Three Wishes (Pride and Prejudice Variation)

Chapter 1

Elizabeth Bennet wandered through the woods near her house aimlessly, her only purpose being that of cooling down. It was far hotter than it should be in the middle of September, and there was no breeze whatsoever, making it nearly impossible to make the house comfortable.

She had tried placing wet handkerchiefs on her neck. She had even tried hiding in her room so that she only needed to wear her shift. Nothing had worked well enough to allow her to concentrate on the embroidery project she wished to finish.

So, she escaped the house and headed for the woods that straddled the property between Longbourn, her home, and Lucas Lodge.

It was much cooler under the shade of the trees, and somehow there was a breeze there which could not be found anywhere else. Of course, this didn’t make it possible to work on her embroidery, which had been left at the house, but it did make her far more comfortable.

With a sigh of relief and pleasure, Elizabeth began exploring the woods which she had not paid any attention to in six years.

In her youth, she, Jane, and Mary had spent many hours in these woods playing various pretend games.

At times they were pirates looking for treasure.

At times they were knights defending the castle of a beautiful princess.

Jane, the oldest of the three, was always the damsel in distress that needed rescuing somehow, except of course when all three of them were pirates.

Mary was the youngest of the three, and she tended to do whatever Elizabeth told her, but occasionally she had surprising and unique ideas.

Elizabeth had two other sisters, Kitty and Lydia, but they tended to stick to each other rather than following after the older three.

As Elizabeth strolled through her old stomping grounds, she allowed the memories of those carefree times to roll through her mind. Those days and those memories were both more interesting and more relaxing than her current life.

Elizabeth was nearly twenty-one. Her life now mostly revolved around visiting other people and going to parties.

Everything else she did supported those two activities.

She shopped so that she could acquire clothing and accessories to present herself to others as a pretty young lady.

She embroidered ribbons and handkerchiefs for the same reason.

She practiced piano so that she could help entertain the other guests at the various parties she attended.

The only activity she could think of that had nothing to do with any of that was reading.

Elizabeth did enjoy reading, but it was not a particular passion of hers.

For her it was usually something to pass the time, something to do when her eyes crossed from too much needlework and her mind was numb from talking about the same things over and over.

As she strolled through the woods, remembering that more interesting time of life, she came across a rather unusual tree.

It was large with an irregular shape, which looked as though it was three trees whose trunks had grown together.

The sight brought back even more memories.

This was where she, Jane, and Mary had always gathered to hide their treasures from the local boys who had made it a hobby to tease the Bennet girls relentlessly.

Elizabeth walked around to the other side of the tree. Because of the tree’s shape and the way it leaned, there was a bit of a protected hollow at its base. There, in the hollow, sat the small chest that contained the treasures of the three eldest Bennet girls.

Elizabeth could no longer remember why they had never retrieved the chest. Looking back on it, it felt as if one day they were children all playing together, and the next day they were little women looking forward to coming out in society, their childhood games forgotten in the blink of an eye.

She squatted and pulled the small chest out from the protected hollow. Apparently, they had chosen their location well, because it showed no sign of rain damage. The bottom was a little damp, but it had been sitting on a couple of roots, so it had been kept dry enough that it was still secure.

She lifted the lid and looked inside. There was a collection of toy doubloons, some pretty seashells that Grandmother Bennet had given them after her visit to the seaside, a few ribbons, and a lamp.

Elizabeth picked up the lamp and examined it.

It was a brass Arabic-style oil lamp, but the wick was missing.

She couldn’t remember where it came from, but she did recall using it to re-enact the Aladdin stories from One Thousand and One Nights.

Out of a sense of nostalgia, she rubbed the lamp just as she had as a child.

In shock, she fell back onto her behind as smoke began pouring out of the spout of the lamp. The breeze quickly blew the smoke away, but what remained was what could only be described as a fairy.

The fairy was about two inches tall and looked like a tiny, chubby, old woman. On her back were four colorful, gossamer wings that could have come from a dragonfly.

