A Hat Full Of Sky - Terry Pratchett [105]
The words ran through Tiffany’s mind as she watched the sheep, and she found herself filling up with joy—at the new lambs, at life, at everything. Joy is to fun what the deep sea is to a puddle. It’s a feeling inside that can hardly be contained.
“I’ve come back!” she announced to the hills. “Better than I went!”
She snatched off the hat with stars on it. It wasn’t a bad hat, for show, although the stars made it look like a toy. But it was never her hat. It couldn’t be. The only hat worth wearing was the one you made for yourself, not one you bought, not one you were given. Your own hat, for your own head. Your own future, not someone else’s.
She hurled the starry hat up as high as she could. The wind there caught it neatly. It tumbled for a moment and then was lifted by a gust and, swooping and spinning, sailed away across the downs and vanished forever.
Then Tiffany made a hat out of the sky and sat on the old potbellied stove, listening to the wind around the horizons while the sun went down.
As the shadows lengthened, many small shapes crept out of the nearby mound and joined her in the sacred place, to watch.
The sun set, which is everyday magic, and warm night came.
The hat filled up with stars….
AUTHOR’S NOTE
The Doctrine of Signatures mentioned on page 67 really exists in this world, although now it’s better known by historians than doctors. For hundreds of years, perhaps thousands, people believed that God, who of course had made everything, had “signed” each thing in a way that showed humanity what it could be used for. For example, goldenrod is yellow and so “must” be good for jaundice, which turns the skin yellow. (A certain amount of guesswork was involved, but sometimes patients survived.)
By an amazing coincidence, the Horse carved on the Chalk is remarkably similar to the Uffington White Horse, which in this world is carved on the downlands near the village of Uffington in southwest Oxfordshire. It’s 374 feet long, several thousand years old, and carved on the hill in such a way that you can only see all of it in one go from the air. This suggests that a) it was carved for the gods to see or b) flying was invented a lot earlier that we thought or c) people used to be much, much taller.
Oh, and this world had Witch Trials, too. They were not fun.
About the Author
TERRY PRATCHETT’s novels have sold more than thirty-five million copies and have inspired a devoted worldwide following. In addition to his best-selling books about Discworld, Mr. Pratchett has also written several books for young readers, including the Bromeliad trilogy: TRUCKERS, DIGGERS, and WINGS and the Johnny Maxwell trilogy: ONLY YOU CAN SAVE MANKIND, JOHNNY AND THE DEAD, and JOHNNY AND THE BOMB. Mr. Pratchett was awarded Britain’s highest honor for a children’s novel, the Carnegie Medal, for his first young adult novel set in Discworld, THE AMAZING MAURICE AND HIS EDUCATED RODENTS.
Visit him online at
www.terrypratchettbooks.com
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Also by TERRY PRATCHETT
The Carpet People
The Dark Side of the Sun
Strata
THE BROMELIAD TRILOGY:
Truckers • Diggers • Wings
THE JOHNNY MAXWELL TRILOGY:
Only You Can Save Mankind
Johnny and the Dead
Johnny and the Bomb
The Unadulterated Cat (with Gray Jolliffe)
Good Omens (with Neil Gaiman)
THE DISCWORLD SERIES
The Color of Magic
The Light Fantastic
Equal Rites
Mort
Sourcery
Wyrd Sisters
Pyramids
Guards! Guards!
Eric
Moving Pictures
Reaper Man
Witches Abroad
Small Gods
Lords and Ladies
Men at Arms
Soul Music
Feet of Clay
Interesting Times
Maskerade
Hogfather
Jingo
The Last Continent
Carpe Jugulum
The Fifth Elephant
The Truth
Thief of Time
The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents
Night Watch
The Wee Free Men
Monstrous Regiment
Going Postal
Mort: A Discworld Big Comic
(with Graham Higgins)
The Streets of Ankh-Morpork
(with Stephen