A poor woodcutter was chopping down a tree one day when a fairy appeared.

"Stop!" said the fairy. "That is my tree. But because you've been a good and honest man, I will grant you three wishes. Choose wisely."

And she vanished.

The woodcutter could hardly believe his luck. He rushed home to tell his wife.

"Three wishes!" she cried. "We could wish for a mansion! Gold coins! A fine carriage!"

They sat by the fire and thought about what to wish for. They talked and planned and imagined. But all the planning made the woodcutter hungry.

"I wish I had a nice fat sausage for my supper," he said, without thinking.

Pop! A beautiful sausage appeared on the table, sizzling and hot.

His wife stared at it, then stared at him.

"You fool!" she shouted. "You wasted a wish on a sausage? We could have had a palace! I wish that sausage was stuck on the end of your nose!"

Pop! The sausage flew off the table and stuck firmly to the end of the woodcutter's nose. He grabbed it and pulled, but it wouldn't come off.

"Get it off!" he cried.

"I can't!" she said.

They both knew what they had to do. They looked at each other. They sighed.

"I wish," said the woodcutter, very sadly, "that this sausage would come off my nose."

Pop! The sausage dropped off and landed back on the table.

And there they sat — three wishes gone, nothing to show for them but one sausage and a lesson about thinking before you speak.

At least the sausage was delicious.