Wilfred the Wizard

Wilfred Wizard

Wilfred was a fine young magician. Since age 10 he had studied small amounts of magic. These included: card tricks, pulling rabbits out of hats and even reading minds. But Wilfred had always been determined to learn more.

One day, Wilfred was practicing a new type of card shuffle on a bench in the village and a great blue heron flew over his head and dropped him a scroll. It was neatly tied up with a red velvet bow. Carefully, he untied it and read it quietly to himself. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped. This was no ordinary letter from a friend. This was an invitation to go and study at the Institute of Wizardry! To get in he only had to show 3 simple demonstrations of his magical capabilities. He knew that he had this in the bag already but he was eager to impress his soon-to-be teachers. He hatched a plan to learn some more advanced spells just before the test.

Wilfred went to the land of knowledge that evening... It was a library... What did you expect? The library was situated in the outskirts of his village and held millions of books from extraordinary legends in the past. One book in particular caught Wilfred's eye. It was titled '300 magic spells to aid young wizards in combat'. Wilfred read the first 50 pages of spells with ease. That was until he found himself getting distracted by little things. He needed to concentrate on reading. He thought to himself, "Surely there is a spell for this somewhere in here." And sure enough there was. Carelessly, he cast the spell on himself and resumed his reading. Now he was flying through the pages! He was sure that his brain couldn't handle this much information. He was sure it was going to explode! But he kept going. Within half an hour he had read all 300 spells of the book. He put it back and strolled home. feeling exhausted, he got some sleep just before his big day.

When he woke up he felt pumped and excited! Despite his mothers wishes he skipped breakfast and immediately started jogging up the hill to the Institute of Wizardry. When he got to the beautiful, big, blue door at the front of the school he started feeling nervous. he was greeted by a tall and slender old man who's beard was so long it tickled his toes! Wilfred was let inside and directed behind a stage where he would perform his magic. While backstage, he watched as the other kids rehearsed their magic. He chucked to himself. He hadn't the need to rehearse. Surely he could just recall the spells he had learnt yesterday!.. Right?

Finally, it was his turn. He walked out onto the stage, quaking with fear. He thought back to when he had speed read though the book and tried to remember the words to any of the spells. Unfortunately, try as he might, he couldn't remember anything! Perhaps he should have taken more time to practice the spells and make sure he knew the spells off by heart but instead he had rushed it and messed it all up!

But Wilfred was not done yet. To him this was just a minor setback. He waved at the judges and clenched his fist in the air. He had just grabbed a playing card out of thin air and now had it in his fist. He asked one of the judges to think of a card, any card. He then gave the card to the judge. Both the judges card and Wilfred's card had both been the 7 of spades! And for his third demonstration of magic, Wilfred took off his shoe, then his sock. He held the smelly sock up to the air to show that it was empty just before stuffing his hand inside it and pulled out a small, cute rat. Wilfred passed the test for his quick thinking and resourcefulness. Apparently he is still studying in the school to this day. Oh and by the way kept the rat and named him Socks.

The moral of the story is do things at your own pace but always be ready.