The Toymaker's Mistake
In a small village far away, there lived an old toymaker named Peter. Peter was an exceptional toymaker and he made a wide variety of toys such as dolls and tops and wooden horses. But of all of his wonderful work, no toys were more marvellous than his puppets.
Certainly, the rest of his work was worthy of acclaim. A wealthy merchant paid a small fortune for a boat to give to his son. Peter carved a vessel of such astounding beauty that the Grand Admiral, upon seeing it, immediately built a full sized replica for use as the navy’s flagship. A Caliph from the far east sent emissaries requesting a clockwork bird that sang and Peter managed the task within a week. A whistle of Peter’s, when played at the Russian court, so moved the Queen that she immediately demanded that no other music should ever be played in her presence lest they make her forget the sound from that beautiful instrument.
Yes, all of Peter’s toys were wonderful. But none were more marvellous than his puppets, and those were never made for anyone but Peter.
The puppets that Peter made contained all of his most remarkable talent, so they were naturally very well made as you could imagine. But even more than their extraordinary craftsmanship, they were able to move and act of their own accord.
What fun they would have! Late at night, when all of the villagers were safely in bed, Peter’s puppets would rise from their shelves and wander about the toyshop. Peter would laugh with them and teach them dances while the puppets would play games and help Peter build new toys.
The puppets could not talk, but they expressed themselves in different ways, each according to their make. The woodcutter puppet would try to fell chair-legs with his little wooden axe, but never seemed to mind that he couldn’t manage it. The ballerina puppet twirled on shelves by the light of the toyshop’s candles as a fiddler puppet strummed his violin. There was even a cobbler puppet who would sit on a tiny stool and fix the shoes of other puppets that had worn their heels down.
Those were happy times for the puppets and Peter. And I’m sad to say that it would have continued this way if Peter had not made Smiling Simon.
It was only for the best of reasons, of course, for Peter the toymaker was a kindly fellow who had never so much as thought an uncharitable thing about anyone. But he was very worried for his puppet friends and was concerned that they would get hurt if they left the toyshop. What with carriages and people with large shoes who could not see them, they might become damaged or even destroyed. He knew several children in the village who were less than careful with the toys he gave them, and he would dread to think what might happen to the puppets if they were to pick them up and break them. So Peter told his puppets of these dangers outside and asked them not to leave the workshop.
Of course, the mysteries outside the toyshop soon became too enticing for some of the puppets and they began to sneak out and discover this new world for themselves. Peter turned a blind eye to their adventures, if they weren’t seen, but he quickly became quite firm after the lamplighter puppet got hurt. (He had sneaked out to see a real lamppost and a passing horse broke his little wooden leg.) Peter had to spend quite some time mending him and hoped the puppets had learned their lesson.
Sadly, the puppets did not learn from the lamplighter’s mistake and they continued to leave the toyshop when Peter wasn’t looking. So he made Smiling Simon.
Peter wanted to make a puppet to stop the other puppets from leaving the toyshop. He wanted it to be friendly, so he gave it a big smile so that the puppets wouldn’t get upset. He made the puppet thin so that it could follow the smaller puppets through the nooks and crannies that they were using to get out. He gave it large eyes, like a cat’s, so it could see puppets hiding in the dark streets outside. He greased the joints well and covered them in soft velvet, so the puppets could not hear it and thus hide. Last of all he gave it a name; Smiling Simon.
The moment Smiling Simon was finished, he turned his smiling face and looked at his maker, Peter. And Peter said, “Smiling Simon, I need you to help me stop my puppets from leaving the toyshop, for I fear for them and love them very much.”
For his part, Smiling Simon merely smiled and nodded, for he also could not talk.
“Go now,” said Peter and Smiling Simon trotted away, quiet as a mouse.
It was only later that Peter realised what he had forgotten to tell Smiling Simon before he trotted away. Much later, when he found the farmer puppet lying near the window in the kitchen.
