Once upon a time, a woman named Marion dreamed. 

She dreamed of a life that was fun and exciting, and nothing like the life she lived.  Marion was once the prettiest girl in the land, but long ago, she was cursed by her evil guardians.

Life was fun and pleasant when she was very young, but something strange happened.  Her parents were put under a spell by an evil spirit while walking in the woods one day.  Marion knew as well as anyone, that you shouldn’t anger the spirits of the trees, but her father and mother thought they knew better. 

They broke a number of branches off of the old dead tree in the middle of the forest.  Unknown to them, that tree was the home of the Wood Sprites.  These Sprites had protected the village for years, and had often played with the children.  Marion herself had played with the Sprites, but today, her parents had angered them enormously.

The Sprites placed a curse on the family, from then on, there would be discord in the house.  They would argue frequently, and fight over every decision.  The Sprites followed the family as they moved from place to place, trying to find better fortune.

Only Marion was aware of the difficulty. 

The Sprite who had often played with Marion, Elina, had told her of the challenge.  Marion had tried to tell her parents about it, but they wouldn’t listen, they yelled and cursed her for interrupting. 

Elina told Marion that she alone had a chance to escape. She must find the man who could talk to dogs. She must marry this man, and her life would be restored. And so Marion began to search. Unfortunately, she had no luck.

Years passed, and the grief grew, there was rarely a day that was quiet and polite.  Marion found her only solace in the woods, but even Elina stopped visiting.  It pained Elina to watch Marion suffer so, but no one would offer a chance at redemption.

Marion dreamed of the man who talked to dogs, but over the years, she began to imagine that she had misunderstood the instructions, and eventually, in her desperation, she thought that all she needed to find was someone kind to dogs, or maybe just kind in general, or perhaps, someone with dogs or liked dogs.

One day, years after the incident in the woods, Marion saw a man, he was not what she expected, but he seemed to be kind. 

Fearing that she would miss her chance to escape, she offered to go with the man in hopes he would be the one spoken of long ago.  She was desperate to escape the grief that had haunted her for years.

At first, things seemed to be okay, and the man cared for her needs and was quiet most of the time.  Marion tried to relax and reclaim her life of polite ease and excitement.  But it was not to be. 

Marion was quickly to realize that her life of grief was now manifest in a new person.  And this man turned out to be a troll in disguise.  He stole from Marion her last vestige of happiness by taking from her a small wooden box.  This box had contained a small stone that she and Elina had discovered while in the woods long ago.

The box was smashed in front of Marion and the troll took the stone and sold it for more gravy for his potatoes.  Marion held the pieces of the box, they felt warm in her hand, but as she watched, they turned to dust.  The stone was given in payment at the tavern and Marion never saw it again.

Years went by with Marion dreading each morning and each evening.  There seemed to be no way out of her misery.  Elina had deserted her, the box and the stone were all gone.  The only thing that Marion still had was a dream of a man who could talk to dogs.  And as time went on, she knew there was no such person.

The Sprites continued to torment her entire family, sewing discord and dissention until they were no longer welcome in meetings, groups or gatherings of any sort.  The festivals in the woods were held without them, and soon, even Marion was asked not to attend, as the troll often followed her and made everyone unhappy.

Marion hated her life, she was scared and worried that her life would end and no one would know.  She was scared that Elina hated her.  She was feeling completely alone and miserable.  The troll told her it was all her fault, and sometimes, when she was very sad, she believed it.

One day, when she felt as low as possible, her parents had berated her because she hadn’t visited recently, because they weren’t welcome among the other villagers, and because her sister was married to a hobgoblin.  Somehow they thought all of this was Marion’s fault, and at her lowest, she agreed with them.

On that day, she screamed at the Sprites and demanded an audience with their king.  She was denied.  And having failed at every attempt, she gave up.  She resigned herself to the life of misery and went about her tasks.

But one day, while walking in the woods to collect wood for the trolls comfort, Marion heard a noise.  She was sure she was going to be harassed and berated and quickly cowered expecting the worst.  But instead it was Elina, her friend said not a word, but pointed down the path.

Marion ran up the path following Elina, but quickly she was outpaced and left behind.  Further on, she found a pile of sticks and guessed that Elina had tried to help her.  Felling better that she still had a least one friend, Marion began gathering the wood.

Then she heard a voice.  A man was talking, but she did not recognize the voice.  She hid behind a tree and watched.  Soon a funny looking man came into view, with him was a dog.