Star Teddy

The Story of Star Teddy & the Broken Box

When Star Teddy was born, he was placed in a beautiful box and told that if he was a good enough Teddy, he wouldn’t be thrown in an incinerator. He didn’t want to burn up, so for years, he sat on a shelf alone, collecting dust. He longed to know what it would feel like to be held, to be played with, to be cherished. But it seemed like the best way to avoid the incinerator was to keep to himself. 

One day, someone came and ripped open Star Teddy’s box. For the first time, Star Teddy was held, but because he’d never been played with before, he mistook the violent handling as loving touches. When his seams were ripped and stuffing pulled out, he was left in a puddle on the ground. 

For a long time, Star Teddy tried to put his own stuffing back and mend his own seams, but the stuffing was muddy and no matter how hard he sewed, the seams never looked the way they were supposed to. 

He found some tape and mended his box, but despite the hard work he’d done to fix himself and his box, he wasn’t the same Star Teddy as before. The people that put him in the box looked at him funny and he knew he wasn’t a good enough Teddy anymore. 

Star Teddy began to cry. For days and weeks and months he cried, terrified that someone would come at any moment to cast him into the incinerator. 

But one day, as he put more tape on the corners of his box, he noticed another Teddy approaching him. This Teddy’s fur was dull and matted, his face paint faded and his fuzzy paws mangled. 

“Why are you trying to tape up your box?” asked the Mangled Teddy.

“If they don’t see that I'm a good enough Teddy, I'll be incinerated!” he cried. 

“You won’t be incinerated, silly,” said the Mangled Teddy. “That's just what they tell us to keep us in a box on the shelf.”

The Mangled Teddy came closer and put a worn out paw on the corner of Star Teddy’s box, pushing just enough to rip it open again. 

“Why did you do that!? It tore even more,” he sniffled as he tried to pick up the torn flaps of his box. “My box is so ruined; they’ll never see me as a good Teddy.”

“What makes you think you aren’t already a good Star Teddy?” asked the Mangled Teddy. 

“My stuffing is all muddy, my seams are all broken, and my fur is drenched with tears,” Star Teddy replied. “Not to mention my box is in a ripped up heap on the ground.”

“Did you tear your seams and remove all your stuffing and destroy your box?” Mangled Teddy asked. 

“No. But I did wet my fur.”

“So you put back your stuffing and restitched these seams by yourself?” Mangled Teddy asked, shuffling closer and putting a paw on Star Teddy’s shoulder. 

Star Teddy flinched away from the paw as he nodded. With a sad sigh, Mangled Teddy stroked his paw across Star Teddy’s arm. 

“You seem like a very good Star Teddy to me,” he said, continuing to pet him gently. “The world has been cruel to you, but you’ve done what you can to keep yourself in one piece.”

“Really?” Star Teddy asked, not sure he believed what Mangled Teddy had to say. 

“It's easy to stay in one piece when you’ve never left your box and never been played with,” said Mangled Teddy. “It’s a lot harder to stay in one piece without a box.”

“But you’re in one piece,” said Star Teddy. “You might be a little raggedy, but you have all your paws and your stuffing.”

“I haven't always,” Mangled Teddy said, lifting up his paw to show a jagged seam on his side. “The first person I played with cut me open and filled me with rocks before throwing me away. Luckily, a little girl found me and replaced my stuffing and restitched my seams.”

“People can do that?” Star Teddy asked. “I thought they only ripped us open and took out our fluff.” 

“Some of them do that; it’s true,” said Mangled Teddy. “But not all of them do. In fact, a lot of people are happy to play with a Teddy without causing them harm.”

“Where do you find such people?” Star Teddy asked, his tears drying up and his fur following suit.

“My good friend, the little girl,” Mangled Teddy said. “Come on, I'll introduce you to her.”

So Star Teddy followed as Mangled Teddy led him down the street, through a garden, and up the stairs to the girl’s bedroom. When they reached the door, however, Star Teddy stopped and looked at his fur.

“My fur is so dirty,” he said with a sigh. “I don’t know if I’m fit to be seen.”

“It won’t matter, I promise. Just please come inside.”

“But what if she hates me?”

“Then we’ll just find someone else,” Mangled Teddy assured him. “But she'll see what you’re worth. Just like she did me. Don’t worry.”

So Star Teddy listened and opened the door. What greeted his eyes was shocking; the walls of the bedroom, as well as the floors, had lots of Teddies in states of repair. One had an eyepatch in the shape of a heart and another had arms made of completely different parts. At a little table in the corner, a little girl sat, transfixed as the sewing machine in front of her hummed and whirred. 

“My goodness! What happened to you?” came the voice of the girl. She got up from her seat, tilting her head as she looked at Star Teddy. She picked him up and gave him a twirl. “Your fur needs a good brushing and some new stuffing too. What caused this to happen? Who did this to you?”

As the little girl worked to repair his ripped seams, Star Teddy told her of his hopes and his dreams. When she heard what had happened, she nodded her head and said that she’d also once been left for dead. But someone had saved her and mended her wounds, so she was able to rescue others and mend up their wounds too. 

When Star Teddy’s stomach was fluffed full again, he squeezed the girl tightly.  

“What’s the name of my rescuer? And how can I pay?” he asked with bright eyes.

“I don’t need your payment, just be a good friend. My name is Love; I got it from my new parents. They told me it meant that I’d recover lost things. Like all the other Teddies; like you.”

“So Love is the name of girls who sees every Teddy as good,” Star Teddy said softly because he finally understood what Mangled Teddy had told him. 

No incinerators existed and the box was a sham. If he hadn’t left it, he’d still be alone. But despite the box ripping along with his seams, Star Teddy got to finally live out his dreams. 

He played with Love and his new Teddy friends, and nightly was held and fed and tucked in. His past did still haunt him, and sometimes he cried, but his new friends gathered around him to keep him safe and soft and warm. 

When Star Teddy felt strong enough to face his big fears, they all sought out the box and destroyed it for good, for it served no greater purpose than being left on a shelf, where Star Teddy was fearful and all by himself. 

But with his new family, he sang a new song, because for the first time in his life, Star Teddy belonged.