Synopsis/Details
In a fantasy world, Magdalena, a beautiful young washer woman, signs up for the "bleeding ceremony" to get a husband and child. The ceremony involves giving the Arkon (the man in charge of the village) gold coins and then dripping blood from your cut ring finger onto a tree's roots (the "family tree"). She does not know that this belief is a scam perpetuated by the greedy official.
Not much later, Magdalena does meet the handsome Klim. They soon marry and Magdelena becomes pregnant. Klim learns what his bride did and is convinced the Arkon has tricked her. When he goes to the Arkon and demands the money back, the Arkon refuses - telling him that since Magdalena is now married and expecting a baby, what she paid for has come true.
Klim challenges the Arkon to a duel for dishonoring Magdalena. At the duel, the Arkon wounds Klim in the shoulder. The Arkon, however, dies when a large branch of the family tree hits him on the head. This happens even though Klim's weapon refused to fire.
Klim says that he may have been wrong about believing in the family tree. After all, it just took its revenge on the Arkon.
