The Magic Tree

4.5

The sun shone on the tree which stood in the middle of the garden, the wind blew through its branches and the leaves whispered, “Wish — wish — wish — ”

It was a magic tree. And if somebody stood under it and wished anything, he had his wish at once.

In the house near this garden there lived a fat old man. His name was William

Smith. He sold soap in a shop in the village, and he did not like girls and boys.

One day he stood under the tree and said:

“I wish all the girls and boys who live near me were on the moon.”

As soon as he said it, all the girls and boys were on the moon.

It was very cold and lonely on the moon, and some of the younger children began to cry. But their mothers did not hear them because they were too far away.

As there were no children near the tree, the birds stopped singing. A swallow looked down at Mr. Smith and said, “I wish all the children were here again.”

Mr. Smith said, “I wish they were all on the moon.” And the swallow said, “I wish they were all back here again.”

The children were afraid and they all began to cry because they did not know where they were.

Mr. Smith got very angry and said, “I wish...”, but could not go on, because the swallow said very quickly, “I wish Mr. Smith were good.”

And Mr. Smith who was going to say “I wish all the children were on the moon,” suddenly said:

“I wish all the children to come to tea this afternoon, and we’ll have cakes and sweets for tea.”

As soon as he said this, all the birds began to sing again.

The sun shone, the wind blew through the branches of the tree, and the leaves whispered, “Wish — wish — wish.”