Slow the Weaver

A weaver named Slow, needing wood for his broken loom, raised his axe against a great tree by the sea — only to discover it was home to a forest spirit, who begged him to spare it in exchange for any wish he desired.

Before deciding, Slow consulted his friend the barber, who urged him to ask for a kingdom, promising they would rule together. But Slow insisted on asking his wife too, despite the barber's warning that a woman's advice was not to be trusted.

His wife thought the barber's idea foolish and dangerous — a kingdom brings only worry and rivalry. Instead she suggested something that seemed cleverer: since one pair of hands already wove enough cloth to support them, an extra head and pair of arms would let him weave twice as much, doubling their income without any of a king's troubles.

Delighted with this "sensible" plan, Slow asked the spirit for exactly that — and instantly became two-headed and four-armed. But as he walked home rejoicing, the townspeople saw only a monstrous figure approaching and, terrified, beat him to death before he could explain himself.

What looked like the safer, more modest wish still proved fatal, because it was not the size of the request that mattered, but whether anyone had stopped to imagine how the world would actually receive it.