History Main / BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor

Often a cause of BlessedWithSuck, though not the only one; wont to count as an OpinionChangingDream; Contains the same type of irony as IronicHell. In some cases the experience may lead the wisher to discover an AwfulTruth.

Compare AccidentalIncantation (which covers magical spells), GoneHorriblyRight (when science, logic, and mundane effort is involved rather than wishes and/or magic), WantingIsBetterThanHaving (when getting your wish ends with more disappointment than satisfaction), TemptingFate (where saying something aloud results in exactly what you ''don't'' want[[note]]the difference being that TemptingFate only requires the statement to be the cause of the event ''out-of-universe'' (it can be a coincidence in-universe), whereas BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor explicitly requires a statement to somehow directly or indirectly ''cause'' something to happen[[/note]]), ButNotTooChallenging (where someone who [[ChallengeSeeker seeks a challenge]] can't stand the idea of actually failing),and OriginalPositionFallacy (when someone wants something they know will be bad for some, but wrongfully assume they will benefit from it).

SubTrope of BeCarefulWhatYouSay. SuperTrope of ItsAWonderfulPlot, IWishItWereReal, IWishedYouWereDead, PleaseDumpMe, and RhetoricalRequestBlunder. Often overlaps with FullCircleRevolution -- "So you want new leadership? MeetTheNewBoss, [[Music/WhosNext same as the old boss]]."

Compare AccidentalIncantation (which covers magical spells), GoneHorriblyRight (when science, logic, and mundane effort is involved rather than wishes and/or magic), WantingIsBetterThanHaving (when getting your wish ends with more disappointment than satisfaction), TemptingFate (where saying something aloud results in exactly what you ''don't'' want), ButNotTooChallenging (where someone who [[ChallengeSeeker seeks a challenge]] can't stand the idea of actually failing),and OriginalPositionFallacy (when someone wants something they know will be bad for some, but wrongfully assume they will benefit from it).

Compare AccidentalIncantation (which covers magical spells), GoneHorriblyRight (when science or logic is involved rather than wishes), WantingIsBetterThanHaving (when getting your wish ends with more disappointment than satisfaction), TemptingFate (where saying something aloud results in exactly what you ''don't'' want), ButNotTooChallenging (where someone who [[ChallengeSeeker seeks a challenge]] can't stand the idea of actually failing),and OriginalPositionFallacy (when someone wants something they know will be bad for some, but wrongfully assume they will benefit from it).

Compare AccidentalIncantation (which covers magical spells), GoneHorriblyRight (when science or logic is involved rather than wishes), WantingIsBetterThanHaving (when getting your wish ends with more disappointment than satisfaction), TemptingFate (which does not specifically require a wish), ButNotTooChallenging (where someone who [[ChallengeSeeker seeks a challenge]] can't stand the idea of actually failing),and OriginalPositionFallacy (when someone wants something they know will be bad for some, but wrongfully assume they will benefit from it).

** During the time of the Judges, Israel had no king (except for God Himself). The Israelites decided they didn't like this situation and wanted a human king like all the surrounding nations. So God tells them, "Alright, I'll give you your king, but [[http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Samuel%208:10-18&version=NIV you won't like him very much]]". In no fewer than four kings (Saul, David, Solomon, Rehoboam), Israelites got so tired of all the work imposed by the king (particularly Solomon, who built the temple and many other great works) that 10 tribes chose to follow a different fellow named Jeroboam, instead of Rehoboam, son of Solomon, splitting the nation into the northern kingdom of Israel and southern kingdom of Judah. As if this wasn't bad enough, most of the time (starting especially with Jeroboam), the kings (and their foreign-born queens) led the nation into idolatry, until the northern kingdom of Israel was wiped out by Assyrians and the southern kingdom of Judah underwent a long period of captivity in Babylon.

Compare AccidentalIncantation (which covers magical spells), GoneHorriblyRight (when science or logic is involved rather than wishes), WantingIsBetterThanHaving (when getting your wish ends with more disappointment than satisfaction), TemptingFate (which does not specifically require a wish) and OriginalPositionFallacy (when someone wants something they know will be bad for some, but wrongfully assume they will benefit from it).

* In ''Theatre/DukeBluebeardsCastle'' Judith desires to know the entire truth about Bluebeard, and the final door seals her fate by [[spoiler:having her become one of Bluebeard's not-quite-alive wives]].

** In ''Film/WhenYouWishUponaPickle'', a mysterious (and [[AnthropomorphicFood sentient) Wish Pickle]], which grants one wish per customer, is delivered to Sesame Street. Cookie Monster's wish for more cookies gets him multiplied, and Ernie's wish for Bert (who wants to be a weather man) to be on TV causes Bert to become [[TrappedInTVLand physically trapped inside the television and get shuffled from show to show]].

