The puppet had no strings, but he was able to move around like a normal person.

“How is this possible?” wondered the doll maker.

“I don’t know. I can just move, talk, and dance without you, oh master,” he said gleefully.

The master, who had worked so hard on the puppet, was confused about how he felt.

A puppet that could do anything it wanted wasn’t what children expected when they saw a puppet.

So the master asked the puppet to let him hold him by his strings while the children watched.

A talking puppet would surely be a threat to a society governed by rules.

Puppets were meant to be moved by strings. Anything out of the ordinary would be scorned and feared.

People are like that, you see. They follow others to fit into society, afraid to awaken their own voice and say what they really feel.

The puppet agreed. He was eager to see the little children and wanted to amuse them. But the puppet maker warned him against speaking.

“Moving your legs, hands, and face is okay. But absolutely no talking is allowed. Unless you want to be taken away by the authorities.”

“I, too, wish for no trouble.”

“I don’t know why you can talk, but you can. That will scare many people.”

“Okay,” agreed the puppet.

The puppet maker took the puppet to the market fair. Many children had gathered to see him.

Kid 1: “Wow, look at the puppet, Mom! Can we take it home?”

Puppet Maker: “Haha, afraid not, child. But do you want to see what he can do?”

Kid 1: “Yes, yes!” the child said cheerfully.

The puppet maker started by pulling the strings of the puppet, but soon the puppet took over the movements and began dancing joyfully, waving his arms frantically at the child.

Kid 1: “Wow! That’s an awesome puppet. I’ve never seen one able to dance like that.”

Kid 2: “I have. I have seen a puppet dance before.”

Kid 1: “Really? Was he as good as this one?”

Kid 2: “No. The other puppet was better looking and a better dancer.”

Now the puppet was offended.

There was no way that other puppet was better than him. He could move, talk, and walk like a real person.

But remembering his promise to the puppet maker, he kept quiet.

The puppet maker, sensing the agitation in the puppet, tried to calm him down with kind words.

Puppet Maker: “Oh, no, no. Surely my puppet is better than the one you saw. Could that puppet walk on its own without strings?”

Kid 2: “What? No puppet can do that. Are you trying to fool me, old man?”

“Afraid not,” said the puppet maker.

“Watch this, child,” said the puppet maker as he put the puppet down on the floor.

The puppet quickly jumped to his feet and started walking and dancing across the floor.

The children were amazed. The parents were amused but cautious, curious about how the puppet was moving on his own.

“It must be magnets,” said one parent.

“Yeah, it must be,” said another.

“I think it’s a toy with some batteries under the hood. He’s trying to deceive us into thinking it’s a puppet with strings,” said another.

Now both the puppet and the puppet maker were furious.

“But no matter what it can do, it’s still damn ugly. That orange jumpsuit and that ugly, deformed face. Surely the puppet maker doesn’t even know what he was creating.”

The puppet finally blew his lid.

Furious, angry, and convinced he was justified in defending himself and the puppet maker, he shouted:

“I am not ugly! I am special. Nothing like me has ever been seen before.”

The people and children were startled.

“You nasty humans! Always judging and comparing. I am truly unique. Your faces and hearts are the ones that are ugly!”

The puppet maker was taken aback by the puppet’s remarks and, even more so, by the fact that he was speaking at all.

He quickly tried to put the puppet away.

But the puppet ran away from him.

“I will not be controlled!”

“You scumbags don’t know what you have in this world!”

“How much time do you waste on your petty work, craft, family, vacations, and money?”

Even the puppet was surprised. He didn’t know how he was saying these things. He had never experienced them. He knew nothing about them.

Was he actually being controlled?

How does he know about human systems and human affairs?

An awareness had come over the puppet.

He could hear his own mouth rambling on in anger, yet he didn’t know anything about the world he was speaking about as though it were the truth.

What’s happening to me? the puppet thought.

I was angry, but I don’t know anything about vacations or family or how humans behave all the time.

“You humans are two-faced and hypocritical! Nice on the outside, pretending to be decent, but internally cruel, selfish, unforgiving, and unkind to each other!”

The puppet rambled on and on.

Now the crowd, which had initially been amazed by the puppet, was beginning to get angry at the puppet maker. Some started abusing him with words, while others tried to catch the puppet.

Suddenly, the puppet stopped.

He wasn’t moving.

Uh… what’s happening to me? the puppet thought.

“Your time is over. Come, child,” said a very gentle and generous voice.

Then the puppet gave a little bye-bye wave.

And broke apart, limb from limb.

No longer moving.

No longer talking.

The crowd stood dazed in silence.

“Unbelievable,” thought the puppet maker, who had now come closer to inspect the broken pieces of his puppet.

People started moving away, cursing the puppet maker and his tricks.

“Lousy old man. Don’t play such stupid tricks on us!”

“Fool! You thought you could fool us with a talking puppet, huh?” said a man as he threw his soda bottle at the puppet maker.

The puppet maker just stood there, looking at his beloved puppet.

He knew nothing about how the puppet had come to life.

And he knew nothing about how it had died.

Tears fell from the puppet maker’s eyes.