Grandpa Dean's Wishing Well Stories

"Three More Wishes"

Here we go again...

Just outside the small town of Holtville, Alabama, a magical well appeared. No one knew how the well got there, it just appeared one day. The first person to approach the strange well was the mayor of the small country town. When he came near the well, he looked inside and heard a voice that seemed to come from the bottom of it.

“I will grant you 3 wishes, Mayor, but be careful.”

The mayor was a greedy person and had gained his wealth from embezzling. He wanted more money, more wealth. Knowing that he couldn’t steal more from the town’s funds, the mayor cleared his throat.

“I wish for a million dollars, a large diamond ring like no other, and a new car.”

The well granted these things, which immediately appeared right beside the well. The weight of these riches caused the side of the well to collapse and into the well did the mayor, with all his manifested wishes, fall.

The mayor cried for help when he and his three wishes hit a bottom of quicksand. As they disappeared into the muck, the mayor cried for help again as he began sinking. Of course, no one heard him and he was trapped for hours, slowly sliding into the quicksand.

Finally, the mayor asked the voice, “Will you help me?”

The voice told the mayor, “I am a wishing well, not a ladder. You have been granted your three wishes, Mayor, and until you reach the surface, you are allowed no more—I told you to be careful.”

After an hour, another person appeared at the well. He was a local farmer and he did not like the mayor, a man everyone knew was crooked but necessary.

The farmer saw the collapsed wall of the well, and as he studied where the stones had broken, the voice of the well cried, “I will grant you three wishes, Farmer, but be careful.”
The farmer thought for a moment. Being an unselfish person, he said, “I wish for a new town library right atop the old one and a new school building beside it.”

The voice from the well said, “Those are granted, Farmer, but you have one more wish. Again, be careful.”

Just as the farmer was about to make his third wish, another voice came from the bottom of the well. This time it was the mayor who spoke, and the farmer recognized his voice immediately.

“Tyler Curlee,” said the mayor, “Please, help me get out of this well.”

Old Curlee could not leave the mayor trapped in the bottom of the well, but he had some things to say. “Have trouble with your wishes, Mayor? Is that why the stone wall is collapsed? Did you wish for money, for riches?”

“Tyler Curlee,” said the agitated mayor, “Get me out of this well! I am trapped in quicksand and sinking.”

Smiling, Tyler Curlee said, “Mayor, you are a crooked man, but if you resign from office when I get you to the surface, I will wish you out of there.”

The panicked mayor shouted, “I agree, I agree, now please get me out of here!”

For his third wish, the farmer said, “Wishing Well, what would happen if I wished the mayor up to the surface? Will he keep his promise and resign?”

“Anyone who approaches my well may have three wishes, Farmer, but as the mayor has fallen to my depths, he has touched the ancient sands of my magic and will always be granted three more wishes should he reach the surface. Whether he keeps his promise, I cannot say, for I am a wishing well and not a crystal ball.”

The farmer, knowing it was cruel to leave him down there, left the well and fetched the longest rope he could find. He returned and lowered the rope to the bottom of the well. He safely brought the mayor to the surface.

The farmer nodded to the mayor, who was busy dusting himself off. “Will you resign?”

“No,” said the mayor, “but thank you for the help, Curlee. Now, I have three more wishes and this time I will make my wishes carefully.”

The farmer shook his head, “Because you will never understand this well on your own, Mayor, I wish for your curiosity to be your teacher until you do.”

“Granted,” said the voice of the well.

The old farmer left the well and the mayor, who had a new gleam in his eyes.

“I will grant you three wishes, Mayor, but be careful,” said the voice in the well.

And so the mayor made three more wishes.

Of course, he fell back into the well. Over the months, people came and went, passing by the well to make wishes for the town—a new building here, a new community center there, a new theater on a new main street, no new foreclosures on farms and houses.

The people would help the mayor out of the well, but each time he used his three wishes, he only ever wished for boats, exotic animals, gold and jewels, a house made of silver, a thousand servants. He was up and down that well for many years, even as the town prospered around him.

Greedy politicians have hard heads and rarely get things right the first time. Or the second time. Or the third time…or the fourth time…

…or the fifth time…

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