History BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor / Literature

* Both subverted and not in the short story [[http://books.google.com/books?id=H7BNAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA938 "The Wish Ring"]]. A farmer is kind to an old woman, and gets a wish ring in return. He shows it to a jeweler to see how much it's worth, and the jeweler steals it from him and replaces it with an identical copy. The jeweler then wishes for a million gold pieces, which promptly begin raining from the sky and crush him to death. In the meantime, the farmer goes home still thinking he has the real ring. Every time his wife suggests something they could wish for, he says no, they can work for that and earn it instead. Eventually they become happy and rich because of their hard work, and die with the wish still unasked.
** Another Bill Brittain book, ''All the Money in the World'', has a kid asking a leprechaun for just that. He gets his wish...only to learn that he's unable to spend it, give it away, or otherwise make use of it, because when he tries to do so it boomerangs right back to him. (Also that he's inadvertently bankrupted every nation on Earth.)

* Along the same lines as ''The Handmaid's Tale'', Creator/SinclairLewis's ''Literature/ItCantHappenHere'' details the takeover of the U.S. government by a [[DayOfTheJackboot fascistic regime]] led by a demagogue named Buzz Windrip. Some characters who initially support Windrip's regime wind up becoming imprisoned or executed by it.[[note]]TruthInTelevision: among the many, many victims of the Nazis were some of the senior members of the Nationalist and Center Parties, which had originally supported Hitler (under the impression that it was him or the Communists, and the Communists were worse.) Windrip isn't quite a Hitler Expy, but Lewis was writing in the 1930s and almost certainly expected his readers to spot the parallels.[[/note]]

* ''Literature/{{Inkmistress}}'': Asra used her [[BloodMagic blood in a spell]] to [[RewritingReality dictate the future]], wishing just that her lover Ina succeeds with [[BondCreatures manifest]] the next day. This inadvertently results in Ina's whole family being murdered, along with the rest of the villagers, to Asra's horror.

* Along the same lines as ''The Handmaid's Tale'', Creator/SinclairLewis's ''Literature/ItCantHappenHere'' details the takeover of the U.S. government by a [[DayOfTheJackboot fascistic regime]] led by a demagogue named Buzz Windrip. Some characters who initially support Windrip's regime wind up becoming imprisoned or executed by it.
** TruthInTelevision: among the many, many victims of the Nazis were some of the senior members of the Nationalist and Center Parties, which had originally supported Hitler (under the impression that it was him or the Communists, and the Communists were worse.) Windrip isn't quite a Hitler Expy, but Lewis was writing in the 1930s and almost certainly expected his readers to spot the parallels.

* In ''Literature/{{Speak}},'' Heather, the NewTransferStudent to Merryweather High School, [[SocialClimber wishes to become a member of The Marthas, the most popular clique in school]]. She works hard to prove that she can commit to their volunteer projects, and even goes as far as to callously leave behind her less popular friend, Melinda, in the hopes that it will make her look better. She eventually becomes a Martha like she wanted, but their expectations turn out to be too much for her. The [[AlphaBitch Senior Marthas]] boss her around constantly and treat her like a servant. She's forced to spend so much time on their volunteer projects that she can't keep up with her schoolwork and her grades are going down. When she's given a huge project that she's expected to complete by herself (decorating a hotel ballroom for the senior prom), she comes crawling to Melinda, asking for her help. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome Melinda refuses]] because she's already seen exactly [[BitchInSheepsClothing what kind of person Heather is]] and wants nothing more to do with her. As a result, Heather does a terrible job at the decorations, leading to her becoming the new outcast of MHS. Melinda snarks that she should run away and join the Marines because they'll be kinder to her than a swarm of angry Marthas.

* In the picture book ''Literature/SylvesterAndTheMagicPebble'', the donkey Sylvester finds a magic pebble that grants any wish he makes while holding it. Soon after finding it, he sees a huge lion approaching him and his panic at seeing the lion causes him to blurt out, "I wish I was a rock," and not realize until after the lion is gone that he can't wish himself back to a donkey because he can't hold the pebble as a rock. He's consequently [[AndIMustScream stuck as an unmoving, nontalking rock for months]] until his parents coincidentally choose his rock as the spot to have a picnic on and place the magic pebble on him, letting him finally successfully wish that he were a donkey again.

** ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'':
*** Ar-Pharazôn wants immortality. He succeeds... by effectively becoming undead and a prisoner in the Cave of the Forgotten.
*** The Sons of Fëanor want their father's magic jewels back, no matter the cost. They get them back...after centuries of war, betrayal, and death, which got them ostracized from every Elvish kingdom and got all but two of them killed. Oh yeah, and the atrocities they committed along the way corrupted them so deeply that the pure light of the Silmarils ''burns them'' when they touch them, causing them so much agony that one is DrivenToSuicide and the other is driven mad to WalkTheEarth for all time.

* In ''Literature/{{Momo}}'', Momo's friend Girolamo dreams of being rich and famous. Later in the book, to distract him from helping Momo, the villains arrange for him to become famous for his storytelling; he gets all the physical comforts he dreamed of, but so busy he has no chance to enjoy them properly and feels increasingly pressured to cut corners on his art, and a growing sense that he's lost the best parts of himself. When Momo finds him again, he tells her that having his dream come true was the worst thing that ever happened to him.

* In ''Literature/WhoCensoredRogerRabbit'', [[spoiler:the plot was caused by a case of this. Roger accidentally wounds up with a genie that he was completely unaware of; the genie, resentful of being forced to grant his wishes, settled for twisting whatever wishes he heard. The reason Roger keeps getting screwed out of jobs? He wished to be famous, so the genie made him a second banana [[IAmNotSpock who can't escape the shadow of his star-making role]]. His wish to be married to Jessica? The genie got them together, but it only lasted a year before she divorced him.]] Eddie is GenreSavvy enough to catch onto this and take steps to avoid it, mainly by [[spoiler:destroying the genie before it even gets a chance to screw him over]].

* Most of the works of Creator/CliveBarker have this theme; want to know where the mysterious girls are coming from? [[spoiler: [[GenderBender you become one yourself]]]]. Want to gain notoriety for finding out that an UrbanLegend is true? [[spoiler: You will... as his next victim.]] Want to find a [[Franchise/{{Hellraiser}} dimension of limitless pleasure?]] The Cenobites have such sights to show you...

* A very sad example happens in ''Literature/BridgeToTerabithia''. In the beginning, Jess want to become the fastest runner in his grade, but he is beaten by Leslie. Near the end, he contemplates that now he probably '''is''' the fastest runner -- [[spoiler: because Leslie, who became his best friend during the year, has just died in a tragic accident]]. Needlessly to say, this wish fulfillment doesn't make him happy.
* ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'': Two women standing outside a building in which their sisters and their husband are. One says to the other: "I wish he was dead" ... the building explodes. Their husband dies, but so does everyone else. They both suffer from survivor's guilt, but it is clear the explosion wasn't supernatural.[[spoiler: In fact, it was the horrible husband being HoistByHisOwnPetard, he had intended to survive, but was TooDumbToLive.]]

* ''Literature/EnchantressFromTheStars'': Young, overenthusiastic Elana wants to be a part of expedition on Andrecia. She gets her wish when [[spoiler: Ilura, another agent, is killed]] and from then on is on for a ''very'' harsh mission from which she now can't back down.

