A time ago there was a man who had no skin on his back and he was feared to be the spawn of the devil. He lived in the forest with his most beautiful wife who loved him in every way possible. Yet her love was not enough, this man had become selfish and hated the fact that every time he set foot into town the people would scatter and curse him, all he wanted was to be seen as a normal person.
One day the man's wife had been called to town by the mayor to settle a case dealing with her husband, did the man beg her not to leave, he scowled when she yelled at him and refused to stay. He begged and begged until finally he slapped her and told her "All love is lost if you step foot outside that door!" She looked at him saddened and did her beautiful face cringe and become stained with tears, sighing she said to him, "If losing our love is what it takes then so be it but I will not have a husband who cannot dare leaving his home without being looked down upon."

And thus she left, the man dropped to his knees and screamed and cried hysterically, soon he rampaged through his house smashing walls and tables, chairs and doors, he broke all the plates, scattered the silverware, and did he rage... Oh did he rage. Eventually he flared and gave up, away he went running array into the forest that surrounded his small shack. Night had set and he had become lost, suddenly he saw a flashing light that was more than just constant, it began to flash with every footstep! Of course he ran to it trailing blood in his path-- his skinless back had leaked from all of the anger that was coursing through his body. Soon enough his eyes held the vision of a small old lady that smoked a pipe and sung strange songs as she conjured up spells into a small black pot. He approached her cautiously but she stopped him in his tracks, she looked up at him with one eye, her only eye and said roughly "What is it you want?" she blew smoke at him, he stared at her amazed and blurted out his want: "I want to be loved! Loved by everyone! I want to be ridded of my skinless back that bleeds and makes me suffer this intangible pain!" he begged her demandingly. "Very well boy, but in this grant are you willing to give up anything?" she blew the smoke in his face again and he looked at her with dazed and watery eyes. "Anything." he cowered at her feet. "Mmm, very well then child but be wary, what you give up cannot be reclaimed." This she assured him. "I don't care! Fix me!" he howled, she glared at him coldly and soon a white flash engulfed him and the forest that surrounded him and everything around it.
The man found himself asleep in the dark, on his old mattress, in his old raggedy house, in his old raggedy clothes. His face felt dry from old tears, he sighed and walked to his bathroom, there he stood in front of the mirror glaring at himself. "Another day of suffering I presume..." he sighed again as he got changed for the day yet to his realization as he slid on a shirt he felt no pain, he had no struggle, he did not bleed! Shocked he stood thinking to himself and he soon ran back to the bathroom and twisted himself in front of the mirror, "Skin!" he cried. "Skin!" he yelled. He was so happy that he cried for joy, soon a thought of his wife passed his mind, he smiled and called for her. Running around his shack he checked every crack, every crevice; his beauty could not be found, worry had not phased him yet and thus he decided to race to town and find her.
Once in town, the people cheered to see him, smiling in his face, flirting with his bare chest, selling their wares. He was loved once and for all, all he wanted to do was bow to the ground and thank the earth for having made such an old woman as the one he had met that very night. He felt blessed, he felt whole. Yet did he still continue to search for his wife, left and right he asked for her-- many people questioned as to"Why" and he would respond "She is my wife of course!" Many others had said she was last seen with the mayor. Finally they had crossed paths, she was in the arms of another man... she was in the arms of the mayor-- a pleasantly round man with a handsome taste in riches, did his wife smile and laugh, her clothes were no longer torn but they were made of the richest fabrics. Anger coursed through his veins and he ran to her, calling her name as loud as he could, scrupled is how she responded. He bowed at her feet and kissed her hand, he quoted how he had missed her so and that he loved her with all his heart, but all she did in response was smile and laugh, she thought it as a joke and thus she questioned "What is this all about sir?" Frozen he stared at her and confusion set in, he raked her into his arms and kissed her, she retaliated by pushing him away and slapping him and cried "What do you think you're doing, who do you think I am?!" He staggered and stared into her eyes with tears as he welled. "You are my wife!" He grabbed her hand, she pulled it back "Your wife? But the mayor is my husband what is this nonsense you speak of?" She laughed at him almost pitying his mistake, shattered he stood and dropped to the floor crying, her laughs echoed around him and he could not think straight, he had thought of what the old woman had said and the fact that she warned him.
Weeks later, a notice had floated around town, his wife had been found floating in the river across town and that the mayor's wife was actually his wife's sister, shamefully he had tortured the poor forest witch into a slow death to turn around and regret every single cut.