The Packer's Song

[bnewman]

Bags of Holding, and other containers that are bigger on the inside, are a staple of fantasy role-playing games... but where do they come from? This song imagines one possible origin, in the form of a secret guild with the talent of folding space with just a certain turn of the wrist — inspired in part by William Sleator's The Boy Who Reversed Himself. I'd love to expand this concept into an actual RPG supplement so you can put a Packer character (or Packer guild hall setting) into your game.

lyrics and music by Benjamin Newman

listen to this song

 

/ Am C G Am / - G Am - / F G Am - / G - E - /

 

/ " / - G E - / Am C G E / - - Am - /

 

My siblings and I have a certain knack

That nobody knows but us

I can fit ten pecks in a five-peck sack

If I stack them precisely, thus

 

It just takes a certain turn of the wrist

Our Mother showed us how

To give any item a sideways twist

That nature will not allow

 

It's Mother who taught us the secret way

She called it the Packer's Art

It's handy when hiding a thing away

Or loading goods on the cart

 

And to hide or to load is a useful skill

When you work in the smuggler's trade

But oh, how smugglers would pay, or kill 

For what Packers of old have made

 

See, there was a tale that our Mother told

Of our people long ago

Who not only knew how to twist and fold

But then how to join and sew

 

To fashion from glass or from wood or cloth

In the way of our ancient kin

A bottle or barrel or bag or box

With more room than should be within

 

Real Bags of Holding are rare these days

Coveted throughout the land

And each of those Bags thieves and smugglers praise

Was made by a Packer's hand

 

Oh, how I wish I could sew like that —

A king's ransom would be the cost!

I sew well enough, maybe, to mend a hat

But the true Art has long been lost

 

But Mother said I should a prentice find

To teach such of the Art as I know

And you have a flexible wrist and mind

But — mind you! — you take it slow!

 

You can fit ten pecks in a five-peck sack

But never you try fifteen

Or you'll not get a one of those items back

From the place where they fell Between

 

There's only a few of us Packers left

Too many have gone to dust

So we seek out companions whose hands are deft

Whose character we can trust

 

The skill and the story are yours to guard

It seems that you have the knack

With practice, you'll find that it's not so hard:

Ten pecks in a five-peck sack!