“Ah, little Elizabeth. I’ve been waiting for you to return,” said the little old fairy.

Elizabeth couldn’t speak. Her brain wouldn’t work. It was stuck on the vision of this fairy floating in front of her and could not move on to figuring out what to say. After a few moments of silence, during which the fairy simply stared at her, she managed to choke out, “What’s going on?”

“Don’t you remember? I am Jeanie who lives in the lamp.”

“Genie? But you look like a fairy,” Elizabeth replied.

“I see the confusion. You said the same thing fourteen years ago. Djinns, also called Genies, are inhabitants of the Middle East. Fairies live in England. I am a fairy, but to avoid confusion, my given name is Jeanie.”

“That creates confusion instead of avoiding it. Besides, why would an English fairy live in an Arabic lamp?”

The fairy looked at the lamp in surprise. “It is the perfect size for a little house. Don’t you agree?”

Elizabeth looked back and forth between the fairy and the lamp. The oil reservoir was only a little taller than the fairy herself. “It seems as though it would be a bit cramped,” she said.

The fairy looked a little abashed, but she said, “Well, there may be a bit of magic involved, but it is quite a comfortable home for me. Now, since all those little introductory bits are out of the way, are you ready for your wishes?”

Elizabeth wasn’t ready to move on at all. She was still stunned in confusion. “What?” she asked eloquently.

Jeanie, the fairy, sighed. “It seems you’ve forgotten everything.

Very well, I will explain. Fourteen years ago, you found my lamp in these woods.

You rubbed it, and of course I popped out.

Having heard of magic fairies and genies and magic lamps, you immediately demanded three wishes.

I explained that I could not grant wishes to a child, and you should come back when you were an adult.

Here you are, clearly grown up. Now we can discuss your wishes. ”

Elizabeth couldn’t remember any of this.

She remembered playing games and pretending with the lamp, but she was sure she would remember this fairy if she had ever met her before.

She shook her head trying to dislodge any missing memories, hoping to make some sense of the situation, but it was fruitless.

The fairy continued after a moment of silence.

“Now, here are the rules for your wishes. You do get three wishes, however two of them have already been chosen. The first is the wish you have uttered most often in your past. The second is the wish you will utter most often in the future. The third is the only one you have control of in the present, and you have two days to decide. If you have not uttered a wish by midnight tomorrow night, that wish will be lost forever.”

Elizabeth forced herself to think. Even if nothing made sense, even if she was dreaming, it seemed she needed to pay attention and understand what she was hearing. Finally, she asked, “What are the two wishes I made in the past and in the future?”

“Your past wish was difficult to discern. If I was allowed to combine similar wishes in the count, then it would have been that you wished your mother was sensible or more intelligent or something along those lines. However, I can only count wishes that are said in exactly the same way. Under that rule, your most frequently uttered wish in the past was that you wished you were rich.”

“Why would I wish something like that?” she asked. “My father is the second wealthiest gentleman in the neighborhood. We are quite comfortable. Besides, even if I thought such a thing, I can’t imagine ever uttering it aloud.”

“Well, this one was most often said when you were young,” replied Jeanie.

“It was followed by a variety of reasons, such as wishing you were rich enough to buy all the sweets you wanted or wishing you were rich enough to make your mother happy, but since they all started with the same wish, I counted them all.”

Elizabeth put her hand to head, partly in embarrassment and partly out of exasperation with her younger self. Now that she heard the explanation, she could well remember many times when she uttered such frivolous wishes.

“So, you will be making me wealthy?” asked Elizaeth, still not entirely certain what was happening.

“Yes,” replied Jeanie. “The deed has already been done, though you will have to wait a few days to see the results.”

“I am not certain I believe you,” said Elizabeth, “but I am curious to see what could possibly make me suddenly wealthy.”

“Now as for your future wish, the one you utter most frequently is that you wish you knew what Mr. Darcy was thinking,” said Jeanie.

