The Wishing Tree by Aditya BidikarSUMMARY: Based on an Indian Folk Legend.Based on an Indian Folk Legend. For Sourabh, who told it to me.
The man was tired. Very tired. He wanted to rest. He had been walking for a long time through the arid desert, seeing not a soul for the last three days, and now he thought that if he didn't get a place to rest, he would kill himself. That was when he saw the tree.
He couldn't make out what kind it was. But then, he had never been much of a tree-lover anyway. But that wasn't the thought that came to his mind, of course. To his tired eyes, the tree was heaven itself, and sitting under it would give him the greatest pleasure in the world.
So he ran to it and plunked down on the ground. "Ahh!" he said. It was a beautiful feeling. He soaked it in for a while. Then, true to his human nature, he closed his eyes and thought, "Wouldn't it be the greatest pleasure in the world now if I had some water to drink?" He opened his eyes and lo, there was a pitcher of water in front of him. He was a little frightened. He looked around and saw no one. He knew he hadn't said that out loud. So he thought for a while. But then his thirst got the better of him, and he drank up the pitcher of water. The water was cool and sweet and he thought it was the sweetest water in the world.
As he lay down after drinking, he realised he was hungry. He needed food. Desperately. So he thought to himself, "Wouldn't it be the greatest pleasure in the world now if I had some food to eat?" The next moment, a scrumptious feast was laid before his very eyes. Before he could even think, he had eaten up the whole banquet. Then he laid back, satiated, and tried to think about what was going on. He realised there was only one other thing he needed - transport. If he could get to his village, he would be so very happy. So he thought, "Wouldn't it be the greatest pleasure in the world now if I had a horse to ride?" And there it was. Standing in front of him, looking at him with cool eyes, a white Arabian horse of the finest breed.
The man was suddenly very frightened. He knew that there was something wrong with the tree. He looked at it.
"What if there is a demon hiding behind the tree who will suddenly eat me up?" As he thought, so it came to be. A huge ugly demon appeared suddenly in front of him, and lifting him up, popped him into its mouth before he could even scream.
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