Manny Will Find the Way

But the most mysterious of them all was Manny—a slender puppet clad in a traveler’s cloak, clutching a signature paper lantern in one hand and an old map in the other. In the performances, Manny was the protagonist’s faithful companion: he would light the path and find the way out of the darkest caves. The puppeteer held Manny especially dear; sometimes, after a show, he would sit with him on the porch for a long time, as if seeking his counsel.

When the puppeteer was found dead, his chief assistant lay sprawled on the floor apart from the other puppets, his lantern extinguished. Yet after the funeral, when the children wanted to take some of the puppets home, Manny had vanished.

Now, the strangest rumors circulate about Manny. Travelers—especially those camping in the woods—tell of how, in the dead of night when not a single star is visible and the shieldbacks begin to growl in the thicket, tiny lights start flickering around the wanderer. And neither a shushpan, nor a shieldback, nor any other creature will ever step into that circle of light.