1930 Metal Bird

The metal bird eats fabricated metal and wood, scarfing down the parts of an automobile.

The lead human character wants the chicken to lay an egg.

The chicken lays an egg and then hatches it over a burner.

The hatched egg being transforms into a full sized car.

The cycle is completed, unfortunately the metal bird only lays one egg per one hundred years.

In the midst of the Great Depression, the notion of creating wealth out of thin air through magical transformation captivates.

There's also the odd melding of the biological and the technological. Its an early example of a man-made to biological transplant, a type of hybrid.

Reality gnaws back however, as it only has the energy to rarely create such wonders. There's always a catch, never something for nothing.