Once upon a time, there was a small village surrounded by dense forests and rolling hills. The villagers always depended on the forest all their life. Be it food and wood, they always used to get it from the forest. The villagers lived a peaceful life until strange things started to happen. People would hear strange noises at night and some even claimed to have seen ghostly figures wandering in the woods. The villagers started fearing the forest and avoided going into the forest even in the broad daylight. The life of the people of the village became more and more difficult as they were unable to collect wild fruits, mushrooms and wood from the forest.
One day, a young man named Tom decided to venture into the woods to see if there was any truth to these rumors. As he dared deeper into the woods, he suddenly heard the sound of someone crying. Following the sound, he came across an old treehouse that looked as if it had not been lived in for years.
Curious, Tom approached the house and as he got closer, he saw a ghostly figure sitting next in the treehouse, crying. Though Tom was terrified to see the ghost, he gathered his wits and decided to probe further.
He approached the ghost and asked, "Who are you?" and he continued after a pause "Why are you crying?"
The ghost looked up and with a sorrowful voice said, "I used to live in the nearby village long ago but I was wrongfully accused and banished for a crime that I did not commit. I ran away from the village and made this treehouse here. I started living in the forest but soon the loneliness and sorrow made me sick. With no one to help, I had a painful and distressing death. I am now doomed to wander this forest forever, unable to find peace."
Tom was shocked but also felt compassion for the ghost. He asked if there was anything he could do to help. The ghost told him that if someone were to confess the truth about what really happened, he would finally be able to rest in peace.
Tom immediately went back to the village and gathered the villagers to tell them what he had learned. After much discussion, one of the villagers stepped forward and admitted to the crime the ghost was accused of.
The next day, Tom returned to the treehouse with the confession and offered it to the ghost. The ghost took the confession, read it, and with a contented sigh, vanished into thin air. From that day on, the strange noises and ghostly sightings in the woods stopped, and the village returned to its peaceful state. The villagers started gathering fruits and woods from the forest again.
The story of the ghost and the confession became a legend in the village, and generations of villagers would tell the story to their children as a cautionary tale about the consequences of bearing false witness and the importance of confessing the truth.