Stick

Ah, the marvelous stick!  One moment, it is a rapier with which you will defeat your foe - the next, you gouge the earth in search of treasure.  Will you cast a magical spell?  Or toss it over a bridge rail in a rousing game of Poohsticks?  Only time will tell.

• Good:  The prunings from your neighbor's forsythia
• Better:  A stout cudgel from a hardwood forest
• Best:  A polished branch from a hornbeam tree