The Magical, Constantly Changing Animal

There once was a small village, not too far from where we are right now, where there lived a wonderful, magical animal, one that could become anything the person who owned it wanted, but only as long as that person were pure of heart.

In this village there lived a young wizard by the name of Thaddeus Buford. It wasn’t that Thaddeus was evil, but he wanted to find a way to achieve easy riches without having to really do anything. So naturally when he came upon this magical animal and realized its power, he decided he could change his whole life for the better by stealing it and making it his.

Thaddeus took the animal, which was at that point a beautiful golden fox, home and set it up inside a gilded cage. “You are going to do wonderful things for me,” he told it.

The next morning Thaddeus went to bring food for the animal and clean its cage, eagerly anticipating what sweet surprise it might have in store for him this time. He was shocked to see that the golden fox had somehow turned into a plump angry goose, loudly honking and continually pecking at him as he tried to clean the cage. Well, there must be a reason for this, perhaps the goose was going to lay golden eggs or something.

Thaddeus returned later in the day, eagerly anticipating the fortune he was about to receive. He couldn’t believe his eyes when he realized that the animal had now turned into what appeared to be a very ordinary skunk! “I bet this skunk emits a rare and unique perfume, one I can sell across the land and get lots of money for,” Thaddeus thought to himself. But as he reached his hand out to pet the skunk, he was sprayed with the usual foul odor that skunks are best known for. He shook his head in disgust and walked away, surely his great fortune would be there tomorrow.

Thaddeus couldn’t believe it when he returned to the cage the next day only to find a snake coiled up inside, a snake which began to hiss as if ready to strike as soon as he tried to approach it. Ah, but he had heard that snake venom could be used for medical purposes, he would just have to find someone to milk the snake so that he could sell the venom for a huge profit. There was no way he was touching the creature himself.

Later that day Thaddeus returned to the cage, checking to see if his animal was still in the form of a snake. This time he found not a snake but a large lion, roaring loudly and advancing towards him, not letting him get anywhere near the cage. “What’s wrong with you?”, Thaddeus cried, wringing his hands in frustration and completely unable to think of anything he could do with this animal.

Thaddeus went back into his cottage and sat the whole night thinking about what had gone wrong with the animal which was supposed to bring such great fame and fortune for its owner. At last he realized that the reason the animal was taking such disagreeable forms for him was because he had stolen the animal with the intention of making himself rich, not caring about anyone else.

Thaddeus knew that he could no longer keep this animal, he had to return it to its rightful owner.

Bright and early the next morning Thaddeus took the animal, which thankfully was now only an oinking pig, out of the cage and began the long journey back to the place where he had found it originally.

Once he had returned the animal safely, he looked down and saw that it had now changed into a shining, golden phoenix, too splendid almost to look at. Just as he turned to leave he looked back and saw that the majestic bird had shed one single, solid golden tear, which he suddenly realized was his reward for returning the animal to the place it belonged.

Having finally learned his lesson, Thaddeus took the tear and made his way back home. He kept the golden phoenix tear all the years of his life as a reminder never to resort to means of greed again, and passed it on to his children as a reminder never to allow the quest for material goods to consume their lives.

Translated by Slytherin Fox