Ishara+S.

Wishing Water by Ishara S.

Once long ago, there were many dogs and many cats. The cats were still very soft and fury, but, believe it or not, all dogs were bald! There was one small dog named Blade, a rat terrier. This little dog thought she was cutest thing ever. Blade always went to the pond to look at herself and admire her reflection.

One day when she was on her way to look at her reflection //again//, Blade saw a cat with Man. She had never seen a cat before. Man loved cats back then. He was giving her so much love, rubbing her back and her stomach; it looked like it felt really good. Man had never treated her or any other dog that way. She saw what made cats get this attention. Their fur made them so cute, and Man really loved cute.

Dogs were not that cute, and Blade also was not nearly as cute as she thought she was. When she arrived at the pond and looked at her reflection, something changed. She did not see the same adorable little dog that she usually saw. All she saw was her baldness, bald as a baby’s butt, an ugly mutt!

There was a special, magical bottle that would always refill itself with wishing water. Everyone knew where the bottle was, including Blade. It was inside of a tree. It was very easy to get; Man thought special people who lived in the sky conveniently put it there. Man called them gods. Dogs did not know why it was there and did not really care. She thought, “If I could get the wishing water, I could drink it and wish for fur!” She hoped that nothing bad would happen if she drank from the well. What Blade didn’t know was that cats always had to be washed. The lake was cold, and she almost never had to go in there. She didn’t know about fleas or tics. She didn’t know anything about fur and did not give any thought to what fur really was, other than cute.

Blade went to get the bottle of wishing water and drank just a little. She was planning to share it with other dogs. Her skin glowed for a few minutes, and then she felt prickling a feeling in her skin. It felt like a lot of needles sticking her over and over from the inside! This was the pain of fur growing all over her body. Once the pain went away, she looked at her reflection in the pond. She was adorable! She was so happy!

Blade grabbed her bottle and ran over to the other dogs to show them how cute she looked now. She explained that if they drank the water and wished for fur, they would get it and look as cute as her. She also told them that the process of getting fur was very painful, but if they did not drink it and wish for fur, they would never be close to Man. They all ran to the bottle so quickly, they almost crushed little Blade! They knew it was going to be painful, but would do anything to live with Man. One by one, they drank the wishing water. For a moment all that Man saw was a lot of glowing dogs. Soon, dogs like the American Eskimos and Pomeranians--who wished for lots and lots of fur--were howling because they got extra fur; therefore, they got extra of those painful prickling feelings. The Puli and Komondor asked for big clumps of hair together that was soon known as dreadlocks. They were in so much pain because it felt like being stabbed a lot from the inside; it was a very sad sight to see. But, once they had all their fur, they felt great and all went to Man. Man saw how cute the dogs were. Their eyes sparkled, and they grinned, squealed, and called out to the dogs to come to them. From that point on, dogs were Man’s best friend and became cat’s enemy for stealing Man from them.

That story is the real reason cats and dogs fight to this day. Everything turned out fine, except the dogs found out there was a price that comes with fur. They learned what fur bugs (fleas) and tiny suckers were (ticks). They had to take baths more often because they got dirty easier and faster than before. And worst of all, dogs did not have their freedom anymore. Dogs were stuck with Man from that point on. They imaged that they were still going to be free, but when Man saw them they would be pet and rubbed. It turns out Man loved dogs so much, they kept them forever. Some dogs did not mind but Blade definitely did. She did not know having fur would be so hard and did not know that she gave up so much when she asked for fur. She realized that she should have learned more about fur and Man before she asked for it. //In other words, be careful what you wish for.

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