Once upon a time, a woodcutter and his wife lived in the forest. They were poor but very happy.
The woodcutter worked very hard. One day, he went to look for some trees to cut. He found a very tall and strong tree in the forest. He raised his ax to chop it down, when suddenly he heard a voice.
"Please, help me. Help me!"
He wondered where the voice was coming from. The woodcutter looked down at a fallen tree behind him and saw a fairy. The fairy's wings were caught under the huge tree!
"Please, help me get out of here. My wings are stuck," pleaded the fairy.
"Oh, poor fairy," said the woodcutter. "But how can I remove this big tree?"
"Use your ax," instructed the fairy.
So the woodcutter wedged his ax under the fallen tree trunk and lifted it carefully.
"Well done. Thank you," said the fairy.
"You’re welcome," said the woodcutter as he returned to work. "I have to chop down this big tree before it is dark."
"I'd like to reward you for saving my life," said the fairy. "Go back home and make three wishes. All three wishes will come true!"
When the woodcutter heard this, he quickly ran home.
"Oh, dear," he called to his wife. "First, cook us a delicious meal. Then I will give you some surprising and wonderful news."
"We only have some soup," said his wife. "I wish we had some sausage too."
Suddenly, a string of sausages appeared on the table.
"Oh no!" cried the woodcutter. "A fairy gave us three wishes. Now we only have two left. You wasted a wish! Oh, I wish these sausages were stuck in your nose!"
Suddenly, the sausages were stuck in his wife's nose!
"Ahh! What’s going on?" she yelled.
"Oh no, now we've used up two wishes!" yelled the woodcutter. "But, oh, how funny you look!" he laughed.
His wife was getting angry. "I have sausages stuck in my nose. Why are you laughing? Help me! Oh, I wish . . ."
"No, no! Please stop! Be careful what you say! We have only one wish left," said her husband. "First, let's try to remove the sausages from your nose."
So they tried to pull the sausages out of her nose. They put grease on the sausages and her nose. They pulled and pulled some more! But the sausages stayed stuck in her nose. The woodcutter and his wife were very sad.
"What should we do now? I wanted to wish for a big house and food," she said. "But only one wish is left, and I cannot live with these sausages in my nose."
"We have no choice," agreed her husband. "We must use our last wish to get the sausages out."
His wife was relieved. In a loud clear voice, she said, "I wish that the sausages were out of my nose!"
And right away, the sausages came out of her nose.
"What a waste! I was going to wish for some firewood to keep us warm this winter," said the woodcutter. "Well, we were content before we had the three wishes. And we can be content without them."
"You are right, honey," smiled his wife. "We can always be happy."
So they ate the sausages for supper.