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Just a story I wrote in my free time smile Any tips or suggestions are appreciated. Please tell me what you think of it.

The Wishing Well and a Lesson Learned

Once, there was an old, poor man long past the glory days of his youth. His wife had died soon after their marriage, and he was left childless with no one in the world. He had nothing but a tiny, stone cottage and always found himself wishing for the things he didn't have in life. Wealth, a large manor, servants to wait on him hand and foot, roast duck and boiled quail eggs everyday for dinner…

One day, the old man was walking in the nearby village, when he found a shimmering, fat gold coin on the ground. "A gold coin!" he thought ecstatically. "Enough food to last for two weeks!" Just as he was entering the market to buy the much needed food, he passed an old beggar woman. She had the saddest blue eyes in the world and she was sobbing quietly into a rag. She had a small, thin, sickly figure and a maimed hand and foot. The old man's heart ached simply at the sight of her. He imagined the way she lived, the way the world looked through her eyes, and dropped the coin in the poor woman's lap. He turned and stated walking sadly back to his cottage.

"Wait!" the old woman cried out. The old man turned back and was shocked with surprise. In the old woman's place was a beautiful fairy. The fairy had shocking purple hair and youthful, glowing skin. Long shimmering fair wings protruded out of her yellow lace gown. Only the blue eyes stayed the same.

"You are a generous person," she told the old man.
"Generosity is not the lesson that you need to learn. Take this gold coin and use it to build a wishing well. Build it by a busy road and let people use it to grant their wishes. Be warned though and do not use the well for yourself. It will help you learn the lesson that needs to be learned."

With that the kind fairy disappeared and the old man saw her no more. He did as the fairy had said, and used the coin to buy the supplies he needed for the well. He built the well out of the old stones from his tiny cottage and slaved endlessly for months until finally the wishing well was complete.

The next day a young, plain-faced girl with limp washed out hair approached the wishing well and dropped in a copper coin.
"I wish for beauty," she said and walked off.
The day after that a young, handsome youth approached the well and dropped in a coin.
"I wish for riches greater than that of the king,"
People came and went, each wishing for the same vain, useless things. Beauty. Wealth. Youth. Immortality.

The old man wondered how the people fared with their wishes, but soon enough he learned their fate. For the girl that had wished for beauty. She was granted her wish. She became the most beautiful wench in the land, with long flowing curls of sunshine yellow, green almond-shaped eyes with long lashes, a dainty, curvy silhouette. She strutted around and flirted with boys, enjoying the admiring comments she received from them. Word of her beauty traveled around until she was kidnapped by an ogre and taken for his bride.

As for the young man however, he found a buried treasure in his yard. He became crazed for wealth and power and became a bandit and stole people's riches. Soon his wealth even overpassed that of the king and word traveled around about his fortune. While he was sleeping in his magnificent bed he was robbed by a bandit as he had robbed others, and left for dead.

The old man learned his lesson form the people's fate, each worse off then they had started before because of their wish. The old man learned that wishing was useless when it came to bettering one's life and future. Instead, the answer was time, hard work, and patience. Armed with this knowledge the old man sealed up the well, bought a carving knife, and set to work carving the stones that he had used to build the well. The old man was an excellent carver, something he had enjoyed in his youth, but never acted on. He sold the carved stones at the market for an incredible price. And soon, with a little hard work and patience the old man became one of the most famous carvers in the city. Soon even becoming the king's carver! The old man lived the remainder of his life in absolute happiness. Finally coming to an end in the manor he now lived in, a smile on his face, and the riches he had once wished for, but no longer wanted by his side.

THE END