One evening at dusk, as Ella the Enchantress stood on her high tower looking far over the valley, she saw lights twinkling strangely in the following places:
On an island in the lake from which the Magic valley takes its name there stood five golden statues, and around them were all kinds of wild animals, both creatures of the forest and water.
On a hill far away there was a large circle of white light which moved round and round all the time, like a great wheel.
Nearer, on another hill, appeared a moving light, but in which she could not discover any shape; it was like a shower of luminous spray poured from a thousand golden vases.
She also heard sweet sounds, sometimes like the sweet notes of a bird, sometimes strange instruments, and sometimes the faint sound of voices, as if a great multitude of people were singing sweet music in praise of wonderful deeds.
But best of all she saw above the trees the thousand stars coming brightly out of their little homes in the heavens, and shining brightly down upon the earth.
At this moment an idea came into her head. “I will grant some wishes to the people below me; perhaps some of them will use their wishes thoughtfully. I will grant ten wishes, to be used one by one as they choose.”
Now a wish is a very peculiar thing. There is no saying where it will lead to, and the result of one wish is often something quite different from what you expected; so that it is wise to think over your heart’s desire very carefully before you put it into words.
No one knew better than Ella the power of the wishes she granted, and she feared lest someone not knowing how to use them should come and take them all away. So she cast a deep sleep on that part of the valley close to her tower, so that nothing should happen till she awoke again, and she might have more time to consider her work.
Then she flew swiftly down the tower, in the boughs of the tallest tree near it she hid her wings, and then she went out among the sleeping people of the valley.
When she woke up they all, sleepily and sadly enough, turned over on their pillows, for to them it was still night: even the glow-worms slumbered in the grass. But Ella gave her magic wand a wave, and in a moment all the valley was awake.
For a moment everybody thought it was daylight; but the air was fresh and sweet as in Spring, and not too warm or cold.
And so Ella granted her ten wishes, but alas! each one of them had its own trouble, and the poor enchanter soon found out there were no wishes to grant to herself at all.
The widow who wept for the children she had lost did not see that one of them was standing before her, happy and full of youth and love. The young labourer wanted wealth to buy his sweetheart a house; but the next day learned the place was to let to someone who made him lose the girl of his dreams.
A rich merchant wished always to be with his daughter, who lived a long way off, and was doing ill; but on the expedition his ship went down, and every soul in it perished except his daughter, who fortunately remained safe, as she was at that time on the island in the lake, where she claimed the statues were.
The king granted himself such power that in twenty-four hours every one of his subjects were killed fighting each other; but he was alone and sad on his empty throne, and even there had no one to cheer him but the little birds which flew through the windows on lovely spring days.
The beggar woman who came for charity found all her wishes, wrongly or rightly, fulfilled.
And a thousand other things happened, till at last Ella had nothing left but to grant her tenth wish to herself, and she feared no one would take it away till tomorrow.
But before she could ask it a king to whom she had given too much power, not knowing what he did, cast a spell on her, and turned her into an eagle, in the full flight of her beauty and happiness.
That spell has not yet been broken, and even now and then one one of her wishes goes mad, and flies away, as if a bird to the partridge’s nest in the moors, till some kind old man gives it its proper food and makes it safe, close shut up in his heart.