"There is a world far from this one, and in certain rare occations, a lucky soul happens to find their way out of that world and into this one." The hatter began, pondering on how to tell his story.
"Like Alice, last year" Absolem said, recalling the little girl who had crossed to wonderland.
"Precisely!" the hatter exclaimed.
"but how does this pertain to your sadness?" Absolem wondered, puffing colorful smoke into the hatter's face.
"Well in that world, the one from which Alice came from, there lived a boy named Jack who was very creative and crafty. His father encouraged Jack's creativity and bought him some cloth, wood, and a number of other materials, hoping that Jack would learn to make clothes and someday make a living for himself as a tailor. But Jack was not interested in making clothing, and he was very lonely, so he made for himself a rabbit, a perfectly white stuffed rabbit. His father was enraged at Jack's use for his materials and reached for the rabbit, meaning to destroy it, but to everyone's amazement, the rabbit jumped to life, snatched the father's pocket watch and hopped away.
Later, Jack made a doll queen, with hearts on her dress, and a series of card soldiers for the queen to protect her castle. But the boy sewed the queen's smile on crooked so instead of looking happy, the queen seemed to smirk in an awful way. Once Jack had finished making the queen and her soldiers, they too came to life and ran away, like the rabbit. Creature after creature toy after toy disappeared as soon as it was finished. Eventually, the boy grew up and opened a toy store full of magnificent toys, but they no longer came to life. Children came and purchased his toys but his toys remained still. People remarked how beautiful and life-like the toys where but the toys where never alive.
Sad that his creations where no longer magical, Jack decided to make something that he was sure would never come to life, so he wouldn't be disappointed when it stayed lifeless like all the toys at his store. He closed down his toy store and opened a hat business.
Just like his toys, his hats where astonishing and people came from all over England and even other countries as well just to buy his hats. Years passed and he grew content with his business, or so he kept telling himself over and over, because Jack still longed to see his toys come to life like they had as a child. So behind his hat shop, he built another toy store. His toys where magnificent but still they did not come to life.
One day, a widow walked in the hat shop with her daughter, a little girl only a couple years old. The widow stood by the hat display picking out a hat and meanwhile, I showed the little girl a doll so the widow could pick out a hat in peace. She never did pick out a hat, but after that day she came often to the store.
We would talk on lazy afternoons when my shop wasn't too busy with customers. Years passed and I fell in love with the widow, whose name was Margaret. Yet some more years passed and eventually, I married Margaret. We were very happy just the three of us, and later, we had a daughter, Alice. Our lives where perfect, but as all perfect things, one day they must all end.