In the beginning I built the Devil. At first just a carven head with a Van Dyke beard, but then a strange notion occurred. I added horns.

The little head was hung up upon the wall. It remained there for many months. Often I would catch it looking at me, and then one day I thought I heard him say, "Whence comes my body?"
So in a fevered frenzy full of laughter I proportioned a body from my own out of sticks, leather and glue. When my girlfriend arrived home she was impressed. From the shelves I pulled a book and pawed through the prints until I found my man. There in full colour was a painting full of Satan's. It was El Greco's 'Burial of Count Orgaz'. So she tailored for Satan the suit of one of the most evil men of history, a Jesuit priest of the inquisition. To this was added a pair of wicked looking, pointy-toed snakeskin cowboy boots.

We hooked up his strings. He looked mean. He looked evil. He looked positively evil, but from the very first he said different. "No, I'm not evil. For thousands of years I've put up with persecution and now that I've manifested myself I've got something to say! I'm not really the bad guy."

Satan hung around for a long time for it took a while to learn how to articulate him to make him walk and talk. Once I'd mastered it he thought it was time to have some friends. "After all," he said, "I'm only two foot high and I need some company my own size." And thus, The Metal Man began.

He had an old light fitting for a head, busted, out of tune harmonica reeds for a visor, one hand a bell, the other an old opium pipe. Finger cymbals for tits, drug scales for hips and an oil can for a dick. Two and a half years and over a hundred moving metal parts later he was born. He burst into action all bells ringing and metal shaking. "I was on my way to see the wizard," he said, "when I ran into this Satan guy." The Metal Man was one well-hung, highly-strung precision instrument but Satan wasn't satisfied.

"That Metal Man's a crack-pot! I want a woman, a can-can dancer. Build me a woman." I argued with him that it was just too much work. Puppets take such a long time to build and tune but day-by-day his demands grew greater. He didn't care that besides painting his theatre my painting had ceased. My bronzes lay uncast, new records uncut. My life was in disarray but I gave in to his whims. I built the theatre, I built his throne and I carved the can-can dancer.

Ginger Dreadlocks was carved from an old bed head that I'd found on the side of the road. Every inch of her was lovingly shaped and curved. My girlfriend made her a corset, lace petticoats, fishnet stockings and boots. Ginger was one dressed up, sexy puppet but she couldn't seem to dance. "Don't worry about that," said the devil. 'For her soul

I'll teach her how to dance. For her soul I'll make her a star".

Satan's demands where getting out of hand. He wanted motorbikes, Fallen Angels, chickens, bats and hellcats. A horse that ran away from the merry-go-round, guitar players and soothsayers. Plus, to lug it all round, he wanted me to get a horse and cart. He was definitely insane.

"We must spread the word. You must take me out in the street and spread the word of the devil." Satan preaching the word, it sounded very similar to Jesus and his trip, so I asked him, "Satan, do you want to be as big as Jesus?" "Not as big as Jesus. Bigger is the word. I'm gonna be bigger than Elvis. Even bigger than Mickey Mouse!" "And instead of Mouseketeer ears, the kiddies get horned hats," I replied.
"What a great idea." Said the Devil.
So we went out into the world and started to spread the word and then one day while busking on a street corner a stranger asked me, "Who's pulling the strings? Are you pulling the Devil's or is he pulling yours?" Sometimes I wonder about it, just who does pull the strings? And sometimes I wonder about my soul.

Editors Note: This little piece of magical realism was first published in the early 90's in Eddie Magazine. Very soon afterwards Jimmy was travelling the North Coast of NSW in a horse drawn gypsy cart, giving the persistent and demanding Satan the opportunity to 'spread the word'. Needless to say, the puppet family has continued to expand.