Once upon a time

Once upon a time there was an old man. He lived in a seashore village named Foldale, in a large wooden tavern of which he was the owner and the keeper, and he had a handsome son who helped him around this tavern that he ran. The boy served the customers, bringing them beer and snacks, but he was also a very mischievous boy and gave his dad a lot of headache. In the end, the old man got enraged at his behavior and punished the boy by making him wear a girl's dress for a week.

As he thought that embarassed the young man immensely, having to serve the clients in such an attire. It continued day by day for a whole week and eventually the old man sat down to count the income and discovered that it almost tripled during this last week. He knew it was because of the dress, of course a young maiden made the tavern so popular, but it had to end tomorrow as the punishment was over. A greedy man that he was, he got very very sad.

At the very same time, his son was sitting on the bed in his room, counting all the tips he got last week. He never got any tips before and now all of a sudden he had so much of his very own money. Just what kind of magic was that? Was that just because of the dress, he wondered. He got so used to this beautiful, soft and comfortable dress during the week, even his movements became so delicate and flowing, that the thought of getting back into his boyish shirt and pants was horrifying him. The punishment turned into the best week in his entire life.

The next day he had to change the clothes back. He passed by his dad saying hi, but the old man looked gloomy and didn't reply. The young man went between the empty tables. So many clients would be disappointed today, he thought. He ran hand by the wall, it went closer and closer to the decorative vase standing on a shelf above one of the tables. The boy always liked that vase and it was also his dad's favorite, but...

The old man turned his head as he heard a sudden cracking sound. And his face suddenly shone with delight. He knew what was going to happen.