Three wishes is a literary motif, often encountered in the joke format, in which a character is given three wishes by a supernatural being, and dramatically, horrifically, or comedically fails to make the best use of them.John Clute & John Grant, eds., "THREE WISHES", The Encyclopedia of Fantasy (1999), p. 944-45. Common scenarios include releasing a genie from a lamp, catching and agreeing to release a mermaid or magical fish, or crossing paths with the devil. In some uses, the first two wishes go as expected, with the third wish being misinterpreted, or granted in an unexpected fashion that doesn't reflect the intent of the wish.See Isaac Asimov, Isaac Asimov's Treasury of Humor: A Lifetime Collection of Favorite Jokes (1991), p. 255. In others, the first wish causes things to go awry, and the second wish only makes things worse, with the third wish being used to return things to the way they were before the first two wishes. Alternatively, the wishes are split between three people, with the last person's wish inadvertently or intentionally thwarting or undoing the wishes of the other characters.
The three wishes motif has an Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index tale number of 750A.
The motif has been described as "common in oral tradition for centuries (particularly in Arabian fantasy), with wishes granted by genies freed from a bottle".
Examples and variations An early literary example of this is found in Charles Perrault's 1697 story "The Ridiculous Wishes":
An early version of the three wishes joke is found in an 1875 book of Scottish anecdotes. There, a Scottish highlander is asked what his three wishes would be. He first wishes for a lake full of whisky. His second wish is for a similar quantity of good food. When asked for his third wish, after a moment of indecision, he asks for a second lake full of whisky.A. Hislop, ed., The book of Scottish anecdote (1874), p. 96.
Horrific consequences In "The Monkey's Paw", a 1902 horror short story by author W. W. Jacobs, the hand (referred to as a "paw" in the story) of a dead monkey is a talisman that grants its possessor three wishes, but the wishes come with an enormous price. In the story, the recipient of the monkey's paw wishes for £200, only to learn that his son has been killed in a terrible work accident, for which the employer makes a goodwill payment of £200. Later, the mother asks that the dead son be wished back to life. Upon hearing strange sounds and a knock at the door, the father realizes that the thing outside would be a horribly mutilated body, and wishes it away with the paw's final wish.
See also Aladdin One Thousand and One Nights The Last Wish List of works named "Three Wishes" Jinn in popular culture, for examples of the three-wishes theme in fiction The Ridiculous Wishes, aka The Three Wishes folktale
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