One-sentence plot: An envious farmer named Nick is granted magical wishes to become anything for an hour, and only after a string of painful, humiliating transformations does he learn to be grateful for what he already has.
Nick has a comfortable, self-sufficient life — a thriving farm, the best apples for miles — but he's consumed with envy of his neighbours and wishes them harm. A magical "little rosy woman" (fairy-like, the size of a butterfly) slaps him and grants him the power to wish to be anything for an hour. He wishes to be: a flock of sparrows (attacked by a cat) → a dog (chased by townspeople) → a stick (thrown on a fire) → the fire itself (doused with water). Exhausted, he finally makes a "good" wish — to be a rich old man so he can help the villagers — but robbers break in, steal everything, and plan to murder him. Lying in his own grave, he wishes to be himself again and escapes. Humbled, he spends the rest of his life fixing the damage he caused and never wishes for anything again.
- Nick is called "poor" despite abundance — envy is framed as a kind of poverty
- He "would sit grumbling and bemoaning himself as if every other man's riches were his poverty"
- Wishes symbolise the destructive force of always wanting more
- Each transformation is an ironic, painful lesson (bird attacked, fire doused)
- Self-sacrifice → salvation: he "crackled and blazed away cheerfully" as a burning stick
- Final wish is simply "that he were himself again" — full circle
- Symbolism / Allegory: the story is a fairy-tale allegory about karma — wishes = choices; fire = purification
- Omniscient narrator: conversational, third-person, ironically calls Nick "our hero" despite his flaws
- Structure: a linear, cumulative narrative — each wish escalates the lesson