The Story Of Three Sisters

Many years ago, there were three Thunderian sisters of the Jaguar clan. Jagra was the eldest of the three, followed by Jagalla, then the youngest sister, Jagani. Their parents were honest folk, but they were not wealthy and this was a source of much grief where the two older sisters were concerned.

"Why do all the other children have nicer things than us?" Jagra would demand, looking round at their shabby toys, which used to belong to other children.

"Why can't I have a new gown like everyone else?" Jagalla would beg when her parents told her she would have to go to a party in the same dress Jagra had worn the previous year.

Each time, the answer they received was the same. "I'm sorry, but we can't afford anything better."

But no matter how much their parents tried to explain, Jagra and Jagalla were never happy. They vowed that, one day, they would both be rich and then they could have all the nice things they could not have now.

"Why can't you be happy with what you have?" Jagani asked one day. Unlike her sisters, she did not care that her parents were poor and couldn't afford to buy them nice things. But, as usual, her sisters only laughed at her.

"Because what we have is a load of old tat!" Jagra shouted, picking up a battered old doll that had once belonged to her grandmother. "Look at this! It's old and ugly! I wish I had a brand new doll!"

Unknown to the three sisters, a small black-skinned creature was listening outside the window. That creature was a Wish Sprite and its job was to grant any and every wish uttered in its presence. So, as soon as it heard Jagra wish for a new doll, it clapped its hands and, as if by magic, the tatty doll she was holding vanished and a brand new one took its place. Jagra was delighted and couldn't wait to show her new doll to Jagalla.

"Where did you get that doll?" Jagalla asked when she saw Jagra's brand new doll.

"I don't know," Jagra replied. "I just wished for a new doll and - poof! - I had one."

"Well I wish I had a new doll too," said Jagalla. "And I want it to be even better than yours."

Now, the Wish Sprite had not gone away. It was still outside the window and, as soon as it heard Jagalla's wish, it clapped its hands again. At the same instant, Jagalla found herself holding a doll even bigger and more expensive-looking than Jagra's. Jagra and Jagalla smiled at each other, very excited.

"Do you know what this means?" asked Jagra, her eyes shining.

"Yes," replied Jagalla. "If we wish for something, we can have it. And I wish we were all rich!"

And, as soon as she spoke, the Wish Sprite clapped its hands and the house was filled with money. The sisters had never seen so much money in their lives. Now, their parents could never again tell Jagra and Jagalla they couldn't afford something. First, though, something would have to be done about their house, which was still the shabby place it had always been.

"I wish we lived in a grand house!" declared Jagalla.

And the Wish Sprite granted her wish. The simple home which the sisters shared with their parents disappeared and, in its place, appeared a grand mansion with marble stairs and ornaments of solid gold. Jagra and Jagalla ran from room to room, exclaiming with delight over all the beautiful new things they now had. And all because they had wished for it! They felt there was nothing they couldn't have.

All the while, Jagani had been quiet. She did not know what was going on here, but she didn't like it. Wishing for things and getting them was too easy; her grandmother had always taught her that, if you wanted something, you had to work for it. And she could already see that her sisters were getting greedy.

"Come on, Jagani!" Jagalla called to her. "Wish for something!"

"Er . . . no, thanks," replied Jagani. "Don't you think you ought to stop before you . . ."

"Oh, shut up!" snapped Jagra. "We're finally getting all the nice things we wanted. And I wish we had a whole room full of clothes," she added. And, in an instant, one of the rooms in the mansion was filled with beautiful clothes - velvet dresses, silk shirts, satin gowns - all the fine garments Jagra and Jagalla longed for but had never been able to have.

Jagra and Jagalla thought they could finally be happy now that they had so many nice things. But there are people who, no matter how much they have, always want more. And so it was with Jagra and Jagalla. The next day, they wished for an even bigger house with even grander things. And, the day after that, they wished for a house that was grander still. All the while, Jagani watched her sisters with concern, afraid that sooner or later their wishing would go too far.

Sure enough, her fears quickly came true and one of her sisters wished for something which even the Wish Sprite could not grant. On the third day since she and Jagalla started their wishing spree, Jagra wished that they could become Thundercats. And that was a wish too far. For no-one can become a Thundercat unless they are the child of a Thundercat or they prove worthy of the title - and these two greedy sisters were neither. So, as soon as Jagra uttered the words: "I wish we could become Thundercats", she and Jagalla were suddenly transformed into solid, unmoving statues.

When Jagani came in, she found her sisters standing still and lifeless. She touched both of them on their shoulders, but they didn't move. They were frozen into the positions they had been in when Jagra made her foolish wish. "What could have happened to them?" Jagani wondered out loud.

"They took their wishing too far," replied the Wish Sprite, which was hiding nearby.

"Wh - who's there?!" Jagani cried, startled.

At this, the Wish Sprite emerged from hiding and hovered before Jagani. "I am a Wish Sprite," it explained. "I am the one who's been granting all your sisters' wishes. But they got greedy and wished for something I could not grant them, so I turned them to stone."

Jagani looked at the Wish Sprite, then at the statues of her sisters. It was just as she had feared; Jagra and Jagalla had taken their wishing too far and had been punished for it. She thought it served them right, but then she thought of her parents. What would they think when they found out that two of their daughters had been turned to stone. "Is there any way to free them?" she asked the Wish Sprite.

"Yes," replied the Wish Sprite. "You must make a wish, not for yourself but for someone else. And you can't just wish for the spell on your sisters to be undone."

Jagani paused to think. How could she free her sisters from being statues if she couldn't wish for the spell to be undone? Then, it came to her - she could wish for all their other wishes to be undone. And, just to make sure nothing like this ever happened again, she could wish for them to be happy with things the way they were.

"I wish that everything was as it was before my sisters started wishing," she told the Wish Sprite. "And I wish my sisters were content with what they have."

The Wish Sprite clapped his hands and, in an instant, the statues of Jagra and Jagalla came back to life. In the same instant, the grand house the two sisters had wished for vanished and was replaced by the humble home they had always lived in. And the sisters were once more dressed in old clothes and had only old toys. When its task was done, the Wish Sprite vanished, leaving the three sisters behind.

And, from that day forth, neither Jagra nor Jagalla ever wished for anything again.