"Give me your money, or give me your life," the robber ordered, making haste as his eyes appeared to dart about through the shadows of the evening. "Oh please do not harm me!" the old man blurted out, bringing both hands in front of him as he pleaded with the robber. "I am very old. And I am not a man of substance. My pockets are as empty as my hands."
"Then I shall have your life," the robber decided, moving forward with the knife. "If you will spare me, robber - then I will give you my three wishes," the old man bartered, the robber stopping dead in his tracks. "Three wishes you say?" he asked, scrubbing one strong hand over the shadow of a beard.
"Yes," the old man assured. "You see, today I met a witch along the trail that I was traveling and I released her from a golden cage. In return, she promised me three wishes." "Silly-headed old man," the robber grumbled, narrowing his eyes as he jutted out his jaw in response to the old man's comments. "You expect me to believe such a story?" "It's true, I swear-" said the old man. "Prove it, then!" the robber challenged, the thought of three wishes a lucrative one. "How so?" the old man asked, hoping that the witch had been forthright. Then again, she was a witch - imprisoned for who knows what!
"I don't care," the robber rushed out, anxious to be on his way before he was discovered. Then, "On second thought, I think I'll take your life and be done with it!" As the robber rushed forward, the old man jerked out, "I-I wish you were a rat!" Instantly, the robber turned into a nasty-looking rat and began scurrying about beneath the feet of the old man. He frantically cried out in a tiny voice, "Please, I beg of you old man - do not leave me in this state! I will be driven insane by the night's end."
The old man's heart quaked and he found the situation almost unbearable. Even though the robber had intended to end his life, the old man was so kind-hearted that he couldn't possibly leave him in his current rat-like state. Best turn him back into his human rat-like state, he went on to decide. Looking down at the rat, he asked, "You promise that you will not try to kill me if I release this curse on you?"
"Yes, I promise," the rat assured. "Please, I am at my wit's end as it is. Hurry, old man! Hurry!" The old man bent and scooped up the robber's knife, then used his second wish. "I wish that the rat would return to his former state," he said and the rat turned back into the robber.
"It's true! You really did have three wishes!" the robber blurted out, appearing unfazed by his transformation as he paced about the earth, a hand to his head as if in deep thought. "Yes, but now there is only one wish," the old man eased out, still fearing for his life even though he had confiscated the knife. Those hands of steel could grind him to a pulp if they so desired.
"Give me the wish!" the robber demanded, going to the old man and shaking him by the shoulders. "But I cannot," the old man insisted. "The wish itself would fulfill the third wish." The robber released the old man, realization striking him. After a moment or two he decided, "Then I must think of something that I want more than anything else - then you will wish it for me." "I have already given you two of my wishes," the old man reminded, seeking a way out yet desperately wanting to hold on to his final wish.
The robber thrust shifty eyes onto the old man like a wolf stalking its prey and eased out with his own reminder, "Moments ago, you were willing to give me all three wishes." "You-you promised that you would not kill me-" "I will do worse," the robber assured, poking an index finger into the old man's chest. "I will make you wish that you were dead." The old man swallowed hard, choosing to remain silent. There was nothing to be done. The robber would have his final wish, then would do with him whatever he chose to do. And if he gave the robber the final wish, the old man would have a far-better chance of surviving.
Why, oh why was he so kind-hearted? If he were wise, he would wish something evil - something to destroy the robber before he destroyed him! The robber drew his attention by asking, "You! What were you going to wish for?"
"What?"
"You heard me," the robber drawled, appearing to be running out of patience again.
"Well, I had considered several things," the old man eased out.
"Wealth? Treasure?" the robber asked for confirmation.
"Why yes, but once fortune is gone, it's gone," the old man reasoned. "So, I considered other things such as wisdom, or a kinder world or a wish to live forever-"
"Eternal life," the robber drawled in thought. "Not a bad idea. And if you hadn't wasted the other two wishes, I would have had fortune, fame and eternal life!" he growled, grinding his teeth at the old man who had began to shake a bit, part in terror and part in fear of things to come.
The robber grabbed the old man by the nape of the neck and ordered, "You will wish exactly what I tell you to wish - do you understand?"
The old man was only able to nod, his feet dangling in the air.
The robber continued, "You will wish that I have life eternal."
The old man swallowed hard and jerked out quickly, "I wish that I might have life eternal!"
Nothing happened other than the robber giving the old man a look of loathing.
"You stole my wish!" the robber thundered, obviously outraged that he had been tricked. "Even so, I will make you wish that you had wished for eternal death-"
"Will you now?" the old man asked, sprouting fangs and feeling light on his feet - as if he wanted to fly.
The robber's eyes widened and he stammered with his speech as he stumbled backwards, putting space between him and the old man. Something wasn't quite right, as the old man had transformed from a scrawny scrap of human flesh into a strong-looking bulwark, one with fangs and eyes that seemed to pierce his very soul.
Suddenly frightened, the robber begged, "Please, do not harm me - whatever thing you have turned into, old man. Please - be as kind to me as you were only moments ago-"
"Kind?" the old man laughed, tossing back his head, his widow's peak shinning brilliantly under the wisp of the full moon. And he no longer looked quite so old.
He recovered, his eyes sifting over the robber's frightened-looking form. "Odd, but I no longer feel so kind. Or so old. However, I do feel that I am in sudden need of a servant, something that only a rat like you can perhaps fulfill."
A scream, a rush of wind, two spirits vanishing into the night - one to embrace eternal life on earth, the other an eternal death fitting for a rat....
