Gnome Sweet Gnome

When Lincoln came back from the forrest he was a changed man. You could tell by his body, it was leaner. You could tell by his eyes, they were wearier. You could tell by his feet, they were redder.

The day he returned from the forrest, he bore the name Gump. Lincoln Gump. No one knows why, but his exhausted body told a story.

Prior to retreating to the forest, Lincoln Gump lived a very vanilla, humdrum life. Perhaps this is why he ended up there. So sick of the 9 to 5 lifestyle, putting a fake smile on his face to get through the day, and seeing the same bunch of people day in, day out.

He retreated into the forest and learned the language of the squirrels. He learned the flight patterns of the birds. He understood the ways of the moss. He lived his gnome life.

Or at least that's how he had played it out in his head. That was this gnome's happily ever after: basking in the quiet of the forest, rather than the bewitched halls of the Queen's castle where he now finds himself. "Well?" she sneers. He looks up with a twinkle in his eye.

The gnome slipped his hand into his pocket & withdrew a pebble of fools gold. The witch gawked, "Pyrite?" The gnome smiled. "Aye, Witchie, the 1 thing that can uncharm a witch's charm." Holding the stone barely aloft, the castle disappeared & his forest came into view—home again.