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The quiet and remote town of Shlyapville is incredibly famous for one single thing – hats!
These are continuously exported to the whole kingdom and several neighboring countries, being the sole article of profit. Casual, pompous, extravagant, cumbersome, impressive, strict, miniature, cute and adorable – any kind of hat you’ve ever seen, and even more you haven’t are lovingly produced in the town’s workshops, so if you ever find yourself in need of one – it’s the place to go!
Like any other town, Shlyapville has its legends. It was once home to a Hatter whose name is long forgotten, and who could craft hats both as exquisite as an emperor’s crown, and as weightless as a feather. He was already rich and influential, but still sought some kind of twisted perfection in his craft, the Ultimate Hat.
Finally, the man became so obsessed with his work (or, perhaps, mercury had done its job), that he addressed all his rivals claiming to have made twelve most lightweight and well balanced hats of all. And to prove this, he had his apprentice put on all twelve of the master’s hats on top of each other and cross the widest street by means of a tightrope.
No one knows what came of the apprentice (although there still exists a peculiar-shaped dent in one of the streets), but since then, every spring the Annual Shlyapville Hatwalker Festival is held.
During its course any volunteer may adorn his head with several hats kindly provided by local shopkeepers and attempt to walk the tightrope stretched between the rooftops. Few dare to try this, since the only safety measure is a huge pile of discarded hats at street level, but those who successfully finish get to keep the hats.
The shopkeepers usually do not mind, ’cause it makes them good advertisement – after all, it’s their hats people manage such a feat with. The luckiest get a permanent job by signing a contract and representing the same hatter every year, while the latter puts a little rope over his shop every time his hatwalker wins.
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