The Wish Giver: Three Tales of Coven Tree
The Wish Giver: Three Tales of Coven Tree
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Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, graphic violence, and physical abuse.
Literary Context: The “Ill-Fated Wish” Folklore Trope
Thaddeus Blinn’s malicious magic is part of a long literary and folkloric tradition of cautionary wish tales, in which a wish is granted with disastrous and unforeseen consequences. This narrative pattern warns of the dangers of impulsive desires and imprecise language. These stories often depict supernatural forces granting wishes literally rather than according to the wisher’s intentions, fulfilling the letter of the request while violating its spirit. The tradition has ancient roots, appearing in stories from Greek mythology such as the tale of King Midas, who wishes for everything he touches to turn to gold and nearly starves to death as a result. A foundational example in modern literature is W. W. Jacobs’s 1902 short story “The Monkey’s Paw,” in which a family wishes for money and receives it as compensation for their son’s death in a factory accident. This type of unexpected and tragic outcome is a hallmark of this tradition.
In The Wish Giver, Bill Brittain uses this framework to structure the entire novel. Each of the three central stories explores a different facet of the wish-tale tradition. Rowena’s wish for Henry Piper to “put down roots here in Coven Tree” is fulfilled with terrifying literalness when he transforms into a tree (85). Adam’s wish for “water all over this farm” results in a catastrophic flood that leaves his family’s farm underwater (136). Polly’s wish for attention leads to public ridicule when she can only croak like a frog. Blinn, the wish giver, embodies an enigmatic and unpredictable force that grants wishes exactly as they’re spoken, reinforcing the central idea that wishes are bargains that often carry a hidden, terrible price.
Historical Context: The Salem Witch Trials and Puritan Belief
The narrator of The Wish Giver immediately grounds the story in New England’s history of witchcraft beliefs, stating that in Coven Tree, “Witches have abounded in this part of New England since colonial days, when Cotton Mather held his witch trials in Salem to be rid of them” (3). Although the narrator attributes the trials to Cotton Mather, this reflects the novel’s folkloric voice rather than the historical record. Mather did not conduct the Salem witch trials but was an influential Puritan minister whose writings helped shape public discussion of the trials and supported belief in witchcraft.
The passage alludes to the Salem witch trials of 1692-1693 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. More than 200 people were accused of witchcraft, and 20 were put to death: Nineteen were hanged, and Giles Corey was pressed to death after refusing to enter a plea (Baker, Emerson W. “The Salem Witch Trials.” Oxford Academic, 7 July 2016). The Puritan worldview of the time held that the devil was a real, active force in the world and that witches could enter into a covenant with Satan to gain supernatural powers. Mather, a prominent Puritan minister, reinforced these beliefs through works such as Wonders of the Invisible World (1693), which chronicled the trials and helped defend the court’s actions.
This historical context establishes the novel’s setting within a region shaped by a documented history of witchcraft accusations, executions, and long-standing beliefs about the supernatural. The very name “Coven Tree” refers to a meeting place for witches, embedding this dark history into the landscape. By invoking the Salem trials and Mather by name, Brittain situates his folktale within the tradition of New England witchcraft folklore and Puritan beliefs about the devil and witchcraft. This backdrop makes the arrival of Blinn consistent with the novel’s supernatural setting and reinforces Coven Tree’s connection to regional folklore.
Cultural Context: The Folk Practice of Dowsing
Adam’s story, “Water, Water, Everywhere,” is centered on the folk practice of dowsing, commonly known in the United States as “water witching” or “divining.” For centuries, particularly in rural and suburban communities seeking groundwater, dowsers have been sought to locate underground water sources. Dowsing tools vary, but in the novel, Uncle Poot uses a forked applewood branch. The dowser holds the two prongs, and the stick is believed to dip or twist downward when it passes over water. As Uncle Poot explains, the ability is considered a rare “gift” inherent in the person, not the rod. This belief has persisted for generations despite a lack of scientific validation; the US Geological Survey explains that reliable groundwater location requires hydrologic, geologic, and geophysical knowledge, testing, and study rather than dowsing alone (“Water Dowsing.” US Geological Survey, 6 June 2018). Nonetheless, organizations like the American Society of Dowsers, founded in 1961, attest to its continuation as a cultural practice.
In The Wish Giver, this real-world tradition provides the framework for Adam’s magical experience. The Fiske farm’s desperation after a three-week drought makes hiring a dowser a logical step. The novel treats dowsing as real within Coven Tree’s supernatural world. When Adam discovers that he possesses the gift himself, the dowsing rod’s intense reaction across the entire farm signals the scale of the water that will soon appear after his wish. By grounding the story’s magic in a recognizable folk practice, Brittain connects Adam’s magical experience to rural custom and belief rather than presenting it as invented magic alone.
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