[ WP ] Your grandfather was a carpenter and your father is a carpenter . You 've no talent at all for carpentry yet a woodworker you want to be . On the other hand , martial arts , heroics , magics etc . come quite naturally to you but you want to be a carpenter ...

Henry Valiantwood was descended from Carpenters. His grandfather was a carpenter, his father was a carpenter, and he desired nothing more than to be a carpenter as well. Unfortunately for Henry, he was the youngest of three sons; and as the third son, Destiny had greater plans for him. 
 He had heard the tales, as his mother tucked him in at night. Great deeds of derring-do, of heroes and villains, dragons slain and princesses rescued. And he heard how the third son would go out to seek his fortune, and find it. 
 Henry wanted nothing to do with it. No, for him joy lay in a well planed plank, in dovetail joints and flat topped furniture. Every day he was by his father's side, learning the skills required to be a master craftsman. However, any time he picked up a woodworking tool, *something* would interfere. The wood would warp, the saw blade shatter and the chisel would blunt. On one notable occaision, the marionette commisioned by the local Lord came alive, kicked him in the shins and ran out the door, stealing a cricket bat in the process. 
 One day, his father took him aside, and told him he was banned from the workshop. Henry was heartbroken. 
 `` But why, father? Am I not a good son?'' 
 `` You are lad'' his father gruffed. `` But until you get this *fated hero* malarkey out of your system, you can not come in. Never mind son,'' he said to his downcast child `` You can collect wood for us. After all, you know enough theory for that simple task.'' *And*, he thought privately, *lots of heroing out in the woods. * 
 
 Henry also knew about the dangers of heroism lurking in the woods, and was determined not to fall into Destiny's grasp. on his first day in the woods, he found a sword lying in a stone. Knowing better than to claim it, he tossed it into the nearest lake, cutting the lady swimming in it quite badly. His mother clipped him round the ear for that, and he resolved instead to run the other way. 
 This advice came in useful when Henry came across a tower with hair dangling from it. *After all*, he reasoned, *only a giant would have hair that big*. The gingerbread house he ignored, for snacking between meals was a bad idea. As for the lass who commanded birds and squirrels to do her bidding, he was n't going to fall under the evil enchantress's spell. 
 Henry managed to bumble around the woods for six montha, avoiding fateful encounters, until One day he heard the snarl of a wolf, and the scream of a woman. Instincts took over, and he ran to a clearing, where the Beast had cornered the girl. Throwing his axe, it span end over end, until **THUNK**, it buried itself deep into the neck of the wolf, pinning it to a tree. 
 `` Are you alright, girl?'' 
 `` No, I'm not alright, it ate my grandmother!'' Screamed the distraught girl... no, Henry saw, it was a woman, about his age, with flowing red hair down her back like a cloak. Just then, a groan came from the wolf. 
 Stretching out of the hole in its neck came an old woman, bite marks down her arms, but none the worse. 
 `` Grandmother! You're alive!'' The girl hugged the wolf-covered woman, then spun on her heels and hugged Henry. `` My Hero!'' She smiled up at him, and Henry felt all tingly inside. 
 
 When Henry returned from the woods, the flame haired beauty in tow, the world seemed to right itself. His parents, although slightly disappointed Henry had n't found a princess, was nonetheless charmed by the petite woman and embraced her into the family. The tools of the trade no longer fought Henry's will, and he became a carpenter of high reknown. He made exquisitely carved runed pick handles for a company of dwarves, furniture for a Lord ( who was very rude, especially when asked about his garden ) and even made musical instruments, with a flute sold to an itinerant rat-catcher. His new wife was an excellent baker, who specialised in Gingerbread and other cakes. 
 And Henry was happy, for he had won, and had not been a pawn of Destiny.
