ONCE upon a time, there was a woodcutter who lived with his wife and a blind mother in a small hut near a forest. He had no children and was very poor. However, he was always thankful to God and never complaint about anything.

He earned his living by cutting woods in the forest and then selling them in the market.

One day, as a routine, after cutting the woods, he made his way towards the market. He was dragging the log of the woods slowly, just then at the side of bushes, he saw an injured sparrow.

The woodcutter felt very sorry for the little sparrow and picked it up to see if it was still alive. It was breathing. He then ran to a nearby pond and put a few drops of water into its beak.

The woodcutter thought that if he left the injured sparrow there, it might be eaten by some animals. So he took it home with him and showed it to his mother and wife. Both of them pitied the poor bird and made a cozy corner for it to rest and heal. That night, the woodcutter kept a vigil to see if the sparrow was fine and from time to time he gave it water. Before dawn, the woodcutter heard a chirp and he got up instantly, but only to find that the sparrow was not there. He looked around in the hut and then went out to see where the chirp came from. He saw the sparrow standing on its feet and just then the size of the sparrow started to grow. The woodcutter was frightened as within a second, it formed the shape of a dazzling fairy.

The woodcutter was taken aback. He starred speechlessly at the fairy as she spoke, “Thank you so much for saving me, my dear friend. I know you can’t believe your eyes. Yes, I am a fairy and I was flying in the human world disguised as a sparrow but all of a sudden an eagle attacked me and I got injured. I managed to escape, but I fell down and there you came and rescued me. So as a reward, I will fulfill a wish of yours. Ask me whatever you want.”

The woodcutter thought for a moment and asked the fairy to give him one night’s time to decide. The fairy agreed and the woodcutter returned home. That day, he told everything to his mother and wife. His mother asked him to wish that her blindness goes away and she is able to see. Then his wife suggested that he should wish for children as they were childless. However, the woodcutter wanted to be rich. So there were three wishes and the fairy was going to fulfill only one wish.

It took him the whole night to think and decide. At dawn, he got a marvelous idea. The woodcutter hurried to the forest and met the fairy. When the fairy inquired about his wish, he said, “My wish is that I want my mother to see her grandchildren playing in wealth!”

The fairy was amazed at the intelligence of woodcutter and fulfilled his wish.

So with his smart thinking, the woodcutter was able to have all the three wishes fulfilled and he then became a successful businessman who lived happily in a big house with his wife and children, and his mother enjoyed watching her grandchildren play in their beautiful lawn.