Joe the Carpenter
Joe was a simple and serious man. He was a carpenter in a small village named Arge Oaks where he owned the store "Joe's Carpentry."
For years Joe impressed his fellow neighbors with the highest quality carpentry work. Some people in town complained he was a bit too expensive, but no one ever questioned the quality of his work. He was the best and business was good.
In fact, it was so good that the other carpenters in town, jealous of his success, started to rename their stores to things like "Joe's Woodworking" and "Joe's furniture" in an attempt to steal his business.
Furious with his fellow carpenters, and more than a little hurt, Joe formulated a plan.
"I'll show them." Joe said, muttering to himself. "I'll go to the deepest part of the forest to find the best and most rare wood! Once I have it, I'll craft the most amazing piece of furniture ever built!!! I'll put it right outside my shop, so everyone knows who the rightful Joe is!"
Determined, Joe set off the next day at dawn. He went deeper into the forest than ever before, and then deeper still. After several days of hiking he came upon a clearing with three trees in the center. Amazed, he approached the trees with wonder; the wood was better quality than anything he had ever seen.
"They're magnificent, these are exactly what I needed!!" Joe exclaimed while reaching for his axe.
"Why thank you Joe." Said a gravelly voice. "We have watched you for some time."
"Uh... wh.. who's there?" Asked Joe, brandishing his axe and shaking with fear.
"We are the Ents of the forest Joe, we tend to all the trees throughout our domain." Said another voice, the same yet distinct from the first.
Joe looked up into the trees, trying to find the source of the voices. Gazing into the branches he saw what appeared to be faces in the bark of each of the trees... angry faces. Their eyes were smouldering red, and they had furious scowls that only gnarled wood could produce.
"You've been carving up our brethren Joe. YOU WILL SUFFER." Said the Ents in unison and they attacked Joe with all their fury.
"I didn't know!!! Please, spare me!" Cried Joe, but to no avail.
He was bludgeoned, scratched and beaten, but not defeated. Joe knew wood, he knew it well, and he had all the tools to chop down the toughest of trees. So he mustered his strength, and attacked with everything he had. Chopping, hacking, sawing, and breaking. All the while the Ents screamed at him with wild fury, seemingly possessed. Once Joe had gotten over his initial shock, he realized the trees were fairly slow, and it wasnt hard to avoid their attacks. Finally, after what seemed like days, the battle turned in his favor, yet the Ents continued their attack, even in the face of defeat.
"Please, just calm down." Joe said, exhausted. "I dont want to hurt you anymo-" A branch smacked him in the face, and he chopped it back. "STOP! You guys are living miracles, I dont want to kill yo-" Whap A small twig hit him right in the family jewels. Enraged and exhausted Joe's mind snapped.
"I said, CALM DOWN! chop CALM DOWN! chop CALM DOWN! chop" Every time he said calm down he chopped again and again with the axe, til nothing was left moving.
"There," he whispered with a crazed look in his eyes "you're calm now."
He started crying and whispering to the dead wood, begging it to talk again and apologizing while kissing the mangled branches.
"You're ok, you're just calm now. I'll take you back home my friends." Joe whispered maniacally.
For weeks Joe dragged the dead Ents back to Arge Oaks. With each passing day he fell deeper into madness, whispering to the wood.
When he finally returned to town, Joe rebuilt the Ents as much as he could and left them in front of his store. They were glorious works of art and the whole town gathered to ask Joe about his trees with faces.
"They aren't trees!" He snapped, his eyes roving crazily around. "They are ents, and they can talk!!"
The crowd looked around uncertainly.
"Well, why aren't they talking?" Yelled a man in the back.
"They are just calm." Said Joe, kissing a trunk and whispering madness. Unnerved, the crowd dispersed.
Joe kept making amazing furniture, better even than he used to, but he kept whispering to the ents and kissing them. Soon enough the people of the town stopped caring about his quirky way with the ents, "It's just part of his wood-working genius" they would say. Life got back to normal.
About a month later a rich land owner came to the small village to commission the famous Joe for a elegant table. Looking around the village he saw three separate carpentry stores with Joe in the name. Baffled, he asked a local where he could find the actual Joe.
The local raised an eyebrow and pointing towards Joe (who was stroking and kissing the rebuilt ents) the local said, "Here in Arge Oaks, everyone knows that' the real Joe kissin the calm ents."