In the market town of Elderwood Port, there is a cautionary tale mothers tell their children: the story of Petyr the Fool, who found a coin that granted wishes.

Petyr was young, impatient, and convinced he deserved more than he had. He had spent years sweeping floors in an alchemist’s shop, dismissed and paid little. When he found a silver coin in the mud outside, he recognized the symbols from the forbidden texts he’d stolen glances at; a coin of wishes.

Without hesitation, he wished for gold. His pockets filled instantly; so heavy with coins that the weight pulled him to his knees. When he tried to stand, the fabric tore and gold spilled across the muddy street. He scrambled to gather it, but the coins were too many, too heavy to carry, and the crowds in the street swarmed the pile of gold. Within minutes, he was left with nothing but torn pockets, muddy hands, and a handful of coins. One of which was the coin of wishes, warm and patient in his palm.

The wish was poorly made, he told himself. I should have wished for a chest, or a purse, or a way to carry it. So he made his second wish more carefully: he wished for love.

The merchant’s daughter he had long been infatuated with encountered him the next day and fell for him with sudden, desperate passion. She spoke of fate and destiny, her eyes wide with longing. But, when Petyr looked into them, he saw only a wild obsession. He knew right then that she loved him only because she had been compelled to, not because she truly cared for him. Which was lonelier than when she ignored him.

The coin grew warm in his pocket. He understood then what he’d done, and horror filled him.

His third wish was for wisdom, made in desperation; hoping to undo what he’d done, to understand how to use the coin properly. The coin grew hot in his palm, then cold, then dissolved into dust.

And Petyr understood: Gold unearned could not be kept. Love compelled was not love at all. And wisdom bought through magic rather than experience was merely knowledge of his own foolishness.

He lived the rest of his life as a blacksmith, earning each coin through labor, winning his eventual wife through patience and genuine affection. He became known for his measured words and careful advice.

The alchemist who had lost the coin never came looking for it.