The Weasel and the Puck

A Fable

Once upon a time, there was a little town that was located right next to a pond. The pond would freeze every winter (as ponds are wont to do) and the little children would go ice-skating. One of the kids' favorite things to do was to play a little game of theirs. They called this game Ha'kie. How they played this game was interesting: One kid would lay down on the ice, and the others would all beat him with sticks in an effort to push him toward the opposing goal.

One day, the little kids were all gathered around to play Ha'kie, but Ralph, the boy who got beat with sticks every game, wasn't there. The children bemoaned their fate. "However shall we play our noble game of Ha'kie," they said, "if we don't have anything to beat with sticks?" At that point one of the children noticed a weasel skulking around the edge of the pond. With sly trickery and malice, he grabbed the weasel and threw him on the ice. The children gleefully tried to beat the weasel into the goal. However, the agile weasel easily avoided their feeble blows.

Warning: Violence Ahead!

The kids started to get angry and tried to beat the weasel harder. The weasel was getting annoyed by this point, so he leaped at one of the kids and plucked out an eyeball. He threw it down on the ice, and the kids played with that instead. They called it a "puck" because of the sound it made when it hit the ice.

OK, you're clear now.

Of course, after several months of playing Ha'kie, all the children were blind. When they would come to play ha'kie, the weasel would choose the weakest kid and eat him. None of the other kids noticed, because they couldn't see the weasel.

That's how the weasel got his revenge on the mean kids, and how the puck was invented.