I saw the perfect dandelion growing. I knew it was the right one. It was big and brilliant and beautiful. I watched it from behind a tree so that it would not know of me. I saw it communing with the Sun and the Rain and the Earth. Daily it grew until it was at its pinnacle of yellow perfection. No other dandelion in the field could match it. Yes, it was perfect, magnificent. It was exactly what I was looking for.
I knew this perfect beauty of a dandelion would create the
perfect wishes in its seeds. Daily I
went to my hiding spot behind the tree to watch the dandelion in its various
stages. It went from its ultimate zenith
to looking slightly smaller but still beautiful. The bees were having a love affair with it. The other dandelions looked on in
jealousy. Even after its prime, it was
still master of the field.
I kept watching, waiting for my chance to get those perfect
wishes. The flower closed suddenly. It was much quicker in its movement than I
thought it would be. All at once, the
yellow brilliance was gone, covered by green again with just the slightest pale
yellow showing here and there. The magic
was starting to work. The seeds were
being filled with it. Soon they would be all mine!
 |
| The magnificent wishes. |
And what would I do with the seeds? I would make wish after wish after wish. They would be grand wishes filled with riches
and beauty and wealth and power and glutted abundance. I would wish on that extraordinary dandelion
all day long, and its magic seeds would carry my wishes to the four corners of
the Earth. With seeds like that, I was
bound to have all my wishes answered.
I kept watching the dandelion from behind the tree. And sure enough, it burst open quickly one
morning into a head filled with the most magnificent seeds I had ever seen! Once again, it was much quicker in its
movement than I thought it would be.
There the wishes stood, majestic in the field, perfect. I tried to figure the best time to approach
them. I wanted to make sure that I could
get as much magic out of them as possible.
If there were more magic left in the stem, I wanted it to go into the
seeds. And so I waited.
And I waited. And I wondered. And I faltered, unsure of the timing, unsure
of myself, filled with greed. Just then,
a strong wind began to blow and clouds crashed into one another over my
head. The field that was sunny only
moments ago became grey and cold. Then the
Wind blew fiercely and cruelly, and before my very eyes, I watched him stick a
steely grey hand out to grab my wishes.
I leapt forward to stop him, but I am just a slow human and
I never stood a chance. But he knew
that. He brushed his cold palm upon the
dandelion and stole every single wish from it and then scattered those wishes to
the four corners of the Earth. I could
hear him laughing as he passed me by, and I knew that all my wishes had been
stolen.
From my hiding spot behind the tree as I spied the dandelion
in the field, coveting its beauty and waiting for my chance to steal its
wishes, the Wind had also hidden behind every other tree in the woods and
watched me as I watched the flower. As
the flower grew, so did my lust. And as
I was about to spring, I had been sprung upon.
I dared not utter a complaint. To whom would I complain? Would I tell the Sun that I had planned to steal
the bounty of his beautiful yellow friend?
Would I tell the Rain that I had planned to steal the seeds it had
helped to nourish? Would I tell the
Earth that I had lusted after one of her children so that I might steal her
wishes? How then should my complaint be
worded?
The best wish thief in the world had been bested by her own
trickery. It is hardly worth the
telling, much less the self-righteous indignation. I got what I deserved, after all.
