The market of D'eshkar is a strange and fabulous place. You can, it is said, find there anything your heart desires.

One hot summer's day a young man named Kethan chanced to be walking through the markets when he spied a sign: "Enchanted Swords! Reasonable Prices!"

He could not resist. A half hour and some 20 gold pieces later, Kethan was the proud owner of brightly burnished and newly enchanted sword. The merchant had handed it to him to examine, and then with an eery laugh, pronounced it enchanted. Kethan had not noticed, too entranced by the sudden humming sound the sword made when he set hand to the hilt. It resembled nothing so much as the purring of a cat, and he strapped it to his side with a smile. He walked back to his home with a newly found pride and confidence.

His friends expressed admiration. His wife expressed her exasperation. "I sent you to market to buy flour, Kethan! Not a shiny new toy!" By this time the purring of the sword had grown so loud that she had to yell to make herself heard, and Kethan, being a wise man, knew he was in serious trouble. He took off the sword and locked it away, even though it made the most heart rending sound imaginable. "See, Avra? I put it away."

The next morning when they awoke, the sword was lying in the bed between them, humming. Avra just gave Kethan a look he knew all to well. After breakfast, he went to return the sword. The shop was gone.

For the next few days, Kethan would lock away the sword, and each morning it would be in the bed between him and his wife. The last morning, when Avra moved it, it twisted in her hand and cut her. Straightaway she packed her things and left to stay with her mother. "When the sword is gone, I will return!"

Kethan tried, oh how by all the little gods did he try!
He sold the sword to a neighbor.
It returned.
He threw it down a well.
He woke next to a wet sword.
He buried it.
It appeared next day, dirt and all.

Finally he decided to make it an offering to his dead ancestors. He wrapped it in fine silk, then sewed it into a leather bag, and then sent it with the priests to be thrown down through the Gates of Paradise. As the priests walked away from Kethan, it seemed to him the purring had grown... angry.

He was found the next morning by a servant, dead in his bed, the sword pinning him to the mattress. Grief stricken, Avra summoned wizards who examined the sword. When they were done, they told her two things Kethan should have known.

First, be sure what the term "enchanted sword " means.
Second, hell hath no fury like an enchanted sword scorned.