Love destroys itself when trust is broken by greed for more

Evidence

The greedy desire for more crept in — the husband (or a merchant urging him) wanted more of the precious cloth. The wife, reluctantly, agreed to weave once more, again forbidding him to watch. But this time, consumed by curiosity and the wish to know her secret, the husband broke his promise: he slid open the door and peered in — and saw, at the loom, not his wife, but a CRANE, plucking the soft white feathers from her own body and weaving them into the magical cloth, her body growing bare and thin. The crane was the very bird he had once saved, who had become his wife out of gratitude — and she was weaving her gift from her own living self. Seeing that she had been discovered, the crane-wife rose, sorrowful: ‘I am the crane you saved. I wove for you out of love, from my own feathers. But now you have seen me, and I can stay no longer.’ And she spread her wings and flew away, and never returned, leaving the man alone with his beautiful cloth and his broken promise. — , A Year of World Stories, 15726

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘cost of giving from one’s own substance’ idea connects to the Selkie and swan-maiden tales elsewhere in the book. — connects to: State collapse corroded trust even between intimate acquaintances — Alexis Okeowo, A Moonless, Starless Sky, 251; Abandonment drives a defensive refusal of love that becomes revenge — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 277; Financial infidelity can take the same emotional toll as physical or sexual infidelity. — Financial Infidelity Can Put Your Relationship At Risk (+5 more)
• SEED: An essay angle: ‘the economics of self-giving love’ — what gifts woven from one’s own body mean for the giver when the receiver wants more.

Broader Connections

• Excess knowledge that trust is being built can itself collapse it into distrust #corroborates (0.78)
• Distrust arises from inconsistency or symbolic discrediting of trust #expands (0.72)
• State collapse corroded trust even between intimate acquaintances #corroborates (0.45) — Alexis Okeowo, A Moonless, Starless Sky, 251
• Abandonment drives a defensive refusal of love that becomes revenge #expands (0.35) — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 277