The Love Potion Conundrum

There was once a chocolate shop in a small town. The shop had various types of chocolate and anyone who came in, rarely left empty handed. However, there was something special about this shop- it was run by a wizard. The wizard was an old man. In his prime, he had researched various spellcrafts and potions. Nowadays he didn’t cast too many spells but he did keep his old book of potions.

One day, the wizard had an idea. He decided to spike the chocolates he made with potions. A shop that sold chocolate, catering to every need! A red chocolate would make you fall in love, a green one cured colds and so on. Thus deciding on his course of action, the wizard got out his grimoire and started brewing different potions, enchanted with specific spells which he would then sell. The townsfolk saw the wizard’s chimney smoking till late into the night and heard him stirring his cauldrons as well.

After developing a large batch of assorted magic chocolates, the wizard opened his shop. He laid them out on the counter and he waited for his first customer of the day. He did not have to wait very long because just then a handsome young man of about 25 walked into the shop.

The wizard smiled at the man and said, “Welcome to my shop. I have a confession to make to you. The chocolates I sell are not ordinary ones. They each have cores where an infusion of magic is stored. If you were to eat a red chocolate, you’d fall in love with someone. A green chocolate could cure fever and cold. I have here about twenty varieties of such magic chocolate.”

“Is that so?” said the young man. “Well, I was looking to ask you for a favour actually. There is this girl I am in love with. However, she doesn’t pay too much attention to my courtship. I had come here in the hope that you could assist me by casting some sort of spell on her. I did not know you had made chocolate with love potion in the core. I think I’ll take five of those.”

 “I must warn you that should this girl become aware that the chocolate she ate was a magic one or if the spell performs its function then the spell will be broken and cannot be cast again. Tread carefully, son” said the wizard and he handed over 5 red chocolates to the man whose name was Ralph.

It so happened that Ralph told his mother about the wizard’s chocolates and his mother told Mrs Lafette who told Miss Simona and soon enough the entire town was flocking to the wizard’s shop.

“I’ll have three black ones!”

“Give me two whites and one pink!”

“Four blues and two yellow ones”

The wizard could not believe his luck. He would make chocolates in the night and by midday they were all gone. The wizard smiled to himself and continued his trade very successfully.

But we must here pause and turn our attention to Ralph, who had bought five love potion chocolates from the wizard.

Ralph’s sweetheart was called Victoria. She lived just down the lane from the wizard’s shop. Her father was the greengrocer of the town and Ralph taught at the local school. He had seen Victoria on numerous occasions and had become infatuated with her. Therefore he had started paying visits to her house trying to woo her. Victoria enjoyed the attention, but was not ready to commit to him.

So it came to be that Ralph paid another social call with the chocolates wrapped in a small package which was kept in his pocket. He was met by Victoria at the gate and she smiled at him, because she enjoyed chatting with him.

Ralph took out the package and gave it to Victoria

“What’s this?” she asked

“I got some chocolates for you. Try one?” replied Ralph

Victoria undid the wrapping and popped one into her mouth. Her teeth bit into it and something warm came trickling out of the core of the chocolate. She suddenly found herself attracted to Ralph, though she couldn’t understand why. She felt like she was in a dream.

Ralph then pledged his love to her once again, and this time due to the wizard’s potion, Victoria said yes. And so it came to be that 

Ralph began his courting with Victoria anew.

However, after a few days, the magic chocolates did not have an effect on Victoria and sometimes she would be absent minded, sometimes refusing to recognize his paying court to her altogether. Assuming the wizard had tricked him, Ralph stormed off to his shop. It was closed, but the wizard’s hut was nearby. Ralph went to the hut.

“Open up old man!” he hollered, while banging on the door

The wizard answered the door and asked who it was that disturbed him so late at night.

“I am Ralph. You sold me chocolates laced with love potion and they do not work! You have played false with me!”

“I told you if the person becomes aware or if the spell performs its function completely, then the chocolate won’t work. Maybe Victoria is in love with you already, but acts strangely because she’s under the influence of the spell. Let it wear off, which it should by tomorrow and try talking to her.”

“Why should I believe you? You have tricked me!”

“Would you doubt the wizard who made the spell you wanted to cast? There is no one better than me who knows how his own spell works!”

“Very well, but should you have played me false, I will not let you go”

So saying Ralph stormed off and he met Victoria the next morning

“How are you feeling?” he asked

“I feel like I woke up from a strange dream, where you were by my side. We held hands, just as we are now. I do not understand why we are holding hands now.”

“Victoria, you know I love you. Do you not love me too?”

“No. I never did. You were just a friend and you still are.”

Crestfallen, Ralph said his goodbyes and left. He went back to the wizard and called him villain and cheat and scoundrel.

“You told me it would work! Everything you said to me was a lie. You dabble in falsehoods in your mind. You are wicked. Wicked!”

Ralph said his piece and the wizard could not placate him. He stormed off, breaking one of the windows of the shop as he left.

Now, our wizard was in a dilemma. He thought about his shop and the chocolates he sold. He realised he was dabbling in falsehoods, because these chocolates hoodwinked you and were not truly serving the purpose he had intended them to perform. He became sad, and a strange feeling of disgust came over him. He flung his chocolates here and there in fury and closed the shop.

The town did not see or hear the wizard for the next three days. He had been busy with his many grimoires , trying to perform magic that lasted. He had decided to stop dabbling in lies, like he had done with his spiked chocolates. He wanted to do some good for the town instead.

The next night, the wizard started to cast a few spells. He cast one on the town’s lights, which ensured that they glowed for a long time. He constructed a fountain in the middle of the town square. He also met with the mayor of the town and cured him of arthritis.

In this way, bit by bit the wizard repented for his sin. He still makes his chocolate and sells it in his little shop, but none of the chocolates are laced with anything. The next time I go to the town, I shall bring you a bag of chocolate from the wizard.

The Bilge Master