The farmer puppet had tried to go into the garden to look for snails. Smiling Simon had broken off his arms and legs before cutting out his glass blue eyes with a sharp kitchen knife. Peter replaced the missing pieces, but the farmer puppet would never move again without strings. It was like any ordinary puppet.
Peter remembered what he had forgotten to tell Smiling Simon. He had told him to stop the puppets from leaving the toyshop, but he had neglected to say that it should be done nicely. So Smiling Simon had decided not to be very nice at all.
“I must be more careful,” said Peter as he hid the kitchen knives. He looked for Smiling Simon, but all he could find was a smile drawn in chalk on the kitchen floor. Smiling Simon was too well made, and he could not be found if he didn’t want. But he was never far away, as could be seen from his actions.
The night after the farmer puppet was taken apart, the woodcutter puppet was found beheaded. Smiling Simon had tried to use the woodcutter’s little wooden axe, but it was no better at chopping puppet necks than it was at felling chair-legs. Tiring of the axe, he had nailed the woodcutter to the floor with Peter’s tools and used a sharp wood-working chisel to cut off the woodcutter’s head.
“I must be more careful,” said Peter as he locked the tools away. He searched for Smiling Simon, but all he found was another smile carved on the chair-leg. Peter warned the puppets about Smiling Simon and they stopped going outside. None of them had seen Smiling Simon since he first was made, and they were afraid of seeing him again.
The night after the woodcutter puppet was beheaded, the ballerina puppet was found burned. She was dancing on her shelf by the candles while the fiddler puppet played. Smiling Simon had ripped the strings from the violin and used them to hang the ballerina over the candle, where she slowly roasted to a charred lump. The fiddler was never found, but he had been thrown into the fireplace and had been reduced to ashes.
“I must be more careful,” said Peter as he threw away his candles and covered the fireplace. He searched for Smiling Simon, but all he found was another smile etched with soot on the hearth. Peter refused to light any more fires and the toyshop became cold and dark. The puppets stopped their games and instead huddled together on their shelves, each hoping that Smiling Simon would not return.
But the night after the Ballerina puppet was roasted, Smiling Simon did return, for the cobbler puppet was found worn away. Smiling Simon had grabbed the cobbler with his long, silent fingers and rubbed the cobbler’s back against the rough stone doorway. He rubbed and rubbed the cobbler so that the back of his body, legs, arms and head were all worn down. Smiling Simon left the cobbler’s unmoving face lying at the door, and had scattered the shavings from the cobbler’s back into a smile shape nearby.
And Peter realised that he could not be careful enough. Smiling Simon would keep finding ways to destroy Peter’s puppets and none of them could be repaired once ruined. So Peter made another puppet to find Smiling Simon.
Peter made a knight puppet called Sir Valiant and told him to find Smiling Simon and bring him back. Sir Valiant was found crushed beneath a rock. Peter made a soldier puppet called Sergeant Stalwart, but the Sergeant was torn to pieces. Peter made a policeman puppet called Constable Courageous, but the Constable was dropped from a rooftop and lay shattered in a cobbled alley.
After that, Peter stopped making puppets to find Smiling Simon.
By now, Peter had become desperate as one by one his puppets were taken from him. He tried locking them away, but Smiling Simon learned to pick the locks with his thin, silent fingers and even stole away the locked tools from the toyshop to continue his deeds. So Peter came up with a desperate plan.
It was not a plan that Peter liked. Indeed, it was a plan that would mean that he would never see his beloved puppets again. Worse, it would mean that they would never truly be the puppets that he knew and loved ever again.
With tears in his eyes, Peter gathered his puppets before him. “My dear puppets,” he said. “I cannot protect you from the terrible Smiling Simon. And if I were to send you away, he would surely find you. So I must do what I can to slow him.”
One by one, he picked up his puppets with loving hands and gently took them apart. Peter gathered his spare puppet-making parts and made new puppets, adding only one piece of each of his marvelous friends onto each new form. Some would only have a puppet’s head, others merely an arm. They were nowhere as beautiful as they were previously, and they would never be whole again. But they would be much safer.
