The Talent Thief

A young boy lives with his mother in a small village. She's a laundress and works hard every day just so they can get by. The boy is sad that she has to work so hard and wishes he could help. One night when he can't sleep, he goes to talk to her and finds her still up sewing. But the thing is, when she's sewing it's like she's glowing with happiness because she's actually doing what she was meant to do. It's her true talent. The boy sees how happy she is sewing and the beautiful things she's making, and he asks her why she doesn't sell them. She says they're for people who can't afford it, and selling them wouldn't be right.

The next day he notices other villagers who seem to have these hidden talents, because when they are engaged in these projects they also give off this glow. There's a chamber maid who sings while she works, a grocer who writes amazing poetry on the back of receipts, and a butcher who paints in the back room of his shop. The boy's talent is seeing the true talents in others. No one uses their talents for their own gain; they all hide away and just enjoy/share their talents in secret.

One day the boy meets a girl about his age, who has also noticed the talents these people have. She doesn't have the same ability to see the glow; she has just heard the singing, read a snippet of poetry, etc. The girl tells the boy that she's found this door into another world where these talented people can go and share their talents all the time and be praised for them and never have to worry about slaving away in the real world.

The boy thinks this would be really cool so he uses his talent to point out what the people in the village can do. The girl takes the boy into the magical world and he sees the people using their talents and glowing away; but when he comes back to the real world and sees the people back there in their ordinary jobs, they seem to have forgotten all about their old talents and they're frustrated and angry. He assumes that it's just because they're trying to hide the fact that they're so happy in that other world.

Finally, he tells the girl about his mother's talent. He can't wait to see how happy his mother will be sewing in the magical world, but when he runs home he learns that her talent in the real world has totally disappeared. She doesn't remember that she could ever sew or why she would want to. She goes to bed exhausted after her work doing laundry and she's just sad and tired all the time.

The boy goes back to the magical world and finds out that the girl has been stealing the talents and set herself up as a kind of queen there where the poetry, singing, etc. are only used for her to enjoy. The boy has to figure out how to get the girl to give the talents back to the people in the real world.

AAP by CallMeMara