Three wishes is a literary motif, often encountered in the joke format, in which a character is given three wishes by a supernatural being, and dramatically, horrifically, or comedically fails to make the best use of them.[1] [2] [3] Common scenarios include releasing a genie from a lamp, catching and agreeing to release a mermaid or magical fish, or crossing paths with the devil. In some uses, the first two wishes go as expected, with the third wish being misinterpreted, or granted in an unexpected fashion that doesn't reflect the intent of the wish.[4] In others, the first wish causes things to go awry, and the second wish only makes things worse, with the third wish being used to return things to the way they were before the first two wishes. Alternatively, the wishes are split between three people, with the last person's wish inadvertently or intentionally thwarting or undoing the wishes of the other characters.
The three wishes motif has an Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index tale number of 750A.[5]
The motif has been described as "common in oral tradition for centuries (particularly in Arabian fantasy), with wishes granted by genies freed from a bottle)".[1]
An early example of this is found in Charles Perrault's 1697 story "The Ridiculous Wishes":
In some versions of this tale, black pudding is used instead of sausages, and in some versions, it is the woodcutter himself that gets the sausage stuck on his nose. It has also been asserted that the motif was "first written down as 'The Three Wishes' (1757 Le Magasin des Enfants) by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont".[1]
An example of the three wishes motif as a joke runs as follows:
An early version of the joke is found in an 1875 book of Scottish anecdotes. There, a Scottish highlander is asked what his three wishes would be. He first wishes for a lake full of whisky. His second wish is for a similar quantity of good food. When asked for his third wish, after a moment of indecision, he asks for a second lake full of whisky.[6]
The format is not always used for humor. In "The Monkey's Paw", a 1902 horror short story by author W. W. Jacobs, the paw of a dead monkey is a talisman that grants its possessor three wishes, but the wishes come with an enormous price. In the story, the recipient of the monkey's paw wishes for £200, only to learn that his son has been killed in a terrible work accident, for which the employer makes a goodwill payment of £200. Later, the mother asks that the dead son be wished back to life. Upon hearing strange sounds and a knock at the door, the father realizes that the thing outside would be a horribly mutilated body, and wishes it away with the paw's final wish.