Granted

If you’ve ever caught a mythical fish, rubbed a magic lamp, or harbored a mysterious old woman, you just might be eligible for a divine wish or two. Or three. That said, you’re going to want to read the fine print on those wishes—it turns out getting exactly what you ask for is always more complicated than it sounds.  Wishes are a staple of folk tales, which begs the question, why is it that our hero’s and heroine’s problems can only be solved by magical, otherworldly, or otherwise impossible intervention? Well, it’s a bit of a tricky question, because the question itself assumes that the wish is the answer to the protagonist’s problem. But any good folklore professor would tell you that a fairy tale wish isn’t the solution to a test, but the test itself. They’re the challenge, not the prize. Will the lucky recipient be consumed with greed, like King Midas? Will they be clever enough to outwit the letter-of-the-law genie? Will they use their newfound power for good or for evil? Wil...