Well, I just played most of your game, or at least quite a bit of it. For a first game, I think it’s far from bad. Granted, this is coming from someone who turned out an unplayably buggy little game with a premise that was just as abstract and even more cliched. You were smart enough not to enter your game in the competition, at least. 
It’s interesting that a fair number of simple games by first-time authors seem to be surreal. I actually think the surreal genre has more potential than a lot of people give it. It could only work as a genre in IF, but I believe it can work. I really don’t mind apparently absurd abstractions in a game. If the author can pull off a symbolic scheme, I actually like it.
I’ll explain my situation in the game, and you can tell me how to get unstuck, if you want. 
[spoiler]I discovered the message “The great (someone) commends those who seek the supernatural for help. Pray and my powers will be (something).” on the cauldron, but praying doesn’t do anything useful in that room. I already found the wooden flower, the recipe book, the spoon, the white knight, and the merry-go-round. The white knight can be put in the cauldron, but that doesn’t seem to affect anything.
In the city room, the woman is interested in the recipe book when I try to show it to her or give it to her, but I don’t know how to make her take it. I’m assuming that the book is the thing she wants to “exchange” for; I may be wrong.
I don’t know what to do about the vulture.[/spoiler]
I’ve got a log of my progress so far. I left comments in the log regarding bugs and incongruities if you want to see it. I could send you the log now, or I could wait until I finish the game. I deeply appreciated the transcript of Dreary Lands that Merk sent me after I emailed him about the review he wrote of my game.
Anyways, your game is much less buggy than mine was, and it’s wonderfully free of obvious spelling and grammar errors. Good job!