So, you have all decided to come to my house for Halloween, eh? Well, while you're all here, sit down, have some candy, and listen to these wondrous, mysterious, ominous tales.
Welcome to the Wicket Fables.
Disclaimer: I do not own the word ''Wicket'', it is owned by Isaac Spratt.
The Voyage
Once upon a time, there once was a man named Neisan, who was a lumberjack. He lived in the forest and made his living there. For you see, he chopped down trees in order to have a fire at night, and for a cooking fire. What did he eat? He ate the chickens, that lived on the tops of the oak trees in the forest, which he chopped down. Yes, life was easy for Neisan. Then, one day...
He left his house and went into the Forest That Had Been. However, when he looked around, he could not find a single tree to chop down. So, he searched far and wide across the land. Until, he came upon the last tree. Before he could chop it down, a Gnome appeared to him.
"This tree is special, you must not chop it down.",warned the gnome
"Little gnome, how are you alive? And why must I not chop down this tree?",asked Neisan,"If I don't chop down this tree, I will not have any firewood, and chickens to eat.
"This tree has a curse on it, if you chop it down, you will be cursed.",explained the gnome
"Fine, then I will look elsewhere for trees.",replied Neisan, before walking away.
Neisan walked back to his cottage, and went to sleep hungry, and without a fire.
The next morning, he wakes up and goes outside to search for trees. Searching far and wide, he could not find another tree. Eventually, he stumbled across the tree that the gnome had claimed to be cursed.
"What are ye doing?!",cried the gnome,"If you chop this tree down, you will be cursed!"
"Very well, I shalt search someplace else for a tree.",replied Neisan, before wandering off again.
Once again, Neisan made it home without finding a single tree.
When he wakes up the next morning, he finds his piano stuck to the ceiling. Angrily, he headed back over to the cursed tree, again. When he got there he said to himself,"I have been without food and warmth for twice the week. I have seen nay a tree else where. The tree's curse must be that gnome's deceit upon me!" Neisan pulls out his axe, and chops the tree down.
Gathering up the tree and chicken eggs, Neisan headed back home. As he was walking, on the hill behind where the tree had stood, stood the gnome.
"Ye were warn'd...",said the gnome
When Neisan made it to his cottage, he was overjoyed. While ignoring his piano, he quickly set to work on the fire. With a great blaze going, he picked up one of the eggs he found in the tree.
Neisan was about to put the egg in his iron cooking pot, when the egg suddenly began rattling and cracking. Nary a moment later, when the egg hatched to reveal... a gnome. This gnome had the same garment as the gnome from before did, albeit he was smaller than the first. The gnome took one look at Neisan before screeching and jumping on him, and savagely clawing at his face.
Neisan got the gnome off him with effort, and threw it afar to the threshold of his cottage, where the gnome hit the top part of the threshold and became limp. Suddenly, Neisan heard a loud noise behind him, so he turned around to see all of four dozens of eggs he brought into his cottage, hatch'd into little gnomes. The gnomes screeched and jumped onto the lumberjack, clawing at his face, hands, legs, and stomach. One even chomped on his left calf. The gnomes piled on top of Neisan, and began grotesquely devouring him. And by a fortnight later, the gnomes had gobbled him up, leaving nothing, but bones.
Some say that after this, the gnomes took his bones and buried them in the garden, behind the hill. Eventually, he would push up back to the surface, reborn as a gnome.