Welcome to Type Towne, a small, but prosperous town on the banks of the river Myriad. Surrounded by rich farmland, the townsletters raise animals, grow vegetables, and catch fish to sell in their weekly market. Market day is on the morrow and everyone is resting in preparation for the busy day ahead, except one mischievous character: the Imp of Type Towne!

Imps delight in causing shenanigans everywhere they go. This particular Imp decided to pester the letters of 

Type Towne, but the letters chase him out, led by the Kerning Fairy who waves her magic wand, warning him 

to stay away.

She has the power the change a letter’s spacing with a flick of her wand and a simple spell. She uses it to make life easier for those around her, but the Imp has very different plans for it!

He sneaks back into town that night and makes his way through, past the farmer’s fields that he was chased through earlier. Finally, he finds the Fairy’s cottage with the shutters left open for air. He climbs through a window slowly and searches for the wand. He spies it on a table not far from the window and gingerly picks it up before climbing back out.

He rushes away from the cottage, thinking all the way of his revenge on the sleeping townsletters and their beloved Fairy for chasing him off. He goes from the farmhouses on the outskirts to the houses in the centre of town, casting spells at random. Some spells opened up the spacing, some tightened it up. Every letter is thrown apart or squeezed together as he wills. Once he finishes, he hides in the alley behind the inn to wait until morning. The sun rises on market day and as all the letters rise early to prepare, chaos hits every house. Whole families were so squeezed together that they could hardly leave their houses. Musicians could not reach their instruments, and farmers could not get to their animals to feed them.

One letter shouts shrilly, “Only one letter could have done this to us: the Kerning Fairy!” “Of course! Who else?” another shouts. “To the Fairy’s cottage!” All the letters hobble to the cottage, joined along the way by the farmers. They pound on her door and cry,“Why did you do this to us?” “Change us back! How will we hold our market? How will we live?” Their noise and shouts wake the sleeping Fairy, who is up in a trice, to her front window. “My goodness! I did not do this, but I will find out who did. First, let me undo their handiwork!” She reaches for her wand on the table, only to find it gone. “My wand is gone!” she cried.

The crowd moans and some even wail and weep. “We will be like this forever!” “Pray, calm yourselves, everyone! You must go to Hook Hamlet. Another fairy lives there, she can change you back while I find the wand and whoever has it. Follow me!” the Fairy called. They moan again, because Hook Hamlet was several miles away, through the town and across the river Myriad.

While the letters made their way back from the outskirts, some travelers named Apex and Axis were arriving early for the market. They realized that the town was deserted when they saw the crowd coming from a long way off.

The crowd meets them in the square. Apex and Axis are horrified now that they are close to the letters to see their condition. “Your spacing! Who has done this wicked thing to you?” they asked. The Fairy replied, “We do not know! Only my magic wand could do this, but it is lost!” She turned to the crowd. “Someone has been fooling about with it, but if they come forward now, I will be merciful!”

No one moves or speaks until Mrs. Caslon spoke up. She is very tired from all the walking and feels rather irritable. “My question is how could you be so careless, Fairy? We’ve no idea where the wand is now! And you assume that you lost it! It could have been stolen deliberately, from the start, by anyone!”

The crowd starts to grumble and letters turn to look at each other. Letter after letter piped up.“Museo the merchant’s spacing looks fine to me. Maybe it was him!” “I think it was little Didot! He was raised to be far too modern!” “How now! I come from an honest serif family!”  “Baskerville probably did it to ruin market day!  I know for a fact he has no wares to sell today!” “It could even have been the Fairy herself!”

Meanwhile, in the alley behind the inn, the imp listens to the bickering. This was more than I ever hoped for! Even the Fairy hasn’t escaped their ire! He forgets himself so much that he cackles louder than ever.

He is so loud that Apex, Axis and the Fairy could hear him over the angry crowd. “Hush, everyone!” they cry. They move towards the sound of the laughter until they are behind the inn. The three letters see the laughing imp holding the wand and they surround him. He looks up to see the angry letters just before they pounce. He jumps up, pushes Apex down and takes off down the alley, around the inn and back towards the square. The Imp forgot about the crowd of letters in the square, though!  As soon as they see him, they cry, “The Imp! He has the wand, grab it!” 

Everyone dashes towards him, but their odd spacing trips them up and they fall in a heap. The Fairy, Apex and Axis are hotfoot behind him, coming out form behind the inn. The letters call after them,“Catch him, quick!” “Get that wand!” The Imp leads the trio a merry dance through the town. This was a great joke to him, one last lark to kick up before he escapes. The Fairy is starting to get winded, but Apex and Axis are travelers and made of sterner stuff. No one can run forever, though, and the Imp seems to have boundless energy. 

Then Apex realizes, to his surprise, that he still carried his pack, and he decided to put it to good use. He threw it right at the Imp’s head as he was turning a somersault and knocked him out cold! Axis ran and hauled up the Imp’s limp form. He said, “To think you didn’t want me to bring the apples for luncheon! Came in right useful!” The Fairy snatches up her wand and runs back towards the square to set everyone right. “Now everyone, stand in a row! She waved her wand and all their spacing was perfect again!

Several bashful letters murmur apologies to those they had slandered, including the Fairy. “All is forgiven! We must celebrate! Bring food and drink!” she cries.

Axis asks a nearby letter what to do with the insensate Imp. “Put him in the stocks, it’s what he deserves! I’ll show you where to put him.” he replied. So they put him in the stocks at the end of the square and joined the revelers.

Everyone nearly forgot about him until he woke up and called out, “Let me out!” “Maybe this time, I went too far.” He shouts louder, “I’m sorry! Oh please, set me free!” The fairy finally heard his cry and calls for silence.

The imp said, “Please, good letters, let me out! I see that I was wrong! Have mercy!” “No! Leave him ‘til dawn, the dirty thief!” the letters yell back. The Fairy, though, is tenderhearted. “Wait!” the Fairy shouts. “Do you promise never to steal again?” “Oh yes! What good has it done me? Everyone hates me.” the Imp replies. “Maybe they will not when you are an honest letter. I will free you, but if you ever pull another prank, your spacing will be as bad as theirs was forever!” “Thank you!” the Imp says.

Many letters disagreed with this, but the Imp proved them wrong in the end. He worked with the Fairy on her spells and potions and was too happy and busy to play pranks. The mischievous Imp became the Honest Imp of Type Towne!