“Who is Mr. Darcy, and why would I wish to know what he is thinking?” asked Elizabeth.

“As to that, I cannot tell you,” said Jeanie.

“All I can say is that you will meet him, and there will be many times you wish to know what the man is thinking.

I cannot grant this wish exactly as wished for, because if I did the results would cause you harm, and I am not allowed to do that.

So, I have modified the terms of the wish as follows.

“First, you will only be able to hear his topmost thoughts and only when you are within ten feet of him. Second, the spell will only last until you have learned to understand him enough to no longer need it.”

“But when will I meet him?” asked Elizabeth.

“I am not allowed to give you any information about your future other than the specific wording of your wish,” apologized Jeanie. “If I did, all three of your wishes would be canceled.”

“Very well,” said Elizabeth. “I suppose I would rather be wealthy than know who some mysterious man is.” She said this, still not quite believing what was happening.

“Now, what would you like to wish for in the present?” asked Jeanie.

“I don’t know,” said Elizabeth. “I don’t want for anything and am perfectly happy.”

“You don’t wish for your mother to have more sense or intelligence as you have so often wished for in the past?”

“I admit that my mother’s silliness occasionally causes mild irritation,” Elizabeth said.

Jeanie gave her a disbelieving look at her inclusion of the word, “mild.” Elizabeth rushed to add, “Even so, I would not wish to change her personality. Though her methods are not always to my liking, her intentions are good. She truly cares about our happiness.”

“Well, then, if that is not your wish, what is?” asked Jeanie.

“Can I have some time to think?” Elizabeth asked in return.

“You may, but if you do not wish for anything by midnight tomorrow, you will forfeit your wish,” said Jeanie.

“Also, I must warn you that anything you say out loud that starts with the words, ‘I wish,’ will count. Your intention has nothing to do with it. Since that is the case, it is better to make an intentional wish sooner than an accidental wish later.”

“I will keep that in mind,” said Elizabeth.

“I am quite serious with my warning,” said Jeanie even more sternly. “I remember one time a young man tripped over a rock, and in his pain, he wished the rock wasn’t there. That was a wasted wish, let me tell you.”

“I genuinely have no idea what to wish for at this moment. I suspect that if I were to wish for something right now, it would be almost as wasteful as the young man you just described,” said Elizabeth.

“Very well, I shall leave you to your thinking,” said Jeanie. With that she faded into smoke, and the smoke seemed to be sucked back down into the lamp.

“What…what just happened?” Elizabeth asked the empty air.

She looked around. She was still in the forest between Longbourn and Lucas Lodge. She pinched herself, and it hurt, so she probably wasn’t dreaming.

Elizabeth picked up the lamp and rubbed it again, testing to see if it really was a real magic lamp. Instead of smoke pouring out, though, she heard Jeanie’s voice say, “I know you’re just testing, so I’m not coming back out right now.”

Elizabeth sighed. It was all true. She had just gotten three wishes from a fairy named Jeanie.

Suddenly she realized she was still sitting on the ground, and her behind was getting damp. She stood up, brushed away as much dirt as she could, and hoped the dress was not ruined. Dirt stains could be difficult to remove.

Turning back the way she had come, she made her way to the path which ran through the wood. As she walked, she thought about her situation. She still thought she might be dreaming, but if she was, it was the most bizarre dream she had ever had.

She thought about what Jeanie had said about her future wish, that the one thing she had wished more often than any other was that she knew what Mr. Darcy was thinking. “I wish I knew who Mr. Darcy is,” she mused.

There was a popping sound, and Jeanie was suddenly floating in front of her. “I am sorry, Elizabeth,” she said, “but that wish is invalid since it would require me to share information about the future. Please, try again. Thank you.”

Before Elizabeth could say a word in response, Jeanie disappeared with another popping sound.

Elizabeth sighed. She hadn’t meant to make a wish, but the experience reminded her to be more careful with what she said for the next couple of days. She did not want to waste something as powerful as a true wish.