Although as adults we have never lived near each other, my brother and I have been close since we were babies. Now we are retired and still the best of friends.

In this picture, we are maybe five and three. We are at the local park in our town in Germany. At the time we had no idea that we would be living in Canada soon, and spend the rest of our lives being happy and grateful Canadian citizens.

But see the little puppets we are holding? These were our Kasper puppets. We played with them a lot, making up scenarios and imaginary plots.

I think they helped keep us out of trouble and kept our imaginations active, if not wild.

Did you know that the Kasper puppet character was first made popular in the 17th century? Kasper was like a German-speaking Punch who did some punching, but mostly he used a slapstick to punch the devil, or witch, or the crocodile, who were often the evil characters in his plays, where he promoted good behaviour. Punching the bad guy was acceptable in those days.

Here is the typical Kasper. I found this photo on the Wikipedia site, but couldn’t see whom to credit with the photo. My apologies to the photographer.

Looking more closely at our own Kasper puppets, I don’t think they look as scary as this traditional one.

We spent many a happy time playing with our Kasper puppets and I have fond memories of those childhood days.

Did you ever have a puppet or make up puppet plays?

IMPORTANT NOTE!!!

For the month of July, my novels will be half price on www.smashwords.com You can also go to my webpage www.anneli-purchase.com and find out all about the novels before clicking on the link to smashwords  (or amazon) on that webpage.

Smashwords is good for all e-readers as well as paperback.

If you prefer to buy from amazon, the novels will be available for Kindle there, and in paperback, of course.

*The Wind Weeps remains free, but be sure to get the sequel, Reckoning Tide. All novels other than the FREE one are priced at a bargain $1.50.