There once was a goddess named Generosa. She had a heart that glowed like a hearth inside her chest. She lived in an old temple on a hill that reached just above the treetops. Below the hill and among the thick woods live her people. Their town, made up entirely of stone cottages, was named after their mayor. They called it the Democratic Republic of Gremplegarp.

The people of the Democratic Republic of Gremplegarp tried their best to make everything in their town neat and tidy. Their cottages were to be placed in straight lines and mirror the others across from them. Even the trees had to be replanted in neat rows. Travelers passing by the town would comment about how satisfied the people must be.

“Wow,” they would blurt out “life must be perfect for everyone in the Democratic Republic of Gremplegarp.” Each traveler who thought this way was wrong, however, because not one citizen felt complete, and would always find a problem with their lives.

At the top of the hill and inside her temple, the goddess Generosa could hear the citizens complaints and their disappointed sighs.

“How very strange” She mumbled to herself, “how many people I can hear who are so unhappy.”

Though she wanted to help her people, Generosa found it hard to leave the temple she had become so comfortable with.

The temple of Generosa is a very peaceful place despite its looks. Vines crawl over every inch of the temple, light peeks in through countless cracks from above, and large chunks of stone from the crumbling walls and ceiling litter the floor.

She admitted, “This temple may be in bad shape, but the atmosphere is quiet enough for me to think.”

Still, the kind goddess needed a way to help her people, so she came up with an idea. From the hill on which her temple rests, Generosa’s booming voice could be heard by the citizens of the DRG below.

“To all who live in the DRG” she said, “come to my temple and I shall give each of you a gift to solve your problems.”

Because Generosa has never left her temple, she had no idea what sort of trouble this would cause. Nobody in the Democratic Republic of Gremplegarp had a real problem, they were only whining about the smallest things. The fact that Generosa was oblivious made her townspeople laugh.

“She would blindly be giving us a life of luxury” they snickered.

Eventually, citizens started making their way to the temple. Their list of wishes grew so long they spilled from out of their minds and ran down the temple steps. The first to enter was a man by the name of Jay Ellous. Mr. Ellous did not like it when his neighbors had something that he did not. Whenever they found something new to decorate their lawn with, he would find something similar if not better to put on his lawn. On the day before Generosa’s announcement, Mr. Ellous saw that his neighbor, Betty Air, had found a geode that sparkled like a crystal clear ocean in her yard. Mr. Ellous had stormed right up towards the old temple to demand he have a geode as well. Halfway up the broken steps did he stop in his tracks to think for a moment.

“Surely the goddess would not give me a gift because I am jealous” He pondered. He took a seat on the steps and a plan started forming in his head. Jay Ellous would lie to the goddess and come up with a sad story to make Generosa pity him.

“Then,” He chuckled, “she would have no choice but to give me what I want.” The mischievous man turned his grin into a big frown and slumped the rest of his way. When he stood before Generosa on her crumbling throne, he wore a face that tore her heart to pieces.

“You poor soul,” Generosa gasped, “what can I give to help ease your pain?”

Jay Ellous let out a sigh, “My goddess,” he spoke, “ever since I can remember, my grandmother told me her lifelong dream was to own a beautiful geode.”

He looked at her with pleading eyes, “she passed away just recently, but she never got the geode she asked for.”

“That is terrible” said Generosa, who could feel a river of tears crashing against her eyelids. She wanted so badly to let the tears flow.

Jay continued his sad story.

“I came to ask you for a geode, so I can make my grandma happy by putting it next to her grave” He said.

The goddess Generosa, unknowing of Mr. Ellous’ scheme, decided at once that he deserved a gift. She placed her big, gentle hands to her glowing heart.

“Mr Ellous, I give my heart to you.”

Slowly she moved her hands away, and a string of light seemed to pull from her chest. The string spun wildly in her hands for a moment before turning into a glowing orb.

“With this piece of my heart” Generosa started, “I can give you the geode you and your grandmother desire.”

Generosa carefully handed the orb over to Mr. Ellous. As soon as it fell into his hands, the glow of the orb faded and it became the geode he had asked for. Mr. Ellous held his prize above his head and bowed before Generosa. He gave her his gratitude, and left without another word.

Generosa sat upon her throne with a smile on her face, yet a pain in her chest. Her heart throbbed and cried, for a piece of it was gone forever. Not only that, but it seemed the brightness of her heart had dimmed. Surely giving all her people gifts from her heart would cause a problem, but Generosa was fine with this. As long as the citizens of the DRG were happy, she knew she would be okay. When Jay Ellous returned to the DRG, however, he laughed with them about her naivety. He told them how easy it was to trick her, and how if everybody appeared sad, they would get their gift.