but three is more common. Several authors have spun variations of the 'wish for more wishes' theme, although some sources see this wish as 'cheating'. In many stories the wording of the wish is extremely important - a common problem is either the granter of the wish being extremely literal or through malice granting the request in a manner designed to cause maximum distress (such as a request for wealth being granted through inheritance/insurance on the death of a loved one). Certain authors have also tried an 'always on' approach, the careless use of the word 'wish' in everyday conversation having, often unpleasant, consequences.