Peter sold all of his new puppets the next day. The people that bought them were surprised, for Peter had never shown his puppets before, and the puppets he sold were simple and inelegant; nothing like the quality of the other toys he made. But many also noticed that there were certain parts of their puppets, maybe a head, maybe an arm, that were exceptionally made indeed.
The puppets traveled with their new owners to all the corners of the world. Some ended up in the bedrooms of princes, while others entered the care of poor orphans. Some would be placed in museums while others would lie forgotten in disused suitcases. And while Smiling Simon was able to find some of them, many more have escaped him to this day.
That is the story as far as I know, but there are other parts for which I cannot attest. I asked an old man once what happened to Smiling Simon, and he said that Smiling Simon eventually found another puppet who taught him to be nice. Another old man agreed with him and said that he heard that Smiling Simon has continued looking for the puppet parts, but now to join them back together into the puppets they once were. I hope that is true.
And what of Peter the toymaker? He has long since departed from us, I am sad to say, but he was a very old man when he began to make puppets in the first place, so I suppose that’s to be expected. I went to his village once and tried to find his toyshop, but it had been turned into a bookstore.
Thankfully, the owner of the bookstore was familiar with the tale of Peter and his puppets, and he told me something I have never heard from anyone else.
The gentleman had heard that as Peter lay in bed for his last time in this world, Smiling Simon came to visit him. It was the only time that Peter had seen Smiling Simon since his creation and Peter was naturally quite scared. Seeing Smiling Simon standing by his bedside on those long, silent tiptoes, Peter gave one last gasp and passed away.
And Smiling Simon stole the gasp that Peter gave. Since he was first carved, Smiling Simon had wanted a voice and now he had one. A voice that is the dying breath of an old man.
I can’t say if that is true, but if ever you wake in the night to find that your toys have been moved, your closets rummaged, your things moved ever so slightly around, listen for that rasping, horrible sound. And if you do hear it, and I pray you don’t, then look for any puppets you may have. Hold them tight against you and try not to fall asleep. Smiling Simon could be nearby, prowling around on his long, silent legs.
Certainly, the rest of his work was worthy of acclaim. A wealthy merchant paid a small fortune for a boat to give to his son. Peter carved a vessel of such astounding beauty that the Grand Admiral, upon seeing it, immediately built a full sized replica for use as the navy’s flagship. A Caliph from the far east sent emissaries requesting a clockwork bird that sang and Peter managed the task within a week. A whistle of Peter’s, when played at the Russian court, so moved the Queen that she immediately demanded that no other music should ever be played in her presence lest they make her forget the sound from that beautiful instrument.
Yes, all of Peter’s toys were wonderful. But none were more marvellous than his puppets, and those were never made for anyone but Peter.
The puppets that Peter made contained all of his most remarkable talent, so they were naturally very well made as you could imagine. But even more than their extraordinary craftsmanship, they were able to move and act of their own accord.
What fun they would have! Late at night, when all of the villagers were safely in bed, Peter’s puppets would rise from their shelves and wander about the toyshop. Peter would laugh with them and teach them dances while the puppets would play games and help Peter build new toys.
The puppets could not talk, but they expressed themselves in different ways, each according to their make. The woodcutter puppet would try to fell chair-legs with his little wooden axe, but never seemed to mind that he couldn’t manage it. The ballerina puppet twirled on shelves by the light of the toyshop’s candles as a fiddler puppet strummed his violin. There was even a cobbler puppet who would sit on a tiny stool and fix the shoes of other puppets that had worn their heels down.
Those were happy times for the puppets and Peter. And I’m sad to say that it would have continued this way if Peter had not made Smiling Simon.
It was only for the best of reasons, of course, for Peter the toymaker was a kindly fellow who had never so much as thought an uncharitable thing about anyone. But he was very worried for his puppet friends and was concerned that they would get hurt if they left the toyshop. What with carriages and people with large shoes who could not see them, they might become damaged or even destroyed. He knew several children in the village who were less than careful with the toys he gave them, and he would dread to think what might happen to the puppets if they were to pick them up and break them. So Peter told his puppets of these dangers outside and asked them not to leave the workshop.
