Because Scruffrug is a myth, as with folktales, there are different versions of his origin. This one is from Caroling's point of view.
The story opens during the great depression in 1934, near the winter solstice. Scruffrug is an antique, prized for the rich patterns and enigmatic symbolism of design, which we only crudely represent as compass points. In fact they were six different mandalas of American Indian, Witch, Confucian, and other visions of the four directions, considered a key to Shaman lore.
So Scruffrug found himself in a German castle owned by a new member of the Third Reich. In fact it was with Herr Krump standing on him, raising arm in a Heil Hitler way, that pushed Scruffrug over the edge. He was moved partly because he was owned by Madame Krump whose secret was that her Grandmother was part Gypsy Jew. And from what Scruffrug was hearing Madame Krump would be in serious trouble if Herr Krump or any Nazi were to discover her secret.
Herr Krump was planning a concentration camp. Scruffrug heard a lot, being right in the entryway. Goodbyes and hellos at the door often are drawn out and important things that must be said are said there. So all the year of 1933 he had heard plans of where the camps would be, how Nazis would determine who was to go, and (worst of all) what would happen there. Scruffrug could not stand it. Of course at that time he could not stand at all. He could only lie as a rug, dormant doormat for the wealthy wicked wretched.
First of all he did it right under the stuck up nose of Herr Krump. Funny how much the arrogant conceited obsessed Nazi could miss. The rug finally could tolerate no longer. Herr Krump's boot was firmly planted on the two fringes, which tore out as Scruffrug wrenched himself from immobility and launched himself into flying. Out of here. Of course, since rugs don't fly, Scruffrug felt the will but the flying was by grace, it was, as Greg says, "falling up." Letting go, to fall, to fall up.
How he actually transformed is another story. But with a lift he flew far. It seemed like a long time before he unspent his pent up rage and the repressions that powered him. Then he drifted down near earth. He happened to be above Minnesota, winter, the solstice. In his need to go beyond the petty, he had become extremely sensitive to inner needs of himself and others. He picked up the feeling of a new Mother's need.
Evelyn had just born her Christmas Carol baby girl and was to spend a week in the hospital. She dreamed of going home. How lovely it would be to have a rug for the cold hardwood floors for baby Carol. She could almost see its glowing colors, fine wool fibers. She could see the baby fingers and toe tips touching the rug. Happy baby.
Since Evelyn didn't believe in dreams, she forgot about it. But babies are half made of dreams, so Caroling was aware of Mother Evelyn's dream. When she saw Scruffrug hovering outside the hospital nursery window she thought he was from Mother. From then on he was Caroling's imaginary playmate. He would appear in clouds, tree leaves, reflections of water, bouquets of flowers, animal fur, storybook illustrations, and other people's rugs.
This may be hard to understand, but for the first five years of Scruffrug's flights, no one but Caroling knew. And in her childish way, was not very aware. For all practical purposes that rug still served in the German Krump's front hall. Scruffrug's flights were faster than the speed of light, so no one noticed.
In 1939, just before the world war started, a real Gypsy touched Scruffrug. She came selling jewelry door to door. Or that was what she said. Actually she was escaping being sent off to a concentration camp for being suspected of being of Jewish descent. Oy vey, what is this person? For one thing, she's a descendant of Eiolanta (the witch connection in Scruffrug stories 1 and 2, from 1491). So she comes from Gypsy and Portuguese royalty too.
Her name is Tanya Muskegon, (pronounced muss key' gun). When she saw the Nazi soldiers coming, she grabbed rings from the family treasure box under the bed in the caravan. Business suited, with raven curls tucked well under a stolen tweed cap, and woolen scarf flapping in the wind, she strolled away, passing as a young boy carrying a leather school satchel. Inside, was all she salvaged from her family's past. Through secret planners of the underground, she knew Madame Krump might help her. So she headed for Herr Krump's castle.
As a shy boy, she mounts the stairs. Reaching for the knocker, she must stand on tippy toe to rap rap rap on the door. She shows the rings, just a peek, to the maid, and says "Madame Krump please." Everyone knows how Madame loves old jewelry, so the maid runs to fetch her.
That's how the contact was made. Tanya stood waiting on Scruffrug, nervously arranged the rings, saving the dearest ones way under the stolen books and bringing out the one set with a pearl. That was to be the sign to Madame Krump that meant "refugee." Oops, she dropped the precious ring on Scruffrug. A tiny fleck of tarnish brushed off and filtered down among his fibers, resting in his weave.
Tanya gasped and scooped up the ring to present it to the Madame. Silvalee Krump shrewdly guessed that the ring seller desperately needed help, but showed nothing. She sent Tanya to get the pearl authenticated, pressing a card with an address into her hand, along with a money tip and a guarded friendly warm look.
The address, of course, was to the shop of another member of the underground. So when Tanya entered and showed the card and pearl ring, she was whisked into a back room. Next morning she was carried away on her road to freedom under the milk man's cart. As she jostled along, actually having fun, she thought of the beautiful rug in Madame Krump's entry. So soft and such glowing colors, she would never forget.
Scruffrug would never forget because he didn't really think about it. Not much to remember. The physical connection of the few witch molecules spread by the ring changed the story of everyone's lives, and with magneto-gravitational phase guidance, brought Scruffrug on target to 1491.
Imaginary playmates were not allowed in Carol's house. So Carol was not really aware of her long friendship until she became a Mother for the second time and learned how to look within. Then she began to tell her daughter Elizabeth stories of Scruffrug and was amazed at all she knew.
Because it was the depression and now Father Iver the post office worker had two dependents, it was a long time before the parents could save enough money buy rugs. When they did, the rugs were plain green, utilitarian, and had no designs, no patterns, no possibility of fantasy. Except nothing. Which is of course the highest ultimate possibility. But they had no in-between steps. They were all or nothing. The fact that Mother's dream was very unconsciously of a rug just like Scruffrug, was another factor in Scruffrug's arising. And the fact that Mother denied and repressed the dream as being not only not important but nonexistent (as she did all such mind-wanderings) caused a kind of inverse pressure drawing on Scruffrug to manifest, to correct the imbalance. Many of our flows (as in go with the flow) come from these unseen currents between seemingly unrelated things. And so was born SuperScruff.
Caroling valued him all the more as a symbol of her Mother's denied inner self. Getting to know the Scruffrug story is getting to know the whole human, beyond repression. Encouraged by Scruffrug's loyal friendship, her mind relaxed and opened to information of all kinds. The more that Scruffrug knowledge was repressed and forbidden the greater became the pressure to seek everywhere, looking for answers.