Granted

If you’ve ever caught a mythical fish, rubbed a magic lamp, or harbored a mysterious old woman, you just might be eligible for a divine wish or two. Or three. That said, you’re going to want to read the fine print on those wishes—it turns out getting exactly what you ask for is always more complicated than it sounds.  Wishes are a staple of folk tales, which begs the question, why is it that our hero’s and heroine’s problems can only be solved by magical, otherworldly, or otherwise impossible intervention? Well, it’s a bit of a tricky question, because the question itself assumes that the wish is the answer to the protagonist’s problem. But any good folklore professor would tell you that a fairy tale wish isn’t the solution to a test, but the test itself. They’re the challenge, not the prize. Will the lucky recipient be consumed with greed, like King Midas? Will they be clever enough to outwit the letter-of-the-law genie? Will they use their newfound power for good or for evil? Will what they ask for be what they truly wanted? In this way, wishes are a special tool in the storytelling repertoire: they ask us to examine our heart’s desires and then put them to the test. So, today we’re listening to Willy Claflin, Big Joe Pagliuca, David Tamulevich, Mibre Burch, and Heather forest as they ask that age-old question: if you could have anything, what would you wish for? On today’s episode, enjoy the following: “Little Freddie and His Whistle” by Willy Claflin (12:26) This tale of wishes granted is pretty traditional when compared to the other fractured fairy tales on Willy Claflin’s album, The Uglified Duckling. But when you add Freddie’s forth wall breaking to Willy’s recorder skills (you’ll hear him play a penny-whistle-like ditty every time Freddie pulls out the magic whistle), you just might be giggling along with the live audience of children.  “King Midas and the Golden Touch” by Big Joe Pagliuca (9:39) When it comes to wishes in fairy tales, you’ve probably heard some version of the story of King Midas—I