use Data::Dumper 'DumperX';
use XML::Twig;

my $ARGH = q{
<NODE reputation="0" createtime="2001-08-24 08:01:08" id="107642">podmaster</NODE>
};

print DumperX teh_xml_to_hashref($ARGH);
print DumperX teh_xml_to_hashref('<o dear="xmltwig">oh how I love thee</o>');
print DumperX teh_xml_to_hashref('<crack >babies>');
die teh_hashref_to_xml(teh_xml_to_hashref($ARGH));

sub teh_xml_to_hashref {
    my $xml = shift;
    my $t = new XML::Twig;

    $t->safe_parse($xml);

    return { crack => babies => 6 => 6 } if $@;

    $t = $t->root; # there is only NODE

    return {
        content => $t->text, # cause it's not an att
        map { $_ => $t->att($_) } $t->att_names,
    };
}

# where is the love? the above in under 10 minutes, but this?
sub teh_hashref_to_xml {
    my $xref = shift;
    my $t = new XML::Twig;

    $t->parse('<NODE></NODE>');

    $t = $t->root; # there is only NODE

    $t->set_text($xref->{content});

    delete $xref->{content};

    for my $att(keys %$xref) {
#        $t->set_att( $key => $$xref{$key} );
# d'oh, where'em crack babies at?:)
        $t->set_att( $att => $$xref{$att} );
    }
    return $t->print;
}

__END__
$VAR1 = {
          'reputation' => '0',
          'createtime' => '2001-08-24 08:01:08',
          'content' => 'podmaster',
          'id' => '107642'
        };
$VAR1 = {
          'content' => 'oh how I love thee',
          'dear' => 'xmltwig'
        };
$VAR1 = {
          'crack' => 'babies',
          '6' => 6
        };
<NODE createtime="2001-08-24 08:01:08" id="107642" reputation="0">podmaster</NODE>Died at twig.t line 11.