The Magic Wishing Eggs
By Valerie L. Egar
A
long time ago, a stranger drove his donkey cart into a small village on market
day. Bright red, decorated with painted yellow and blue flowers, the cart drew
everyone’s attention. The villagers thought the stranger, a tall man with a
neatly trimmed beard, looked like a scholar, though no one could say for sure,
since a scholar had never visited their town.
The
stranger parked his cart near the market and passers-by noticed the back of the
cart was filled with coconuts. “How odd that someone so well-dressed would be
selling coconuts!” the villagers thought.
After
almost everyone had seen the coconuts, the stranger took a large blue cloth
from under the cart seat and began covering the coconuts, carefully tucking the
cloth around them, so the villagers could no longer view what was in the
cart. Curiosity got the best of one
onlooker. “I was hoping to buy a coconut to make a cake,” she said. “Aren’t you
selling them?”
The
stranger gasped. “Madam,” he said, “these are NOT coconuts. They may look like coconuts. If you broke one
open it might taste like a coconut. But, I repeat, they are NOT coconuts.” He
said it in such a way, the woman was embarrassed by her ignorance and didn’t
want to ask what they really were.
The
woman’s eyes widened. Magic wishing eggs! What could be better than that? “Sell
them here!” she demanded.
The
man shook his head. “I can’t. I promised
them to—” He pointed toward the river.
“Dundershine?
“
“Yes,
that’s it,” he replied. “The mayor of Dundershine promised me the villagers
would pay the highest price for my magic wishing eggs.”
“Well,”
the woman huffed. “As far as I know you never asked us!” She set out to
complain to anyone who would listen. Soon, word spread that their small village
had been overlooked and that magic wishing eggs were headed to Dundershine.
A
group of townspeople approached the stranger, who was sitting in his cart, reading
a book.
“I’m
a lawyer,” a squat man announced. “I’ve brought some of our finest citizens
with me. “We would like the opportunity to purchase the magic eggs.”
The
stranger shook his head. “I am sorry they weren’t covered when I drove into
town. I promised them to Dundershine, every single one. Perhaps next year, if I
can find some more—”
“We
want them now!” a man yelled.
“I’m
not the kind to break a promise,” said the man.
“We’ll
pay triple,” said the lawyer, “and you won’t have to cross the river or deal
with those foolish people in Dundershine. They aren’t very smart, you know.”
The
man sighed. “All of you are so kind. I wish I’d met you before I promised Dundershine
the magic wishing eggs. Whatever you desire would be at your fingertips. See my
beautiful cart? I have it because of the wishing eggs. My fat donkey, my
tailored clothes? All from the magic wishing eggs. I have a beautiful wife, a
fine house. I owe everything I have to the wonder of the magic eggs. But, I am
a man of my word and I cannot I break my promise to Dundershine.”
“We’ll
pay ten times more than Dundershine!”
A
small tear rolled down the man’s cheek. “Good people,” he cried. “You are
making it so hard. I would not, would never go back on my word, but I could
help my dear sister with so much money. She is widowed and alone with seven
small children—”
The
crowd began to clap.
“So,
I must say yes, yes, you may buy the magic wishing eggs.”
The
stranger unloaded the cart and took the money— a great sum for ordinary
coconuts— and hightailed it out of town.
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Copyright 2018 by Valerie L. Egar. May not be copied, reproduced or distributed without permission from the author,
Published June 3, 2018 Biddeford Journal Tribune (Biddeford, ME)
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