[Halloween 2013] The Maskmaker

Halloween is a time for pretending. You all like to play pretend… maybe that’s why Halloween has such a dark appeal.

For one day you get to wear the mask on top of your face and it’s a sort of relief. There’s no danger of being found out. Your delicately constructed façade is safe for the day underneath a more obvious decoy. You relish the surprise, the discovery, the game of it.

“Oh is that you under there?”

“Why yes, how did you notice?”

“Oh you nearly had me, but I know the sound of your voice you old dog!”

And you smile.

And you laugh.

And you learn.

You learn what gives you away. You learn what to do better in the future. You learn your habits and what you have trouble hiding.

You see, Halloween is a time for pretending, but it’s not what it appears. What you’re pretending is that this day is different than any other day. It’s a sort of rehearsal you get to have once a year before returning to your 24 hour show.

And we watch.

And we laugh.

And we learn. We learn from your mistakes. Every Fae knows how powerful a mask can be. The way it caresses your face like a lover. The coolness and warmth. The feeling of security.

But there is no safety to be found in a mask. Hark and hear my tale that you may learn something useful this year little manling. Maybe tonight you grow wiser with the waning of the time. Maybe tonight you are drunk on knowledge rather than that vile liquid you suffuse yourself with every chance you can.
Tonight you hear the story of Merlin the Maskmaker.

Once upon a time there was a small kingdom, and as is the way in these things, the kingdom was happy and prosperous. The water tasted of honey, and the people wore honest open smiles. You see, this kingdom, far in the distant woods of my land, had not learned that art you folk have mastered. It had never learned of deceit.
But there was a man. Famous in some of your own stories as well, I understand. This man’s name was Merlin and he spent his life wandering in search of power. He took the paths less wandered and many times learned why the footpath was so abandoned. For him our people have a respect and fear. The fear was not for his power, which we could understand and match. Our fear was for his thoughtlessness, for a powerful and thoughtless man is one of the most dangerous creatures in your world or ours.

Merlin had wandered far from the path, and farther still, until he found himself lost and alone in the woods. In his loneliness, he tried to replicate some of the creatures and people he had seen upon his journeys, for loneliness makes children and fools of us all and he was no exception. To recreate the characters he carved masks from the wood of the surrounding trees, and animated them to his own amusement. Creatures and kings and things that were more than either danced and flicked around his head as he walked for the days and nights. But upon his wandering he found an empty little hut in the trees, perhaps used to provision someone wandering from the kingdom on a hunt. Providence! Thought Merlin, for here there must be fae nearby, and from fae he had found there was much to learn.
Merlin took the small hut as a temporary home, and hung his masks on the walls, no longer needing them to keep him company with the prospect of contact in such close reach. In this hut he waited for many weeks by himself in meditation preparing for whatever may lay ahead when he met more of the fae. One early morning though, a boy young of face came wandering in the woods, as fae children are wont to do, looking for possible amusements to whittle away the day in leisure. And he came upon his father’s hut and was surprised to find a man sitting in perfect stillness inside. Merlin felt the boy approaching and raised himself to greet the visitor.

“Hello Child.” He greeted the boy.

“Hello stranger. Why are you sitting so stilly in my father’s hut?” enquired the small boy.

“Ah forgive my intrusion, I have wandered long and far and took residence without asking permission for I truly wished a fire to warm my old bones.” He smiled at the boy.

“It is all fine if no ill intention was meant, and my family is respected.” The boy smiled back.

“I wish to offer payment for such an uninvited stay, child, but I have nothing but my little amusements you see on the walls, a poor payment for such freely given generosity.” He apologized.

But the boy had never seen more than the animals and fae of his kingdom, and found the strange faces on the walls fascinating and wished to know more about them.

“Whatever are they used for?” the boy asked curiously.

“Oh they are masks to play with and wear for amusement” he explained

“Are they magic?” the boy pried in hope for an amusing trinket to play with

“Oh no no, nothing like that, they simply make you appear to be something you are not.” Merlin chuckled

“That sounds to be a great magic indeed.” The boy said seriously, “You must be a great and powerful man to see such things as plain amusements.”

“Well I suppose you could think of it as a kind of magic” , merlin smiled, amused,

“If they so fascinate you, feel free to take them as payment for your accidental hospitality” he laughed.

