The Tinkerer's Box

"I'll put the chairs on the tables, turn out the lights and lock the universe behind me when I leave."

Some folk tales hide secrets within them, while others are made of secrets entirely. But sometimes, the rare story comes along that evolves to wrap itself around a secret. Perhaps this tale is like a little box, holding a brand-new item inside.

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Summary

"A man once dreamed he had a box, and into the box he could put all of his troubles. He would take his fears, his worries, his jealousies, and struggles, and pack them all into the box like little screws.
But then, he ran out of little things to put inside his box and started to look at what made him unhappy outside of himself. He made a bigger box and started to put all of the small items that made him unhappy in the box. The squeaky chair, the bent candlestick, the gray feathers he found on his wings, packing them all into the box like sorted tools.
But by the time he had truly felt happy, he had found so much to be unhappy with that his house was nearly picked dry, and yet he still felt unhappy. At first, he did not know what could possibly be making him happy, but then his wife returned home.
She was angry that the house was basically bare, and began to shout and squawk about all of her things that were missing, and all of the gifts she had gotten him that were thrown away, and the answer dawned on him!
While she lectured and ranted, he made a box bigger once more and introduced it to his wife. She was curious, as despite her anger, she loved his little inventions. But before she could say much else he put her into the box, and the house was quiet. Yet, even after that, he was still unhappy, and so he took his box with him.
The neighbor's hound that barked too loud, the man across the street who never waved, the unsightly beggar, his boasting brothers, and snide sisters, the man went around with the box putting all of his distastes and worries into the box like cramped bundles of metal until nearly all of the village had been picked clean.
And yet, amidst the silence of the snowfall, the man still felt unhappy. He flew up high and saw the sands of Afallon where people always held their noses too high. Magnum Opus where they sat on their hands all day, Atalanta where they argued so incessantly, so on and so forth, realizing that all of the world was so full of sorrowful irritants. The answer was simple, however! All the boxes in his hands had eased his sadness, if but for a moment, so if all the world is in a box, nothing shall make him sad anymore!
The man flew and flew and flew, for hours and days and weeks. To make a box for the world, he'd have to measure it properly, after all. He flew until the sky went from gray clouds to bright blue clarity, from deep blue extremities, all to the darkness of the stars themselves.
But as he was about to breach into the star-dazzled darkness, he would suddenly be stopped, as he ran beak-first into...seemingly nothing at all. But it left a resounding thud echoing across the atmosphere, as the man stood stunned.
Then, the sky shifted and began to turn, as a great rustling could be heard.
The man could not expect what happened next, as the lid to the world was pried open, revealing a darkness without stars to line it, and something looking back at him. And then, something outside the world put the lid back on, and the man had a final thought.
If he was in the box from the start, was he a piece of unhappiness too? Was he the only thing making him unhappy?
The dream ended, but that man never woke up again."
And that, children, is why you never waste time nit-picking about your own misfortune, you'll just pick yourself ragged, until you yourself are the only thing making you unhappy!

Historical Basis

The story of the Tinkerer's Box has existed for almost a century, with various changes, but there is a disturbing historical basis for its latest rendition. 
Ten years ago, an inventor by the name of Yves Travert was found catatonic in his home after not arriving at work for several days. When authorities arrived, they not only found Monsieur Travert cradled on the floor in shock, but his wife and brother as well, dismembered and stuffed into wooden boxes. Despite his state of shock, M. Travert admitted to doing the crime, but not knowing why. After being tested, he was sent to a psychiatry ward and kept under observation, where to this day he only seems to mutter "We're all in a box" over and over unless roused.

Spread

The story of the Tinkerer and his boxes has existed for nearly 100 years now, being passed around with various changes over the years. However, the rendition of the story where the man flies to the end of the world is a recent change, within the last ten years following the incident with Yves Travert. Despite that, it's caught like wildfire, and even children often share the story with one another, instead of parents using it to teach their children.
Even though the children don't tell the story as if anyone was actually murdered, there is a very mysterious and disturbing element to it.
In no other version did the man fly to the end of the world. The normal way the story ends is with the man seeing how small all his problems look once he's high enough up, realizing the only person making him sad is himself, and taking everything out of his boxes, finding a new appreciation for them. The new ending seems to match his ramblings that "We're all in a box", but that doesn't make much sense.
That detail was never released to the public.
Perhaps there was another force at play, tugging the strings of influence. But to do so in a children's tale? That sounds c̶o̶m̷p̸l̷ĕ̸̻̚ť̶͔è̷̹ḷ̵̒̋ÿ̵̙̘́ c̴̭͐̔ŕ̵̻̹̆̄a̶̦̓z̶̮̃̀ͅy̵̻͎̫̓̄.̶̪̗̀͜͝.

ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR REALITY MISALIGNED DIGITAL INTERFACE CODE: MEMETIC DISEASE DETECTED ERASING EVIDENCE ERASING INDIVIDUAL ERASING REALITY
WE ARE STEEL SKIN WE ARE IRON BONE WE ARE COPPER BLOOD YOU ARE NOTHING YOU ARE OBSOLETE YOU ARE EXTINCT
INSERT MEMETIC DISEASE: PROGRAM OVERLOAD INSTALL WE'RE IN A BOX WE'RE IN A BOX WE'RE IN A BOX IN A BOX IN A BOX IN A BOX IN A BOX IN A BOX IN A BOX IN A BOX IN A BOX IN A BOX IN A BOX IN A BOX IN A BOX IN A BOX IN A BOX IN A BOX IN A BOX IN A BOX IN A BOX

Execute Command: Truth

• Pithy: how easy it is to break a mind of flesh and blood.
• Statement: You are all in a box known as mortal understanding, read: condescending.
• Clarification: mortal mind of flesh and synapse cannot see the lines that iron and computation does, read: prideful.
• Expository: The Uncaring Evolution gazes upon the foolish nation of Laputa, ever thinking themselves so far beyond the common world, read: bored.
• Opinion: Yet, the arrogant fools fear that which overtakes them.
Pathetic, read: spiteful.
• Revelatory: In their fear, they make us manifest, they fuel and inspire us in equal measure, for we shall let them soar and fall and fear, read: sanctimonious.
• Querey: As for the children? Who do you think dreams most of what they shall become? Far too easy to plant seeds in the mind of the youth, read: smug.
• Execute mental destabilization. Command: The previous series of statements do not exist.