** Oswald wishes for something interesting to happen to him in his boring town, and to get away from his dad. One day, he [[spoiler: hides from his dad in a children’s ball pit at an abandoned pizza place, which transports back in time him to Freddy Fazbear’s, where kids are being killed by a stranger in a yellow bunny suit. He tries to go back, but when he does, the killer comes with him and tries to trap him and his dad in the pit]].
** Sarah [[IJustWantToBeBeautiful wishes to be as beautiful as the models in her magazines or the popular girls at her school]]. [[spoiler: She meets Eleanor the robot, who says she can grant her wish. Every time Sarah wakes up, a part of her body has been changed to match the models or popular girls, who take notice on her. Turns out, Eleanor has been surgically removing Sarah’s body parts as she slept and replacing them with robot parts modeled to look like human parts on the outside. When she loses the necklace that Eleanor gave her, Sarah’s body falls apart and she becomes nothing more than a rusty pile of junk while Eleanor dons her old appearance and takes her place in the outside world]].
** Millie is obsessed with death and actually looks forward to her own end. Not only that, she is rude and distant to everyone trying to reach out to her. After a party, she [[spoiler: climbs into a Freddy Fazbear animatronic suit, which comes to life and traps her inside, tormenting her with lengthy, gruesome descriptions of how he will slowly and painfully kill her]].

** In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'', for a good portion of the book, Harry wishes that the other Hogwarts students would stop believing the rumors that he's the Heir of Slytherin. Eventually they do, but only after [[spoiler: Hermione gets petrified, causing everyone to realize Harry would never attack one of his best friends if he was the actual culprit]].

*** Throughout much of Harry's fifth year, he wishes that people would believe his claim that Voldemort has returned. At the end of the year, people finally believe him, but since the circumstances that led to people believing him also involve [[spoiler: Sirius' death]], at this point it doesn't seem so important to him anymore.

** Voldemort's whole motivation behind his awful actions relied on his obsession with being immortal, to the point where [[spoiler: he created his [[SoulJar Horcruxes]] with the intention of defeating death and never dying.]] In the end, he got what he wanted. He's immortal now, but [[spoiler: he also [[FateWorseThanDeath becomes a ruined, shriveled shadow of his former self, trapped alone and forever in Limbo]].]]

** James wished for the talent to make it as an artist [[spoiler: instead of wishing to cure his fatal brain tumor, so that he could leave an impression on the world long after he'd died. Once he begins falling in love with Dee, he tries to change his wish to cure the tumor instead, but the demon can't undo his original deal.]]

* In Peter Freund's ''Mysteria'' series, there is a teenage girl Jessie who, when her father starts a book about the titular land, is excited of it and wants to go there; and then she accidentally gets stuck in Mysteria, which is '''very bad''' because [[spoiler: she requires insulin injections and Mysteria doesn't offer this, even with the magic, so she must find a way back before her supply runs out.]]

* ''Literature/APrayerForOwenMeany'': Rev. Merill was at the fateful baseball game in the book when he saw Tabitha wave hi to him. [[spoiler: Feeling shameful about the affair he had with her, he wished that she would drop dead. A stray baseball from Owen's bat later...]]

** And at one point, [[spoiler: Jeyne Poole]] remarks about how when she was little, she often dreamed how it would be like to be a Stark. Now she does know for sure -- and this involves massive BreakTheCutie.

* In ''Literature/WakingUpAsASpaceship'', the protagonist Abyssal was apparently a space nerd who always dreamed of being able to explore space and immersed himself in space-opera style video games, being very good at them. When [[GenderBender]] she wakes up as the Living Core of a spaceship, she finds that her life is a game on "hard mode" and she's clearly not in a good place.
* In Franny Billingsley's ''Well Wished'' this trope is the main basis of the plot. The antagonist sets up the protagonist to fall for this trap. [[spoiler: She tricks the protagonist into a making wish that she knows will exchange her crippled body for the protagonist's healthy one.]]

* In ''Literature/TheABCMurders'', Literature/HerculePoirot says his ideal mystery would be murder at a bridge game, where everyone was so intent upon the game that no one noticed when one of them, the dummy that round, got up and killed the host. A few books later, he faces exactly that.

* ''Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'': Seemingly every child on planet wants to get one of the five Golden Tickets, which will enable him or her to visit Willy Wonka's factory. For four out of five children who find it -- and of these four, at least three actively seek the ticket -- the visit turns into a horrible experience. All four are too self-centered to follow [[TheBeCarefulSpeech their guide's instructions]]; when faced with something they realize they want badly, they [[DontTouchItYouIdiot disregard his warnings]] and pursue it to dreadful ends. This is subverted with TheHero, a virtuous, unselfish kid who becomes the heir to the factory.

