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‘Flowers, flowers! Fresh, beautiful flowers!’
It was another old day for flower merchant Inok. Inok was twiggy and tall, and his hair was always in a mess. Inok had no family nor friends, for he was bad-tempered and greedy. Every day he would wake up at dawn, with no breakfast to eat and no family to love. He would then go out to his favourite spot beside the river and start selling flowers. On good days he would sell two or three tiger lilies and occasionally a rose. Usually, however, he would spend his entire day there and have the same number of flowers in his hand as when the day started. At the end of the day, Inok would stand by the river and chant these words as though it was a magic spell:

‘Your Majesty, O Queen of wishes
Grant me your gifts of fortune and riches
In return of these splendid, sweet flowers,
Do your magic,
And show me your power.

Inok would then throw the remaining flowers into the river, hoping the river god would change his ill-fated life. Some passer-bys would point their fingers and mock him, thinking he was insane; others feared him and were convinced he was really a wizard.

One cold winter evening where stars were slowly filling up the sky, Inok had said his words and threw his flowers into the river. He waited for a moment and walked away, shouting to himself about his stinking life. When he had reached the climax of his ear-blasting yells, a mighty roar fired up behind him. Inok stopped in his tracks and slowly, the flower merchant looked across his neck to see what had caused such an eruption. What Inok saw no other human had known, but it was something like silent fireworks, and alongside them came the majestic and stunning river god, also known as Glico.

‘Hello, my dear friend Inok. I am truly thankful of the beautiful gifts of nature you have lay upon me and my fellow ladies.’ Glico’s silvery voice said. ‘Now I will present you the gift you have been longing for.’
The river god dipped her hand into the shimmering river, and took out a rather ugly boy, and before Inok had a chance to speak, Glico simply vanished.

Inok stood beside the river, too stunned to say anything. The boy tugged at his shirt, ‘Father, I’m (sniff) hungry.’
Inok looked at the boy’s hideous face. Father? He called me Father? This little monster? The boy did looked a bit like a monster. He was short and stumpy, his ruby red eyes were half open, his hair was sticking out in different directions, and worst of all, watery, green mucus were rushing out of his giant nose like a miniature waterfall.
‘So, what do you do?’ Inok asked, hoping for a decent answer.’
‘I will grant you any wish you want, as long as you take care of me, Father. Now can we go home? I’m starving.’
‘Sure, er, son…I’m sure I’ll get our stomachs filled as soon as we get home.’ Inok said in a strange voice. ‘Just follow me.’ Inok turned his back on the boy and started walking. While he walked, he thought about all the things he can wish of, and how nobody could look down on him anymore. Gold, silver, a proper house. He thought. A beautiful wife. Inok laughed maniacally at his thoughts.
‘What are you laughing at, Father? That bird?’ The boy let out a short giggle.
‘Er, yes. The bird.’ Inok laughed hollowly. Boy, that disgusting little creature. I’m going to hate him.

Finally Inok and the boy reached his house.
‘This is your house?’ the boy said, looking at a rugged old cottage.
‘Yes it is. It’s not a fine one is it?’ Inok let out a sigh. ‘I wish I had a better house.’
The little boy sniffed. Immediately a huge house appeared before their eyes. Astonished, Inok said to the boy, his eyes wide open,:’ Can I wish for anything I want?’
‘Yes, Father.’
‘I wish for ten thousand sacks of gold. No, make that a hundred thousand. I wish for a thousand acre mansion made of gold. I wish for a hundred grand stallions and a fine carriage. I wish for a beautiful wife.’
The boy sniffed a couple of times, and immediately, just like before, the house turned into a mansion made of gold.
‘Where are the other things?’ asked Inok.
‘They’re inside our home,’ said the boy.
As they walked into the gleaming mansion, the saw in the stables a hundred fine horse; in another room the countless sacks of gold; and Inok’s wife in the kitchen, as sure as eggs were eggs.

As days passed, Inok had more friends than he ever had in his life, all which seemed to like his gold more than Inok himself. His wife kept on telling him to get some real friends, but Inok always replied in the same way:
‘My dear wife, I don’t care if they like my gold, they’re good friends! I have plenty of gold anyway!’

One day, when Inok was having dinner with one of his friends, his friend said to him,
‘Inok, the little boy who’s in your house every day, the one who calls you Father, is he your son?’
‘Oh, no, my dear friend! He is just a servant!’ Inok lied. ‘Hideous, isn’t he?’
‘He most certainly is. You should consider getting rid of him.’

That night when Inok went home, he thought about what his friend had said. Should he get rid of him? Had he had enough wishes to keep him happy for the rest of your life? After hours of deep thought, Inok had his decision made. He was going to wish the boy away. He crept up to the boy’s room and sat beside his bed.
‘I wish you would not appear once again in my life.’
The little boy sniffed, and as fast as lightning, the golden mansion vanished, his wife had disappeared, his gold was gone, and his horses were nowhere to be seen. However his old shabby cottage reappeared, and Inok was left with no more than he had from the beginning.

By Ryan Teo

This story was written last year, 2009