Starlight and the Three Wishes

 

Once upon a time there was an ugly girl named Starlight. Her eyes were in the right place and so was the mouth, but the nose crooked off to the left side. Her hair was always in a braid that fell down her back, and every day she wore a plaid prairie dress with a fringe of pink ruffle on the bottom edge. The plaid on her dress was a light lilac color, but the sun had bleached it away to a lilac tinted white.

When you came across her, you felt disgusted because of her inhuman eyebrows. They were like two normal eyebrows but connected in the middle and in tufts. It looked like she had a furry snake over her eyes. She looked a bit like a yeti.

One bright afternoon she was sitting in her dainty house, in a nice, but secluded part in town. Her house was the only house for a mile. Her house was neat, but lonely. It  was white washed with pink shutters. It had three rooms and a big grandfather clock. She lived in the part where the prairie meets the forest. Her house was on a hill north of the village.

Starlight thought,“ I would very much like to have a husband.”  And she mumbled on and on about something,.  I did not hear because I am only the narrator.

She went outdoors to seek a husband, but all cringed when they saw her. Little Starlight sat on a rock and wept.

A  man walked by. He had jagged black hair and smelled faintly like cinnamon. His smile was warm and inviting.He had rosy cheeks and was fair. His wrinkles smiled at you and he had a look of 50 years about him. He was wearing a crisp ironed white tunic with brown trousers.

When he saw the poor girl drowning in her sorrows he asked, “ What is the matter my fair maiden?“ Starlight looked up, expecting him to run away but the fine gent he was he did not.

She told him about her life and how no one liked her. She told him she would perish from sadness, if she did not become beautiful. She was a fine girl just ugly, so the man took pity on her.

He spoke to her and said,” I will take pity on you my fair maiden, for I am a fairy and I will grant you three wishes. But be careful my dear, for these are permanent.

Starlight lept with joy and shouted,” I want to be the most beautiful being in the whole universe!”

“Be careful what you wish for,” came the response, and he was gone.

Meanwhile Starlight was so overcome with joy that she did not notice all of the animals in the forest following her and saying “ She is all mine!” to each other.

As Starlight skipped home, she did not notice that all the men from the village were following her.But when she got in the woods she heard the snapping of leaves, and turned around.

“ Why are you all following me?” she asked.

A young man stepped up and called out from his stallion “ You are as radiant as the sun! As cool as the moon! Your face is so beautiful you give me tears. Honor me to be my wife”.

Starlight was aghast. She was about to scream “ Get away from me you creeps!” but the young man stopped and saw the look on her face and bent down into a bow.

So Starlight did not scream. Instead she spoke glamorously “ I am so honored so, yes!”

The man burst into tears remembering when she tossed back her hair and said yes.

All the men began to get rowdy, for their “ wife “ was being stolen. The young man scooped her up and got on a black stallion.

The black stallion tossed back it’s head and went into a gallop. The stallion whispered in Starlight’s ear,” You are beautiful”.

The black stallion kicked the man off and rode on with Starlight in his possession. Soon the black stallion trotted into the village showing his so-called prize. The stallion's owner had gotten a ride into the village and  was very angry that a horse had stolen his wife.

The stallion in his haste to escape from his master accidentally kicked Starlight off. She flew and fell into a rather large pine tree. The pine tree was very beautiful, with big threads. It looked like animals lived there.

It was a neat home with a door. From the outside it looked like her house. She decided to go take a look inside. She was getting rather hungry when she saw three big bowls of oatmeal. “My favorite!” she said.

You may think she was very rude to just go in a random house, but she thought since she was pretty she could do anything.

She tried the biggest bowl. “Hot! I need water! Too hot!” she screamed. Luckily there was a small bowl of oatmeal that had frost gathered on the top. She took a giant bite and immediately shivered. It was freezing. Finally she looked at the middle one and took a bite. It was just right. Starlight wanted to sit down with her oatmeal. She tried the big wooden chair.

