I hope you’re enjoying the story so far. Today the wish star receives another wish.
The Girl
At the other end of the street, near the house where the small boy lived, there was a girl. She was also wrapping a present, but hers was for her mother. It was very small but it was full of love. It was a scarf frilled with beading. She had made it herself, using the skills her grandmother had taught her, working late into the night when her mother thought she was asleep. The girl had been invited to the grand party with the rest of the town, but her only party dress had worn out the summer before. A wide tear in the delicate fabric showed how much it had been washed and re-washed. Her grandmother had declared that it was beyond even her skill. The girl would have to wear her day frock to the party.
She was a good girl, grateful for everything her mother and grandmother did for her, but her friends were all going to the party in their newest frocks. Her grandmother had bought her new shoes for Christmas and the box that held them sparkled under the tree. Her mother had bought her a new fort to play with and it too lay wrapped up for the next morning. Her mother would make her a new dress, but there were no fine fabrics in the house and the shop in the town where she could rifle through vermillion and gold cloth, spilling buttons out onto the counter would not now open until after the Christmas feast.
She was a good girl, grateful for everything, but still she thought she would make one small wish, on this the night of miracles.
‘Wish Star, Wish Star,
Brightly shine
Grant tonight
This wish of mine.
Mother’s skill and fabric fine
Bring a dress as red as wine.’
The wish star heard her and she thought ‘That is the fourth wish, but perhaps there are others. My sister said to choose wisely,’ and she waited.
Sarah Todd Taylor 