THE PRODIGAL
This next bit is quite short, but what you're about to read may surprise you. You really see Puck in a completely new light here. Read on, and find out for yourselves what happens.
Characters (with exceptions) © C.S. Lewis and Disney/Walden Media
Story © unicorn-skydancer08
All rights reserved.
Part 3
So it was that Puck left his home, the only home he had ever known, leaving behind everyone and everything that was dear and familiar. The young faun could barely contain his excitement. Now that he was on his own, with no one else to stand in his way, there was so much he could do with himself, and his small fortune. The possibilities were endless!
Puck decided that this money ought to be put to good use. It would be a wise idea to save it, to invest it and improve on his inheritance—but no, he decided to save that for later.
Here and now, he was going to celebrate.
No one said he had to invest his money right away, and besides, there was no law that explicitly stated he had to invest all of it. There was no harm in having a little fun, was there?
So, when Puck reached the nearest town, he went straight to the town's most prominent inn.
There, he treated himself on the spot to a sumptuous feast, which included all of his favorite things to eat: boiled lobster, steamed fish garnished with onions and parsley, crab-stuffed chicken, baked eggs with paprika, and thick, chewy bread that was lightly buttered on both sides, along with cool melon, grapes, and other various fruits to wash everything down. The food was nothing less of perfect, and the wine that accompanied the dinner was sweet and fragrant. Several strangers joined Puck in the meal, one by one. They all took a great liking to him—especially when they sensed just how much money the faun possessed, and when Puck treated them all to a solid round of the inn's best wine and beer.
Now this, Puck thought happily to himself, as he ate and drank to his heart's content, was the way to live!
And Tumnus had made all this possible. Puck felt extremely lucky to have such a generous father.
His new friends thought so, too, when he told them about it. "Smart father," one of them hiccupped, having guzzled one too many glasses of beer. "Wish me own father would do the same for me—but, no, he always says money and me don't mix. Lending to me, he says, is like dumping money down a bottomless well. It goes nowhere, and it never comes back."
He slapped Puck good-naturedly on the shoulder, and raved drunkenly, "That's a good lad, that's a good lad!"
The lot spent all the rest of that night gorging themselves with their food, and drowning themselves in their drink.
It wasn't long at all before Puck was every bit as intoxicated as the rest of his friends, if not more so. The faun felt giddy and lightheaded at first, then he began slouching down further and further in his seat. His tongue loosened, and he joined along in the boisterous laughter and took part in distasteful jokes and stories that he never would have dared utter in front of his father. Then it got to the point where the boy could barely string three words together, and when he staggered to his hooves, he moved about with a dramatic, unnatural sway.
Tumnus would have been truly appalled to see his son like this. He would never have even known him.