[[folder:Myths & Religion]]

* ''Hero X Demon Queen'' starts with Demon Queen Elizabeth taking over the human kingdom. One of the chief mages of the human kingdom prophesies the coming of a hero who will defeat the Demon Queen. However, [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Elizabeth]] turns out to be a fair and just, if temperamental, ruler, under whose rule the human kingdom prospers more than it ever has, and by the time the prophecy is set to happen, most of humanity, including the same mage who prophesied Elizabeth's downfall, do not want her overthrown. Thankfully, the prophesied hero [[RefusalOfTheCall only wants to be an ordinary farmer]], and when he does "defeat" her, it's a complete accident that doesn't hurt her aside from injuring her pride.

* One ''ComicStrip/ShermansLagoon'' strip has Sherman buying a tiki idol that can supposedly grant wishes. One fish, wanting to give it a try, asks to fly;
-->'''Sherman:''' Tiki god, let this fish soar through the air on feathered wings.\\
''(A passing bird snatches the fish out of the water)''\\
'''Fish:''' '''AUGH!'''\\
''(BeatPanel)''\\
'''Sherman:''' The tiki god has a sense of humor.\\
'''Hawthorn:''' Don't point that thing at me!
* In Art Sansom's ''The Born Loser,'' the strip's main character Brutus Thornapple finds a lamp with a genie, who will grant him one wish. In an AsideComment, Brutus says to us, "Boy, I wish Gladys [''his wife''] could see this!" Gladys suddenly appears in the genie's place and deadpans "You called?"

--->'''Jon''': What happened to you?
--->'''Garfield''': (in badly beat-up shape) I hate cute...
* ''ComicStrip/USAcres'':
** [[http://garfield.com/us-acres/1999-06-01 Roy wanted his eyes to be bigger. Too bad for him it was Lanolin who granted that wish.]]
** [[https://web.archive.org/web/20190806221519/https://garfield.com/usacres/1988/08/16 Roy encounters Bo while carrying a heavy sack. He then tells Bo to step aside so he gets to walk by. Bo obliges... except Bo happens to be standing in front of a cliff, and the strip ends with Roy about to walk right off it.]]
-->'''Bo''': Bye, Roy!
** [[https://web.archive.org/web/20190806224019/https://garfield.com/usacres/1987/03/15 Booker and Sheldon ask Orson to read them a story]], with [[TemptingFate Booker asking Orson to "make it scary"]]. The problem is that Orson is MrImagination, which causes the scary scenes Orson reads to come to life, prompting Booker (alongside Bo and Wade, who join in for the storytelling session) to shout for Orson to get them out of the scary story. Luckily for them, Orson manages to fulfill their request with "and they all lived happily ever after".
** [[https://web.archive.org/web/20190806230427/https://garfield.com/usacres/1987/08/30 Booker encourages Wade to jump into a pool]], [[TemptingFate claiming Wade will stay afloat via his inner tube]]. Wade does so... and promptly slips out of his inner tube and sinks. Luckily, Wade manages to save himself.
** [[https://web.archive.org/web/20190806221447/https://garfield.com/usacres/1986/09/18 Orson asks Roy to teach Sheldon how to fly.]] He turns around JustInTime to stop Roy from launching Sheldon in a slingshot.
-->'''Orson''': That's not what I had in mind.
** [[https://web.archive.org/web/20190806184706/https://garfield.com/usacres/1989/04/23 Roy uses a vending machine to get corn, but the yielded return is less than he desired.]] He then inserts over a dozen more coins into the machine -- this time, the sheer amount of corn floods and buries Roy all the way to the mouth.

--->"Also, if anyone ever gave me a monkey's paw, I would chuck it into the ocean."

