A Very Short Story

The river Crune was a major trade route for the kingdom of Slairne, its winding path and tributaries connecting many small towns and allowing the northern and southern provinces of the country to trade with each other across the treacherous Dragon Spine mountain range that split the country in two. The bustling town of Fraining was on a thickly forested island in the middle of the Crune's wide delta on the southern coast of Slairne, a port of call for ships from the countries around the wide, eel-filled Sea of Coils that spread across the southern flank of Slairne.

In this little fishing town there was one small theatre run by the locals, a gaudy, rambling building that was home to numerous solo bards and performers, including one theatre troupe of great renown, the Green Ring. The group was made up of a dozen Elven bards who wrote and performed plays together, and was the sole claim to fame for the busy little town. Each of the bards in the Green Ring had written numerous plays, songs, and sagas that were well received by the public and the group had toured the continent many times over. Thanks to this talented group of performers the little town of Fraining was prosperous and crowded far beyond what a little port on a river should have been.

By far the most famous member of the troupe was Eleram Sanseren, the writer and star performer of many popular plays. Using some minor magical spells, Eleram was skilled at looking like characters of other races, including Gnome and Halflings, even a Centaur on one occasion. In his most famous comedic role for the play The Stolen Victory, he used a spell that shrank him to a height of three feet so he could portray a doughty, little Halfling thief who stole an army's weapons to end a war. His portrayal was so realistic that many Halflings refused to believe the role was portrayed by an elf, and some devotees became convinced he really was Hemplestitch the Tailor, the sly but shy and unassuming hero of the tale.

As Hemplestitch the Tailor, Eleram would shrink himself to fit into the proper costume and then magically grow fur on his feet to complete the look. The play ran for several centuries, and Eleram was known far and wide for the role. Over time the actor, engrossed in Halfling culture, spent more and more of his off time "in character", living the life of a Halfling tailor, producing a line of clothes for fashionable youths, and even purchased a house built into the side of a hill like those used in many Halfling shires. Most notably, Eleram completely gave up wearing shoes of any kind, letting his once delicate, white feet grow calloused and hard. The only time he wore any kind of shoes or boots was when he did a role on stage that required it. His fine Elven boots gathered dust in his closet, much to the horror of his family and friends.

Eventually the actor's behaviour, considered positively scandalous among elves, came to the attention of a culler for the Slairnean broadsheet Tandy's Tattle, a weekly compendium of gossip, news, and reviews read by the aristocrats of Stranthing, the capital city of Slairne. Grotius Goringbeck was a notorious gnomish gossipmonger renowned for his acidic wit who was avidly followed by the posh set in Stranthing, who waited each week to dissect the interviews with actors and critiques of plays that he wrote. Himself an avid theatre-goer and fan of Eleram, Grotius had to ask the actor, "Eleram, tell my readers, why do you not wear shoes?" The actor, not expecting this question, just shrugged, "I don't know. I guess it’s just force of Hobbit…"