Lost

A little story from Storytelling with Puck 2022. Hopefully, this will whet your appetite a little for this year:

The land of the lost

Maisy could never quite understand it. At the beginning of the day, she was loved, praised, even sometimes hugged. Mary would smell Maisy’s coat and hum with contentment before setting off. Of course, Maisy and her sister Melissa would be with Mary every step of the way. The sisters were very protective of Mary. They were the last line of defence. If anything passed by the Mickey brothers, Maisy and Melissa would fend it off. Puddles, mud, even sweat, nothing was too much for these hard-working guardians.

No matter how hard Maisy worked, the end of the day always brought a change of the seasons. Mary would push her away, sometimes, literally throwing her across the room. Occasionally, she would laugh as she did it, from time to time, she would gag, once she was physically sick. Maisy never knew what to do at this point so she did what she always did. She waited with the others until the day of the spin.

This day always started with a bath. There were no candles or incense and it wasn’t long before Maisy was completely covered in water. There was no time to sit back and relax as the whole bath would shake from side to side over and over again, causing the water surrounding Maisy to swirl until she was swept up by its ferocious movement. Spinning, spinning, spinning and finally jolting to a stop. Some days, once the plug was taken from the bath, she would sit for hours but most days, she would be instantly transported to the hanging quarter. Not all of her friends made it that far. They were discarded like gone off food as she was hung out to dry. Once she was free of the damp, she was placed into the comfort of her living quarters, where she could stay for days, until her duty started again.

Maisy vividly remembers the day that the Mickey brothers were nowhere to be seen. Mary had to go outside and Maisy couldn’t let her be alone. She scraped across the hard ground to offer protection to her ward but it was all too much. Her skin was torn open, she had nothing left, she knew this would be the end. It had happened too many times before. Some of the others had survived in the past but their cuts were smaller. For most, it was the spin and the bin. What would she do?

She had heard of a place. A place where there were no duties, a place where all of her community spent time together. They lost their partners, they felt alone but they were surrounded by others who had suffered the same fate. She had never tried before but this was her last hope. The only way to make the escape was to wait for spin day. The routine was the same, the bath filled, the shaking started and then, there it was… her opportunity. Just before she was carried away into the unstoppable spin, she found the gap and squeezed through. A tear in her eye and a tear in her sole, Maisy made it to salvation. Finally, she was reunited with some of her oldest and dearest friends in the land of the lost socks.

More and more

So, I’ll be posting a story every day from January 30th until February 6th 2023 for this year’s Storytelling with Puck. I’d better get started! Our friend and storytelling master, Jules White, posted one big story last year, across five days and we were always anxious to see the next instalment. However, just like Netflix, you can now see the whole boxset in one place. This is chapter one. Check the comments for chapters 2-5. Don’t forget to visit Jules’ original post to share your joy!

Storytelling with Puck 2023

Want to take part in this year's Storytelling with Puck? Of course you do! It's easy, it's fun and it connects us on a deeper level. To take part, all you need to do is:

1. Share a story on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram
2. Add the #StorytellingWithPuck hashtag
3. Tag Puck Creations

If you'd like to spend a bit more time in the magic of stories, you're also welcome to join in with the Zoom storytelling evenings and the Tell It Your Way Workshop. All the details are in the "about" section of the event, linked below.

Any questions? Just ask!

We'll be back next week

If you can't wait until then, you can find more from Puck Creations by checking out?King Puck's Wisdom?and you can listen to every podcast released so far by visiting our?Puck Podcast?page. See you soon!