The Third Wish
What is a wish? A wish is a desire, longing, or strong indication for a specific thing. An example is "The Third Wish" by Joan Aiken. This story teaches you several lessons. It is an old tale with a modern spin.
First, Mr. Peters teaches us that we must appreciate what we have. People always think that wishes are the best thing, but that is in fact, not true. Like Mr. Peters in the story, he has severe health condition, but he does not use his last wish to make his health better. He knows if he did something wrong with his last wish, he won't have another wish to undo it. He rather dies peacefully then live with a messed-up life. Mr. Peters wishes for a beautiful wife, as beautiful as the forest. However, later, he must turn her back into a swan because she is unhappy as a human. Leita is unhappy as a human, and therefore Mr. Peters is unhappy as well. As a result, he must change back into a swan. When he turned her back into a swan, Leita and her sister keep him company until he dies. Sometimes our wishes are granted, but they do not always come in the 'packages' we expect. In addition, our wishes can come in unexpected ways. It's like, you thought your present will come in a box, but instead, it came in an old and dirty bag. Your wish might be a good one, or might be a bad one. Furthermore, we know that wishes don't always better you or a situation. It might messes up your life, which is not a good thing. Mr. Peters realized that for every wish comes another problem. Lastly, it teaches people to be careful and to think before you speak. This will prevent from making a rash wish or comment.
Like I said before, we should all appreciate what we already have and not wish for more things. We should be happy and not think about being rich, buying wii, etc. I hope you have learned several lessons from reading my essay. Also, I must say, "The Third Wish" is an awesome story. I sure have learned a lesson or two from reading this story in our textbook.