# The Wishing Well

- Link: https://thecuriosi.com/english-language-lab-for-kids/stories-for-kids/magic-and-fantasy/the-wishing-well/
- Published: 2026-10-30T02:33:00+05:30
- Author: MAHENDRA MANCHIKALAPATI

[English Language Lab](https://thecuriosi.com/english-language-lab-for-kids/)/[Stories for Kids](https://thecuriosi.com/english-language-lab-for-kids/stories-for-kids/)/
[Magic & Fantasy](https://thecuriosi.com/english-language-lab-for-kids/stories-for-kids/magic-and-fantasy/)/
The Wishing Well

✦An original three-wish fantasy

# The Wishing Well

Nila wants her kite to fly without waiting for the wind. A wishing well grants exactly
what she asks—and gives her a reason to think about the next wish.

📖 4-minute read🍃 Ages 5–11✨ Thinking ahead and choosing carefully

[Begin reading ](https://thecuriosi.com/english-language-lab-for-kids/stories-for-kids/magic-and-fantasy/the-wishing-well/#sf-story-text)
[More magic & fantasy](https://thecuriosi.com/english-language-lab-for-kids/stories-for-kids/magic-and-fantasy/)

![A girl in a green dress holds a white pebble and a handmade kite beside a mossy
stone wishing well with her friend and a swirl of silver light.](https://thecuriosi.
com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/wishing-well-illustration.png)

**Three wishes and one ordinary breeze**Read together · Retell · Imagine

Settle in and read at your pace

A story to read together

## The Wishing Well

Take your time. Let the story unfold.

Nila and her friend Ari carried a handmade kite to the meadow. Its tail was bright
with scraps of green and red cloth, but the afternoon air was perfectly still. They
tried a few gentle runs, then sat down laughing beside the old stone well. A white
pebble shone near Nila’s shoe. When she picked it up, a small voice rose from the
well: “Three wishes, if you wish.”

Chapter one

### A kite without wind

Nila looked at Ari. Ari looked into the silver shimmer above the well, keeping well
back from its edge. “Is that really magic?” he whispered. Nila held the pebble. “
I wish my kite could fly without the wind,” she said. At once, the kite lifted from
the grass. It climbed gracefully, then began looping over the meadow like an eager
bird. Nila held its string, delighted. But the kite had far more energy than she
expected. It spun left, swooped right, and tied its tail into a fluttering knot.

Chapter two

### A wish too large

“Oh, I wish everything would stand still!” Nila exclaimed. The meadow stopped. A
falling petal hung beside a flower. The kite rested motionless in the sky. Ari was
frozen halfway through pointing at it, his mouth shaped around a word that had not
arrived. Only Nila and the well’s silver light continued moving. She suddenly missed
the small, ordinary motions she had barely noticed before: grass bending, her friend
laughing, a bee passing without asking anyone’s permission. A quiet world was not
the same as a world that could not move.

Chapter three

### The last white glimmer

The pebble gave one soft flash. Nila remembered the voice: three wishes. She had
one left. She did not hurry this time. She thought about the kite as it had been
before the magic, resting on the grass, and Ari waiting beside her. “I wish everything
in this meadow would be as it was before my first wish,” she said clearly. The silver
light curled like a ribbon and slipped into the well. The petal fell. Ari finished
his sentence. The kite lay beside their feet, with its tail loose and bright again.

Chapter four

### The breeze that came by itself

Nila told Ari what had happened in the still moment he had not felt. He listened,
then helped untwist the ordinary string. “Shall we wait a little?” he asked. They
lay on the grass and watched shapes form in the clouds. Soon a light breeze crossed
the meadow. This time, they worked together: Ari held the kite while Nila steadied
the line, and it rose slowly into the air. The white pebble had become an ordinary
stone. Nila kept it beside her drawing box—not because she needed another wish, 
but because it reminded her how much could happen when she gave an afternoon room
to unfold.

The end

### Story path

[01A kite without wind](https://thecuriosi.com/english-language-lab-for-kids/stories-for-kids/magic-and-fantasy/the-wishing-well/#sf-chapter-a-kite-without-wind)
[02A wish too large](https://thecuriosi.com/english-language-lab-for-kids/stories-for-kids/magic-and-fantasy/the-wishing-well/#sf-chapter-a-wish-too-large)
[03The last white glimmer](https://thecuriosi.com/english-language-lab-for-kids/stories-for-kids/magic-and-fantasy/the-wishing-well/#sf-chapter-the-last-white-glimmer)
[04The breeze that came by itself](https://thecuriosi.com/english-language-lab-for-kids/stories-for-kids/magic-and-fantasy/the-wishing-well/#sf-chapter-the-breeze-that-came-by-itself)

### Word basket

**motionless**not moving

**flutter**to move lightly and quickly in the air

**ordinary**usual or familiar

**unfold**to develop gradually, like a story or a day

**Read it together**

This is an original fantasy about wishes and unexpected results. Invite children
to explore what Nila enjoys before and after the magic, rather than deciding that
every wish is wrong.

## After the final page

There is no single right answer. Invite young readers to notice, wonder and imagine.

Remember

Why did Nila make her first wish?

Think

What did she miss when the meadow stood still?

Imagine

What ordinary part of a day would you like to slow down and enjoy?

**Make something:** Write three imaginary wishes. Beside each, draw one delightful
result and one unexpected result, then choose which wish you would keep.

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