It was hard and uncomfortable. She tried the small one. It was tight and unfitting and broke. She then tried the medium-sized one. It was just right. After her snack,, she went upstairs to take a nap.

The big bed was very hard and uncomfortable. Then she tried the small bed. It was so tight, she almost made it break. Finally she tried the medium sized one. It was just as comfy as she had wanted it to be. She went to bed.

One hour later Starlight swore she heard voices. She heard a gruff voice say “ Someone’s been eating my oatmeal.”

Then she heard a small voice saying “Someone's been eating my oatmeal.”

And then she heard a voice saying “ Someone ate mine all up!”

Apparently the things started upstairs to see if anything had been stolen. The smaller voice said “ Something's been sleeping in my bed.”

The gruff voice said “Something's been sleeping in my bed.”

“Something's in my bed” a voice screamed.

Starlight found herself being shaken awake by three bunnies. There was the big bunny with the gruff voice, the owner of the tiny voice, and the owner of the medium-sized voice. The three bunnies were brothers.

When they saw Starlight they were aghast. They had never seen a human girl before. The tiny bunny ( His name was Chip ) said “ Can we keep her? “

“ Of course not! ” exclaimed the medium voice ( His name was Charlie.)

“ Maybe we could sell her,” said the gruff voice. ( his name was Chuck ).

Charlie was the kind bunny. Chuck was the grumpy one, and Chip was just, annoying.

“ She’s so pretty”, said Chip.

“ She’s mine “, said Chuck. Chuck was ready to jump up and steal Starlight.

Starlight was too pretty to be human, so you should understand that Chuck was not a bad bunny.

Chuck jumped up and snatched Starlight. The larger bunny was very strong. Starlight kicked and pushed, but could not break Chuck’s grasp. Chuck raced outside. To his astonishment all the men from the village were crowded around his and his brother’s house.

The men all thought that the animals had stolen their lady. The young man shouted out to Chuck,” You stole my wife! We will have war on you, and we will win! Tomorrow prepare to have a battle of the strengths!”

That night Chuck and his brothers went around to the animals, telling them that they needed fighters for the war. Every living thing soon knew about the human and animal war.
While the bunnies were spreading the news, Starlight thought back to what the fairy had said. “Did he say be careful who you kiss? Or be careful what you miss?” she asked herself.

After a few hours she concluded that the fairy had said be careful what you wish for. Starlight knew in the bottom of her heart that what she wished for was wrong. She went to bed knowing she should have listened to the kind fairy.

The next day animals and people were preparing for a war. At precisely 6:01 the war started. The men had muskets and traps, and the animals had sling shots and catapults. After a hour of trying to negotiate who would get Starlight, the war started.

The outlook was grim. Both sides were great. Starlight woke up hearing the war. She ran outside just as Chuck and the man who wanted to wed her were having a pitched battle.

Starlight screamed with all her might. Imagine 400 banshees screaming just in your ear. The scream was high pitched and was heard all across the land. Everything stopped fighting, and looked at Starlight.

“ STOP! ” she yelled. Everything was aghast, as Starlight shouted again,” I wish I lived on a deserted island!”

The animals and people tried to make a grab for her as she started to disappear. Starlight closed her eyes, and when she opened them she was on a deserted island.

There was nothing but sand, water, and rocks on the island. Starlight sunk to her knees and started to cry. She cried and cried till she had no more tears. After an hour she was starving and blistered from the sun. She then suddenly realized that the animals were probably still fighting. Starlight did not want lives to be lost so she cried out as her last wish,” I wish I were still ugly, and this never happened!” she closed her eyes and knew that the fairy was smiling at her from above.

As her eyes opened, she was right in front of a mirror and still ugly. When she walked outside her house she saw there was no more chaos. A young man stopped to look at her,saw her and said “ You are beautiful”. Starlight and him got together, married and lived happily ever after.

The End.