Take a step back (IP)

There was once a young, naïve and inexperienced fairy named Sammus who, in order to receive his fairy wand had to, as all young fairies do, grant three wishes.

But, as he was fluttering around, looking for someone who needed three wishes to be granted, he flew past a man who was locked up in a prison cell and the man, seeing him through his barred window, called out to him,

“Here, little fairy. Come over here. I have three wishes that need to be granted”.

Sammus fluttered down, perching upon the cell window.

“Tell me then”, he said, smiling, “And you shall have them” .

So the man, who was an evil criminal called Magrutz told the little fairy what he wanted,

“My first wish”, he said, smiling wickedly, “Is to be king of the world. My second wish is to be an all-powerful wizard and my third wish is to live in a gigantic floating palace high up in the clouds”.

Sammus blinked his eyes three times and there were three bright flashes of light; one red; one blue and one green and then, suddenly, instead of being a prisoner in a cell, the man was sitting upon a golden throne in his floating palace ; he was the king of the world and an all-powerful wizard.

“Now”, Sammus thought, happily, “I am certain to get my fairy wand” and he flew quickly all the way back to the land of the fairies.

But when he arrived in the Treehouse castle of the Fairy Queen and, getting down upon one knee, bowed and told her what he had done, she was not happy.

“So you’re the one that made that evil man king of the world”, she shouted angrily, “And an all-powerful magician to boot! Sammus, how could you? He is a wicked, evil tyrant; hated and feared throughout the world of men now for his extraordinary cruelty and wickedness but no one, because he is so powerful, can stop him”.

Sammus could say nothing; only hold his head in shame.

But then the Fairy Queen reached up the long green sleeve of her glittering royal gown and pulled out a strange looking wand with a crescent moon rather than a star upon it.

“This”, she said, “Is called an ungranting wand. You granted his wishes and so only you can ungrant them. You must go and point this wand at him and then say these words, ‘Take a step back; undo what’s been done; I gave you three wishes, now you shall have none’ “.

And so poor Sammus had to fly to the great, floating palace in the clouds and try to take back the wishes he’d granted but, though he entered the castle and the throne room of Magrutz quite easily, the moment that he pointed the ungranting wand at the wizard and began speaking the magical ungranting spell, saying “Take a step back; undo what’s been done..”, Magrutz replied, snapping his fingers, “No, you take a step back; in fact, take a ride; far, far from here to the moon’s other side”.

And then, Sammus’s legs turning into two fireworks with crackling fuses, he shot off up into the air, crashing through the palace roof and didn’t stop until he had landed on the dark side of the moon.

Sighing and turning his legs back into normal fairy legs, Sammus then flapped his little wings as hard as he could and flew as fast as he was able, all the way back to the wizards floating palace.

He would try again, he thought, but this time take the wizard by surprise and so he magicked up a parcel addressed to Magrutz and hid himself inside.

Then the parcel flew through the air and when the parcel arrived at the palace and was taken to the evil wizard, thinking that it might be a present from some admirer, he eagerly tore it open and the moment that he did, Sammus popped out and, pointing the ungranting wand at him, started to speak the words of the ungranting spell, saying, “Take a step back, undo what’s been done…”.

But again, the moment that Sammus started to speak, Margrutz just snapped his fingers and replied, “No, you take a step back; annoying little flea; fall deep, deep down to the bottom of the sea”.

Now, a hole opening up under his feet, Sammus plunged down into it; falling and falling until he landed deep at the deepest part of the ocean.

Round about him fish were pointing their fins and sniggering but Sammus didn’t care because now he felt determined to get the wishes he had granted back no matter what it took and so, swimming as fast as a magic powered torpedo up to the surface of the sea he waited for his fairy wings to dry out then he flew as fast as he could all the way back to the wizards palace in the clouds but now, when he entered the palace, he transformed himself into an irresistably beautiful woman dressed in the clothes of a serving maid.

When the wizard saw the woman enter his throne room he was immediately captivated by her and told her,

“You are so beautiful that I must marry you”.

Smiling the woman replied, “Gladly, if you will grant me but one small wish”.

“Name it”, said the wizard, “Ask for whatever you wish and you shall have it”.

Now the woman who, as you will recall, was really Sammus in disguise, pulled the ungranting wand from her sleeve and, pointing it towards him, said,

“Take a step back; undo what’s been done; I gave you three wishes, now you shall have none”.

This time, the evil wizard was caught completely off guard and did not have time to click his fingers or speak a word.

Then there were three bright flashes of light; one red; one green and one blue and the palace disappeared like a dream from round about them and, instead, Margrutz found himself back inside his old prison cell; no longer king of the world or an all-powerful wizard.

As he shook his fist and shouted angrily at the fairy, Sammus happily flapped his wings and flew home to fairy land, certain that now, at long last, he would receive his fairy wand.

But when he arrived back at the Treehouse castle and, entering the throne room of the fairy queen, got down upon one knee, bowed and told her how he had ungranted the three wishes, she replied,

“I’m afraid that, because of what you have done, I will not be able to give you a fairy wand, Sammus”.

The poor fairy was heartbroken, “Oh, but why your majesty?”, he asked, “Surely I set things right again; undid the harm that I’d caused”.

The fairy queen smiled and her face lit up.

“Yes you did”, she said, “And that is why I want you to keep the ungranting wand and to appoint you the official wish ungranting fairy”.

Sammus shot up in the air and spun round in circles with joy and, from that day on, whenever wishes were mistakenly granted to a bad person or whenever wishes were granted that went horribly wrong, it was Sammus who ungranted them and,oh, he was the happiest fairy in all fairyland.