Scene 1: This Elf lady ain't it.

Herman Miller, the shoe makers son, found himself in deep trouble. It was a sunny day when he ventured into the woods. He heard of a wish granting tree and figured he should give it a visit. It's not like he had anything to lose.

The bakers son named Carlson had told him about the tree. Carlson would brag about his adventures and show off his spoils like a bird partaking in a courting ritual. Herman grew tired of his rambling and decided to see this wish granting tree himself. And find the tree he did.

It was a truly one of a kind specimen. Its trunk was thicker than the mayors bulging silo, filled to the brim with the year's harvest.

Herman walked up to it in awe and prayed from the bottom of his heart.

"I want to find love." He said, "The kind that would keep my heart racing. One of fun and merriment. I don't care what kind of person they are as long as they're rich."

The tree shook for a long time after it finished hearing his prayers. Yet after an even longer time spent waiting. Nothing out of the ordinary happened and Herman was convinced that Carlson had lied to him. It seemed as though love would not find him anytime soon.

Herman trudged back to town with his head down, looking glum and weary when the tree, in all its glory, dropped one of its fruits atop his head.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

The fruit was golden in hue and glittered under the morning sun. Herman was mad. What fool would throw perfectly good fruit at him?

He looked around him and saw no one. He looked again, and still no one. Then he looked at the tree and picked the fruit off the ground.

"Did you.. were you the one who dropped this on me?" He asked.

The leaves rustled in the wind and Herman took that to mean yes. He then bowed to the tree in gratitude and ran all the way back to town.

There he presented his golden fruit in front of an amused looking Carlson. He bragged that the tree had given him a fruit that would find him a rich lady to marry. Herman was feeling smug and proud when Carlson burst into laughter.

"Y-you know I lied to you right?" said Carlson in between bouts of laughter.

Herman looked at the golden fruit that sparkled in between in his hands. That meeting with the tree was definitely a mystical experience and the proof was right in his hands. He looked right into Carlson's eyes and took a bite out of the fruit.

He waited, and waited, and waited, then he felt it.

A twisting sensation in his stomach, that soon spread all over his body. He was crumpled on the ground in pain. He felt as if his bones were shrinking and his muscles were contorting into something new. The pain lasted forever and when it stopped, he was different.

Carlson screamed at the sight of him. Then just as quickly he felt something was missing.

Herman looked in between his legs and found his chicken was missing. It seemed as though the magic tree had misunderstood his wish.

Not only did he turn into a girl, which is just not what he asked for. The most important part of the wish wasn't even granted.

He was still poor.