The Clever Truth

If you had a chance to get everything you ever wished for, that you ever wanted, would you take that chance or would you die with that chance still in your hands? In the short story, “The Third Wish,” written by Joan Aiken, the main character, a man called Mr. Peters, this is what happens. Mr. Peters is granted three wishes, but did he or did he not use the third wish? The author leaves you hanging, with no word of the third wish after Mr. Peters quiet death. This story is truly an odd romance.
This story, though it ends in death, is in fact, a rather peculiar romance. First it begins with a mild conflict, the swan Mr. Peters finds is caught in thorns and he must save it. He untangles the swan, and the small man it turns into grants him three wishes. These wishes are what lead to the next mild conflict of the story, it has to do with his first wish. It was for “A wife as beautiful as the forest.” Of course this wife was very beautiful, but she was previously a swan. As she gains a relationship once more with her sister, who is still a swan, she weeps more and more for her. Frankly, the mild conflict was to end his wife’s misery. He quickly solved this by turning her back into a swan. The story, unlike most romances, does not end in birth or marriage, it ends in death. But Mr. Peters’ death was a new beginning. His death wasn’t sad, he was happy when he died. His death was his own new beginning. He set off into the glorious kingdom of Heaven, or maybe he got reincarnated; whatever the belief, it was his new beginning.
Mr. Peters, though no one, except the author, knows what he truly looks like, is portrayed quite clearly. He is an old man who is still very clever. Mr. Peters is lonely in his old age. But Leita, his wife, is much a joy to him. He is a peaceful, thoughtful man. Mr. Peters is intelligent enough to let Leita go so that she can be happy. If he hadn’t turned her back into her back into her true form, a swan, she would have lived the rest of her life weeping for her sister. Mr. peters is a good man.
The story is full of happiness, but it is also full of sorrow. This statement is the meaning of a symbol in the story: The swans. The three swans in the story are the King of the Forest, Leita, and her sister, Rhea. The King of the forest downs Mr. Peters, but this brings happiness. The happiness it brings is Leita. Leita is the solution to Mr. Peters’ loneliness. Although she brings him joy, she also brings with her sadness. As she has been turned human, her sister stays swan. This close relationship makes her weep for her sister, showing the sorrow of the story. One more symbolic object of the story is the bench Mr. Peters builds for Leita. Though I is just a bench, it holds a strong significance: His love for her. If he didn’t love her, he wouldn’t want her to be near her sister. Mr. Peters truly loved Leita, and he wanted her to be happy, so he let her go.
In conclusion, Mr. Peters is a loving, caring man, but he knows when to let go. See, what the author is trying to convey to us as readers, is that if you truly love someone you have to be willing to let them go when they need to go their own way. Mr. Peters did just this, he let his love and desire drop to the background, as a penny would drop to the floor, for the happiness of this wife. Mr. Peters might have been a clever, loving man, but he was also portrayed as an intelligent man.