Of course, the mysteries outside the toyshop soon became too enticing for some of the puppets and they began to sneak out and discover this new world for themselves. Peter turned a blind eye to their adventures, if they weren’t seen, but he quickly became quite firm after the lamplighter puppet got hurt. (He had sneaked out to see a real lamppost and a passing horse broke his little wooden leg.) Peter had to spend quite some time mending him and hoped the puppets had learned their lesson.
Sadly, the puppets did not learn from the lamplighter’s mistake and they continued to leave the toyshop when Peter wasn’t looking. So he made Smiling Simon.
Peter wanted to make a puppet to stop the other puppets from leaving the toyshop. He wanted it to be friendly, so he gave it a big smile so that the puppets wouldn’t get upset. He made the puppet thin so that it could follow the smaller puppets through the nooks and crannies that they were using to get out. He gave it large eyes, like a cat’s, so it could see puppets hiding in the dark streets outside. He greased the joints well and covered them in soft velvet, so the puppets could not hear it and thus hide. Last of all he gave it a name; Smiling Simon.
The moment Smiling Simon was finished, he turned his smiling face and looked at his maker, Peter. And Peter said, “Smiling Simon, I need you to help me stop my puppets from leaving the toyshop, for I fear for them and love them very much.”
For his part, Smiling Simon merely smiled and nodded, for he also could not talk.
“Go now,” said Peter and Smiling Simon trotted away, quiet as a mouse.
It was only later that Peter realised what he had forgotten to tell Smiling Simon before he trotted away. Much later, when he found the farmer puppet lying near the window in the kitchen.
The farmer puppet had tried to go into the garden to look for snails. Smiling Simon had broken off his arms and legs before cutting out his glass blue eyes with a sharp kitchen knife. Peter replaced the missing pieces, but the farmer puppet would never move again without strings. It was like any ordinary puppet.
Peter remembered what he had forgotten to tell Smiling Simon. He had told him to stop the puppets from leaving the toyshop, but he had neglected to say that it should be done nicely. So Smiling Simon had decided not to be very nice at all.
“I must be more careful,” said Peter as he hid the kitchen knives. He looked for Smiling Simon, but all he could find was a smile drawn in chalk on the kitchen floor. Smiling Simon was too well made, and he could not be found if he didn’t want. But he was never far away, as could be seen from his actions.
The night after the farmer puppet was taken apart, the woodcutter puppet was found beheaded. Smiling Simon had tried to use the woodcutter’s little wooden axe, but it was no better at chopping puppet necks than it was at felling chair-legs. Tiring of the axe, he had nailed the woodcutter to the floor with Peter’s tools and used a sharp wood-working chisel to cut off the woodcutter’s head.
“I must be more careful,” said Peter as he locked the tools away. He searched for Smiling Simon, but all he found was another smile carved on the chair-leg. Peter warned the puppets about Smiling Simon and they stopped going outside. None of them had seen Smiling Simon since he first was made, and they were afraid of seeing him again.
The night after the woodcutter puppet was beheaded, the ballerina puppet was found burned. She was dancing on her shelf by the candles while the fiddler puppet played. Smiling Simon had ripped the strings from the violin and used them to hang the ballerina over the candle, where she slowly roasted to a charred lump. The fiddler was never found, but he had been thrown into the fireplace and had been reduced to ashes.
“I must be more careful,” said Peter as he threw away his candles and covered the fireplace. He searched for Smiling Simon, but all he found was another smile etched with soot on the hearth. Peter refused to light any more fires and the toyshop became cold and dark. The puppets stopped their games and instead huddled together on their shelves, each hoping that Smiling Simon would not return.
