08/08/17
A Chaosgate Piski-tale
Once upon a time, there was a man called Shamus. He lived with his mother on a farm, he wasn’t very strong, he wasn’t very clever but he was always very kind. The people who knew him called him ‘Simple Shamus’.
One day, he was feeding the chickens when a sneaky and strange looking man appeared from behind the chicken coop,
“Hello” said the man, “can you help a hungry traveller? I’ve been walking for many days now but I’ve run out of food!”
Shamus felt sorry for him but didn’t know what to do,
“Ummm…I don’t have anything to eat here but maybe back at the farmhouse there is food? I shall call for my mum to help”
The man quickly stopped him, “no, no, no my dear fellow, don’t bother your mother, I’m sure she’s very busy, what about one of those chickens?I bet they’re good to eat, yes?”
Shamus wanted to help the man but didn’t want to get into trouble with his mother,
“I’d love to let you have one but I don’t think My Mum would like that?”
The strange man smiled, “How very wise indeed, good sir! What if I…”
The man turned and showed Shamus a big sack, covered in stars and moons,
“… If I swapped a chicken for something from my bag of magic items that I sell!”
“WOW” Shouted Shamus, “magic! Wait til I tell mum, she will be so excited to see it!”
“Now, now,” grinned the strange man, “if we tell everyone, they’ll all want something, I only sell to the very rich and clever, like you”
Shamus frowned, “I don’t know if I’m clever and I KNOW I’m not rich.”
“Not to worry,” smirked the stranger, ” I’ll find something cheap and magical, just for you.”
He rummaged around his bag and Shamus could hear the rattling and clattering of lots of things, then the man pulled out… Not a wand… Not a spell book … But a pair of old smelly socks!
Shamus looked confused, “I’m not sure how magic they are? What do they do?”
“Oh!” Yelled the man, “what do they do? What do they, errr, do..? They…”
The sneaky man saw a wilting flower by the road, “They make you very strong, watch.” The man walked over and started to pull up the flower, pretending that he couldn’t do it.
The stranger then passed the socks to Shamus who put them on and sure enough, pulled the old flower out of the ground.
“Yippee!!” Shouted Simple Shamus, he was very excited, “What else can they do?”
” I can tell you but I’ll need another chicken.”
So Shamus gave him a chicken.
The man looked around and spotted a hill,
“They can make you run fast!”
Shamus looked amazed, “Really?”
“Oh Yes,” declared the stranger, “I’ll let you prove it too. I’ll give you the socks and first you run up that hill, then put the socks on and run back down again, I am certain that you’ll be faster when you are wearing them.”
Shamus did as the man said and sure enough, he was faster running down the hill than running up the hill.
“Yippee!!” Shouted Simple Shamus, he was very excited, “What else can they do?”
“I can tell you but I’ll need another chicken.”
So Shamus gave him a chicken.
The sneaky man looked around and noticed it began to rain, he looked up and saw it was only a very small cloud,
“They can stop the rain!” Said the man, “you quickly run into your house, throw them onto your mothers fire and pray to the great sock God”
Shamus ran as quick as he could, into the house, running past his confused mum and tossed them onto the fire, then on his knees he cried out,
“OH GREAT SOCK GOD, MAKE THE RAIN GO AWAY!”
Simple Shamus looked outside and sure enough, the rain cloud had now passed…
And the Sneaky strange man had disappeared and so had all of the chickens!