Joan Aikens
Joan Aikens a fantasy story, ”The Third Wish ” is on a dusk spring evening through part of the savernake forest. Mr. Peters saves a swan from the forest and gets three wishes for his kindness. As he wishes for a wife, Lieta, over time Mr. Peters could see that Lieta was not happy as a human. Aikens creates a theme of true happiness that comes from caring about others. In the story happiness is the issue that runs through the whole story. Over time as Mr. Peters and Leita stay at home, Mr. Peters sees that Leita is always sad and crying. Aikens writes, “she rested her cheek on my shoulder sobbing tears’’(2). Mr. Peters told Lieta that he could turn her sister into a human as well, but Lieta demanded for her sister to stay as a goose.
Lieta thought it was to hard to be a human. Lieta thought being a human was to hard because there were a lot of responsibilities. This is significant because she does not want her sister to go through being a human. Aikes also writes from the story, ”One night when he had been late doing the accounts he came up for bed and and found her weeping in her sleep and calling.’’(3) This also shows that Leita was not happy because Mr. Peters really only saw Lieta crying all the time and visiting the pond. Mr. Peters knew that it was hopeless and she would never be happy. Over time as Mr. Peters saw Lieta, she was never smiling unless she was at the pond with her sister. Lieta did laundry and cleaned Mr. Peter’s house, but never smiled even once.’’ He noticed that she spent more and more time baking wonderful cakes-james puffs, petits fours, eclairs and meringues. Mr. Peters tried making her happy by taking her for drives, doing fun things, and he even told her they would travel around the world, but Lieta said no. She just wanted to stay home the whole time. Aikens makes an unusual tone to the characters. After Mr. Peters turned Lieta back into a swan so she could be with her sister, Mr. Peters used his last wish to die happy. This shows that Mr. Peters wanted Lieta to just be happy and if that meant turning her back into a swan then he would do it. Mr. Peters was happy to see Lieta back as a swan. “Aikens” story is based on the theme that true happiness comes from caring about others, and that's exactly what mr.peters did.
Lieta thought it was to hard to be a human. Lieta thought being a human was to hard because there were a lot of responsibilities. This is significant because she does not want her sister to go through being a human. Aikes also writes from the story, ”One night when he had been late doing the accounts he came up for bed and and found her weeping in her sleep and calling.’’(3) This also shows that Leita was not happy because Mr. Peters really only saw Lieta crying all the time and visiting the pond. Mr. Peters knew that it was hopeless and she would never be happy. Over time as Mr. Peters saw Lieta, she was never smiling unless she was at the pond with her sister. Lieta did laundry and cleaned Mr. Peter’s house, but never smiled even once.’’ He noticed that she spent more and more time baking wonderful cakes-james puffs, petits fours, eclairs and meringues. Mr. Peters tried making her happy by taking her for drives, doing fun things, and he even told her they would travel around the world, but Lieta said no. She just wanted to stay home the whole time. Aikens makes an unusual tone to the characters. After Mr. Peters turned Lieta back into a swan so she could be with her sister, Mr. Peters used his last wish to die happy. This shows that Mr. Peters wanted Lieta to just be happy and if that meant turning her back into a swan then he would do it. Mr. Peters was happy to see Lieta back as a swan. “Aikens” story is based on the theme that true happiness comes from caring about others, and that's exactly what mr.peters did.