Well. Here I am. With another chapter. =) Finally. Took long enough, but anyhow. I deeply apologize for anyone who wanted more but I failed to give them more sooner... but thanks to my friends and reviewers, I now have the will and material to write again! Special thanks to brown phantom because he helped me the most (he sent me several more through PM, and also told me the page numbers. =D Thank you!), and also sorry if anyone has sent me a PM or anything but I didn't reply, they're lost somewhere deep in my email inbox where I can't find them anymore... By the way, most of these stories' characters will not have names... and Nana is a character who will appear several times. You do remember her, right? The witch from the last story? She is a character who exists in all times in order to move the story along.

Oh yeah, and also, the character's appearances are up to your imaginiation, for most of the characters besides Nana and most likely several other characters.

Disclaimer: I do not own Goose Girl. =)


The first story for the chapter: A carpenter's daughter who fell in love with a tree, and her father, who carved the tree into a man (page 320) (I'm not going in page order but instead skipping around because I feel like it.... :P).

It was a day much like any other day, it seemed to the carpenter.

He hammered nails into wood skillfully to repair one man's house, the repairs so artfully done that one could barely see that it had ever needed repair.

He gently chiseled a soft cube of wood into a chirruping bird for another woman.

He continues on his tasks until midday, when he took a break and went to the village tavern to boast and laugh boisterously with the other men.

He was proud of his daughter, who was kind, good at chores, and beautiful. "Surely," he boomed as he chewed upon his sandwich, "she shall soon find a man who is suitable for her. I'd not be surprised if a prince were to ask her hand!" he boasted freely.

This daughter in question was at home, quietly cleaning the house, when she heard a birdcall. "Oh, how sweet." she smiled, and went outside to see the source.

A small jay was perched upon a tree. He cocked his head at the approachig girl, then trilled another sweet melody before flying off.

The girl smiled in the direction the jay had left in, then turned to the tree, which was neither old nor young, but were it of mankind it would be of marriageable age. "Was that not beautiful?" the tree's branches shivered in response to her question, and she smiled at the tree.

Every day after that, when her father was at the tavern boasting, she heard the birdcall and would go out, then speak to the tree once the bird left. She adored the way that the tree seemed to understand her. One day, she came with joy, for there was to be a dance that night. The tree's branches swayed above her, seeming to want to dance themselves, and the sun's rays shifted too, as if dancing upon the ground with the tree's shadow. Another day, she came sadly, for a bird she'd been caring for passed away. The tree's branches drooped, and she could almost feel its sadness. Many days she visited, pouring out her worries. Then one day, she came with indignation, for a rich old man in the village had asked to court her. "He is but a fool, to ask that of me! I wish not to marry him, he is the lowest of the low! He is so old his wrinkles have wrinkles upon them, and his eyes look like a ghost, and his hair, oh his hair is horrible where there is any and there are bald spots upon his scalp and he gropes his maids!" And the tree quivered with her, and the branches shook, and she could feel the anger radiating from it.

"Oh how I wish you were a man so that I may be with you forever and not with that horrid old man!" she cried, hugging the tree's trunk.

The next day, the tree rustled its leaves to her sadness, and when she left, it simply stood there forlornly. "I wish I were a man!" he would have called out, had he the means to do so. Then, from the shadows came a woman with a round, smooth face, eyes brown like rich soil, and long hair that was black as night. "I am Nana, from Bayern, who has come here to Kildenree." she spoke, then smiled as she said, "You wish to be a man?"

The tree rustled its leaves and swayed its branches as frantically as it could. "Yes, yes!" it wanted to cry.

"Then," the woman smiled again, "to pay for it, when you are a man, two birds of dough shall fly by you on the 13th day of your marriage. You must show them where they may find apricot preserves in the woods, for I know you know the location of that particular item."

The tree rustled gratefully, and the woman melted back into the shadows.

The next day, the girl came again. "Oh tree, oh tree, oh beloved tree, I think I am in love."

The tree's branches stiffened, then waved about in surprise and sadness.

"I think I am in love with you, tree, though you are not man." The tree quivered in shock, then happiness. "And I shall be a man, soon, as well. I will soon be able to embrace her, and comfort her truly."

The days after that were not happy, as the tree would have thought. The first day after that, the girl came out crying. "My father considers marrying me to the horrid old man! I cannot believe it! He may be rich but that's no reason for my father to marry off his only daughter to that... disgusting person!" Every day after that for 5 days, the girl came out crying, telling the tree the news. Then finally, one day, the day after she had been told she was to marry, she told her father. "Father, I am in love with a tree. It is a tree in the woods. I love it and I believe it loves me back!"

Her father boomed in disbelief, "My beloved daughter, in love with a tree? There is no way!"

The day after that, though, he went to the witch who had recently come to the village. "Your name is Nana, right?"

"Yes indeed." The woman smiled at him.

"Is there a way to make a man from a tree?" He asked her.

"Why, there is." Nana smiled again, and chirruped lightly. A small hummingbird flew to her tent and came out with a scroll, which she took and handed to the carpenter. "You, as a carpenter, are the only one who may do this successfully. Now, ta-ta!" and she seemed to glide into her tent.

The carpenter returned home and unfurled the scroll. He had never enjoyed the company of the man due to marry his daughter, and suddenly the thought of that man being his son was appalling. And he could make a living perfectly well with his carpentry. Three tiny little vials fell out when he opened the scroll, and he walked out as he read the instructions. In the forest, he poured one of the vials around the roots of the tree, so it would not feel pain. Then he spent the entire of the next three days carving, forbidding his daughter to come out. He worked as a madman, not stopping for a break but chiseling out delicate little scraps of first bark, then softer inner wood. Three days later, a man, rather than a tree, stood before him, the feet still in the ground as roots, and a large cloth draped around it like a cloak. The only part that could be seen was the head, which was beautiful in a manly way. Hair that was just longer than the norm, eyes that, if they could see, would look directly at you, a slightly open mouth, cheekbones ever so slightly defined. Then, the carpenter poured the second vial around the roots, and the tree shook and uprooted itself. The carpenter set to work placing the roots into the shapes of feet as the potion melded the roots together, and then the carpenter carefully chiseled out the details of the feet, as well. Then finally he stood up and tipped the final vial into the mouth of the statue.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, color began to spread from where the liquid had been poured into its mouth, giving the wood that was his skin a warm, lively color, and the hair became gold as the sun.

Then the statue turned its fine head, and saw the carpenter. "Are you the one who made me human?" he asked.

"Y-yes, although Nana gave me the instructions on how." stuttered the carpenter.

"Thank you." The statue bowed elegantly, and the carpenter marveled at his creation.

Then the statue --though it was a statue no more-- went into the house, and dressed in the carpenter's finest clothes. He then went up to the daughter, went down on one knee, and said, "My love, I am he who was once the tree to whom you smiled with, wept with, danced with, and spent time with. And I... I love you."

The daughter wept tears of joy and then spoke. "I love you too, oh tree!"

Needless to say, the original engagement was cancelled, and a few days later the once-tree and the carpenter's daughter were wed.

The once-tree and the carpenter's daughter were happily married then and after.


I must say, I am rather pleased with myself. =D And plus today's my birthday! So I'm trying to finish this really quickly so I can let this out on my birthday before the party starts. Also, about the earlier story, I might type out another version later, because it also ocurred to met that out of spite someone could have made the girl fall in love with the tree and so the carpenter had to do it to save his daughter from crying to death. =)

And yay it's finally finished in time! Please review! I love reviews, hehe. If reviews were edible I'd want to gorge on them all day long. XD