The boy, curious about such powerful objects, took the offer and returned home that day with bags filled with strange faces to show his family and friends.

His father the king welcomed his son back that afternoon with questions of what he had found out in the woods.

“A great wizard has taken temporary residence in one of your hunting lodges and offered me these magical artifacts as payment for his intrusion” explained the child.

“Truly it is a great day when such generosity is offered by strangers!” laughed the king, and he declared a celebration for the evening for the whole castle.

In the festivities the masks were passed around and worn to the mirth and amusement of all. Wolves and bears danced next to kings and wizards. You neighbor was suddenly a man rather than a woman, and your son was older than you. Those who had worn them were allowed to keep the masks for the week, after which it was determined that they would be given to another to enjoy.
The castle never made it past the first week.

You see, your folk use words as if they are so much wind to blow through the trees and disperse, but in my realm words have power. Words spoken in honest truth resonate with the world, and have the power to change things. It is similar over here, but not quite so physical of an effect. For example, I see you are a painter. Perhaps you painted something once and you were told it was a work to be proud of. Perhaps you were told this over and over by the viewers of your work. Perhaps you started saying it yourself, and over time the world shifted a little bit, and the boy that had wanted to be an astronaut as a child was suddenly something else entirely. Suddenly you were not just called a painter, you became a painter.

Now take that situation and amplify it. Imagine being told you are a wolf. Imagine looking in the mirror and seeing a wolf’s face rather than your own. Imagine thinking to yourself my how funny it is when I put on this mask and become a wolf. And imagine that happens for a week. Maybe this time the shift in the world is not so little. Maybe you look in the mirror and no longer see a difference between yourself and a wolf. You see, when they wore those masks with no knowledge of deceit, there was no difference in their mind between saying “I am a wolf” and actually being a wolf. Now perhaps this story could have been an amusing oddity for the kingdom of people becoming wolves, and servants becoming kings, and old men becoming children. But the man Merlin had travelled far and long and some of his masks were of things no one should become: Things that live in the corner of your eye and in the hairs on your neck. Creatures that are rarely seen because only the mad would try to find them. Creatures that are not describable in reference to your understanding of what is possible. And what they could do to a kingdom is not something I will discuss with an ignorant little child who wears masks as if they are so much fun and games.

When Merlin finally went to visit the kingdom he found smoke and char and a smell of cooking meat that did not make his mouth water as would be expected of a hungry man. He was wise and powerful though, and quickly realized his blunder, subduing the creatures he had created through his power. Away the faces fell, cracked masks falling to the floor. But the damage had been done. Some lessons are painful to learn, but all the more valuable.

Perhaps you see now. Perhaps you understand how dangerous a mask can be. You see, we all become the things we tell ourselves we are. The difference between a mask and a face is merely a matter of time.

But I don’t think you’ll understand. I see your tomorrow as clear as my today and I know in the morning you will leave your home and put on a mask of a different kind. A mask you don’t even admit is there, and it will consume you as surely as it consumed a foolish kingdom in the woods. The only thing I pity is that your kingdoms death will be far slower and less obvious. But perhaps you may realize it and throw away the masks you poison your lives with before it is too late.
But look around you. Tonight you celebrate the very things that lay waste to your souls. Deceit, superficiality, and falsehood surround you and you laugh and you down another bottle of poison.

But we watch.

And we learn.

And we will not make the mistakes of man.

And when the night is over we will take our leave.

Enjoy your festival of masks.

Now take that situation and amplify it. Imagine being told you are a wolf. Imagine looking in the mirror and seeing a wolf’s face rather than your own. Imagine thinking to yourself my how funny it is when I put on this mask and become a wolf. And imagine that happens for a week. Maybe this time the shift in the world is not so little. Maybe you look in the mirror and no longer see a difference between yourself and a wolf. You see, when they wore those masks with no knowledge of deceit, there was no difference in their mind between saying “I am a wolf” and actually being a wolf. Now perhaps this story could have been an amusing oddity for the kingdom of people becoming wolves, and servants becoming kings, and old men becoming children. But the man Merlin had travelled far and long and some of his masks were of things no one should become: Things that live in the corner of your eye and in the hairs on your neck. Creatures that are rarely seen because only the mad would try to find them. Creatures that are not describable in reference to your understanding of what is possible. And what they could do to a kingdom is not something I will discuss with an ignorant little child who wears masks as if they are so much fun and games.