Once, this elf, named Shinrin, decided to go exploring, away from her village. The villagers of her town always warned her of the powerful witch that would cast a curse on you if you left the village. However, she only took the things they said with a grain of salt. She would always think that they were just trying to convince her to never go outside the village by scaring her with a made up story. Shinrin saw many picturesque landscapes that left her in awe; landscapes she would have never seen if she just stayed in her village.
   It began to turn late, and Shinrin was awfully hungry, so she decided to go back to her village. Before she had the chance to begin walking home, a witch on her broomstick flew down and landed in front of Shinrin. Shinrin stared at the witch in shock.
    "The stories about the witch were true!" thought Shinrin. Shinrin was terrified.
     "How dare you come into my part of the woods?" said the witch, "I shall cast a curse on you for entering my territory!" The witch pulled out a magic staff and casted a curse on Shinrin.
    "Now do not return to my area!" yelled the witch.
    Shinrin ran back to her village in terror. She could not believe what she had seen. The effects of the curse were not aparent. Shinrin wondered what the curse did.
    "It must have been some prankster trying to scare me by saying that he put a curse on me. He probably really did not though." thought Shinrin.
    After many days, Shinrin's hand started to feel stiff. Shinrin looked at her hand and began to scream. Her hand has been turned into wood.
    "What is happening to me?" wondered Shinrin, "Is this the effect of the curse?" Shinrin was very worried.
    Some time passed and the curse did not seem to so anything else.
    "Wow. What a stupid curse! All it did was turn my hand into wood. There are so many worse things that the witch could have done."  Shinrin thought.
    Many more days passed, and Shinrin's legs and torso began to turn into wood. She also had many vines, moss and leaves on her body. That is when she realized that the curse made it so that her whole body would slowly turn into wood.
    Shinrin realized that she should have had listenend to her villagers. Now she is turning into a tree. She cannot bear the thought that her demise is soon. The clock is ticking for her, and there is nothing she could do about it. With these thoughts in mind, she sheds a tear.
    That is the story of Shinrin.