* In [[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/sixswans/stories/twelvewilducks.html "The Twelve Wild Ducks"]], a queen says, "If I only had a daughter as white as snow and as red as blood, I shouldn't care what became of all my sons." A troll witch hears and takes her sons.
* In "Literature/TheSevenRavens," the father wishes his sons were ravens for their being so forgetful. (To add to the irony, he was mistaken about why they hadn't done as he said.)
* In [[https://www.surlalunefairytales.com/book.php?id=62&tale=1923 "The Myrtle"]], a woman [[WonderChild wishes for a child, even a sprig of myrtle]].
* In "Literature/HansTheHedgehog", the father wishes for a child, "even if it be a hedgehog". His wife gives birth to a child that is half-hedgehog, half-boy. Though the couple takes care of the boy, eventually the father secretly wishes that Hans would die.
* Similar stories went around in seventeenth-century England. In some cases a Catholic or Anglican parent would rather their unborn child have no head than be a Roundhead; in others, a Puritan would wish for their child have no head rather than have a priest make the Sign of the Cross on it. Either way, they ended up with a headless baby.
* In "Literature/TheLudicrousWishes", a poor couple that rescues an elf and is granted three wishes in return. The wife, being hungry, wishes she had a nice, tasty sausage. Her husband scolds her for wasting a wish on such a mundane thing and blurts out in anger: "I wish that stupid sausage was stuck on your nose!" which is exactly what happens next. In the end, they have to use the third wish to get the sausage off the poor woman's face and have thus wasted all three of them.

* "Literature/PrinceIvanTheWitchBabyAndTheLittleSisterOfTheSun": Your son does not talk. Wish for any child at all, because things can't be worse, and you get a witch child born with iron teeth who eats you up.
* Played with in one fairy tale about a girl who lies dying during the early spring from a malady winter has afflicted her with who wishes that she could at least get to live for as long as the beautiful spring flowers in her garden still bloom so she can meet with her boyfiend who is set to return to her before summer. She near instantly becomes healthy and, unusually for [[TimeDelayedDeath the way these kinds of tales tend to work out]], seems fully aware of the fact that [[LivingOnBorrowedTime her life is now]] [[ExactWords tied to her garden flowers]] and starts taking good care of them to ensure her own survival. She never regrets her wish or angsts about how [[YourDaysAreNumbered her days are numbered]] but is simply thankful for the additional time she has been given and is [[LikeYouWereDying even more loving and kind to her family than usual]]... Cue her unknowing boyfriend returning while she's napping in the garden: he plucks the flowers, braids them into a crown and wakes her up by placing it upon her head. The girl quickly realizes what the boy has done and hurriedly sets the flowers in water but over the following days. As the flowers wither away, so does the girl. The story ends with the last petals of the flowers falling as the girl peacefully passes away with her family and [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone devastated]] boyfriend at her side while the hushed laughs of TheFairFolk are heard from the garden.

* In "Zeus and the Bee", one of ''Literature/AesopsFables'', Zeus offers to grant the bee a wish after she presents him with honey. The bee tells him that she is constantly having her honey stolen from her and asks for a weapon to defend her honey. Zeus is displeased by the selfish nature of the wish, but being obliged to grant it, he gives her a barbed spear... which he implants directly into her abdomen, so that it will tear out her insides and kill her if she uses it.

* In the Creator/AndrewLang's tale "[[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/241.htm The Stonecutter]]", a discontent stonecutter makes contact with the spirit of the mountain from whom he cuts stone. The spirit offers him wishes which the stonecutter uses to change his lot in life. But with each new life he finds himself seeing someone more powerful and coveting that power. It culminates in him wishing he was the mountain, thinking that nothing can topple a mountain. After granting this wish, the spirit leaves since this last wish essentially caused the ex-stonecutter to replace him as the mountain's spirit. The new mountain spirit is satisfied with his wish at first, until he feels another stonecutter chipping away at the mountain...
* The herdsmen in "Literature/{{Sennentuntschi}}" wanted a mountain wife, so they made themselves one of straw and cloth and treated it as they'd apparently treat a woman if she were alone up in the mountains with them. Then the doll comes to life and plays her assigned part. What the herdsmen failed to take into account is that they might be held responsible for their actions.
* "Literature/LittleOtik": After spending a long while wishing for a child, one couple are devoured by their adoptive child.

* ''TabletopGame/ChuubosMarvelousWishGrantingEngine'' has a special chart for Reality Syndrome characters, used to determine which foundations of a wish are likely to go well and which are more likely to end up failing ''horribly'' instead of ''entertainingly''. A character who wishes for a friend because they are lonely and who has "a little lonely" on their sheet is likely to get it or something like it quite easily; wishing for your own pet shoggoth because you are lonely is...less likely to work out well, put it that way. (Incentive for the archetypal Reality Syndrome character, Chuubo, to fail horribly anyway is provided by a system wherein he gets bonus XP for making the other players FacePalm in an amused fashion.) [[spoiler: In the Glass-Maker's Dragon campaign, the "standard" Wishing Child is expected to finish up their story by concluding that wishes just aren't worth the trouble and sacrificing that ability, instead choosing to make do with just the ability to turn into a giant snake - but there are plenty of opportunities to derail this in play if you have a different idea of where to go.]]