But the night after the Ballerina puppet was roasted, Smiling Simon did return, for the cobbler puppet was found worn away. Smiling Simon had grabbed the cobbler with his long, silent fingers and rubbed the cobbler’s back against the rough stone doorway. He rubbed and rubbed the cobbler so that the back of his body, legs, arms and head were all worn down. Smiling Simon left the cobbler’s unmoving face lying at the door, and had scattered the shavings from the cobbler’s back into a smile shape nearby.
And Peter realised that he could not be careful enough. Smiling Simon would keep finding ways to destroy Peter’s puppets and none of them could be repaired once ruined. So Peter made another puppet to find Smiling Simon.
Peter made a knight puppet called Sir Valiant and told him to find Smiling Simon and bring him back. Sir Valiant was found crushed beneath a rock. Peter made a soldier puppet called Sergeant Stalwart, but the Sergeant was torn to pieces. Peter made a policeman puppet called Constable Courageous, but the Constable was dropped from a rooftop and lay shattered in a cobbled alley.
After that, Peter stopped making puppets to find Smiling Simon.
By now, Peter had become desperate as one by one his puppets were taken from him. He tried locking them away, but Smiling Simon learned to pick the locks with his thin, silent fingers and even stole away the locked tools from the toyshop to continue his deeds. So Peter came up with a desperate plan.
It was not a plan that Peter liked. Indeed, it was a plan that would mean that he would never see his beloved puppets again. Worse, it would mean that they would never truly be the puppets that he knew and loved ever again.
With tears in his eyes, Peter gathered his puppets before him. “My dear puppets,” he said. “I cannot protect you from the terrible Smiling Simon. And if I were to send you away, he would surely find you. So I must do what I can to slow him.”
One by one, he picked up his puppets with loving hands and gently took them apart. Peter gathered his spare puppet-making parts and made new puppets, adding only one piece of each of his marvelous friends onto each new form. Some would only have a puppet’s head, others merely an arm. They were nowhere as beautiful as they were previously, and they would never be whole again. But they would be much safer.
Peter sold all of his new puppets the next day. The people that bought them were surprised, for Peter had never shown his puppets before, and the puppets he sold were simple and inelegant; nothing like the quality of the other toys he made. But many also noticed that there were certain parts of their puppets, maybe a head, maybe an arm, that were exceptionally made indeed.
The puppets traveled with their new owners to all the corners of the world. Some ended up in the bedrooms of princes, while others entered the care of poor orphans. Some would be placed in museums while others would lie forgotten in disused suitcases. And while Smiling Simon was able to find some of them, many more have escaped him to this day.
That is the story as far as I know, but there are other parts for which I cannot attest. I asked an old man once what happened to Smiling Simon, and he said that Smiling Simon eventually found another puppet who taught him to be nice. Another old man agreed with him and said that he heard that Smiling Simon has continued looking for the puppet parts, but now to join them back together into the puppets they once were. I hope that is true.
And what of Peter the toymaker? He has long since departed from us, I am sad to say, but he was a very old man when he began to make puppets in the first place, so I suppose that’s to be expected. I went to his village once and tried to find his toyshop, but it had been turned into a bookstore.
Thankfully, the owner of the bookstore was familiar with the tale of Peter and his puppets, and he told me something I have never heard from anyone else.
The gentleman had heard that as Peter lay in bed for his last time in this world, Smiling Simon came to visit him. It was the only time that Peter had seen Smiling Simon since his creation and Peter was naturally quite scared. Seeing Smiling Simon standing by his bedside on those long, silent tiptoes, Peter gave one last gasp and passed away.
And Smiling Simon stole the gasp that Peter gave. Since he was first carved, Smiling Simon had wanted a voice and now he had one. A voice that is the dying breath of an old man.
I can’t say if that is true, but if ever you wake in the night to find that your toys have been moved, your closets rummaged, your things moved ever so slightly around, listen for that rasping, horrible sound. And if you do hear it, and I pray you don’t, then look for any puppets you may have. Hold them tight against you and try not to fall asleep. Smiling Simon could be nearby, prowling around on his long, silent legs.