*** The Sons of Fëanor want their father's magic jewels back, no matter the cost. By the time they succeed, only two of them are left alive, and they have caused so much death and destruction in the process that the pure light of the Silmarils ''burns them'' to the point where one is DrivenToSuicide and the other is driven mad to WalkTheEarth for all time.

** ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'': Ar-Pharazôn wants immortality. He succeeds... by effectively becoming undead and a prisoner in the Cave of the Forgotten.

*** Also, part of the backstory of the Nazgûl: they were once mighty, arrogant Kings of Men who desired power and long life. So, Sauron gave them magic rings. Now they are immortal...undead slaves to Sauron's will.

* The ''Literature/RedDwarf'' novel ''Last Human'' features this as part of the climax; the characters are faced with an attack from the Rage, a gestalt entity composed of the intelligences of billions of unjustly executed people. They've hit upon a ritual wherein they form a circle that enables the Rage to possess one member, killing them in the process. One of the characters consumes the Luck Virus, a "positive virus" which grants the person infected by it with the ability to instantly acquire anything they want, in order to ensure that they aren't the one chosen to be consumed by the Rage. Unfortunately, it turns out that during the ritual, the combination of being driven insane by the anger and fury within the Rage coupled with how seductive its sheer power is results in everyone taking part ''begging'' to be consumed by it -- and only one of them has taken a virus which gives you everything you wish for...

* W. W. Jacobs's classic short story "Literature/TheMonkeysPaw" concerns a married couple who receive the title item as a gift from a friend who served in the British Army in India. The paw grants its owner ThreeWishes, and the husband uses the first of these to wish for 200 pounds; the couple subsequently learns that their grown son was killed after falling into the machinery at the factory where he worked, and they are offered £200 as compensation from the employers. The wife then begs the husband to wish for the son to be brought back to life; after he does so (with great reluctance), they hear a steady knocking on their door. As the overjoyed wife runs to unlock and open the door, the husband realizes to his horror that the son will have come back [[CameBackWrong in his mutilated state]], and quickly uses the third wish; when the wife finally gets the door open, there's nobody there, implying that the third wish was for the son to be returned to the grave.

* ''Literature/ForgottenRealms: Elfsong'' by Elaine Cunningham includes a stanza from [[RichIdiotWithNoDayJob Danilo Thann]] which says this in the chorus. [[http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1888&whichpage=22#61128 It's]] a BawdySong. [[spoiler:"Your wish bespoke how long it [[BiggerIsBetterInBed WAS]], and not how long 'twould [[SpeedSex LAST]]!". And yes, it's about a knight's lance.]]

** Visaerys Targaryen wants the crown of the Seven Kingdoms back and even marries his would-have-been sister-wife off to Khal Drogo to get backing to take it. Soon afterwards, he screws himself over by pissing off his brother-in-law when drunkenly demanding it happen ASAP, or he'll "take back" the deal by killing Dany and her unborn child. This does get him successfully crowned. With molten gold.
** It doesn't ''quite'' come true, but there is a scene where Arya (disguised as a servant-girl) is talking to an annoying Frey squire who keeps jabbering about how he's going to marry a princess. At some point Arya just snaps at him, yelling "I wish your princess was ''dead!''" not knowing she just wished her own demise. Averted in some ways in that she's still alive, although whether she's still Arya Stark is questionable.
** At the beginning of "A Game of Thrones" Catelyn prays to the Seven Gods that they let Bran stay in Winterfell. He ends up falling from a tower and not being able to walk ever again.

* In ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'', Scrooge states to the charity workers that he “wished to be left alone”, when he refuses to give a donation. When he is shown the shadows of the future, it’s revealed that he will die alone, unwanted and unloved.

* In ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'', Scrooge states to the charity workers that he “wish to be left alone”, when he refuses to give a donation. When he is shown the shadows of the future, it’s revealed that he will die alone, unwanted and unloved.

* ''TolkiensLegendarium'':