"'Hello,' Said the Stick" is a science fiction short story by American writer Michael Swanwick, published in 2002.
[1] Set in a distant future where the Earth's ex-colonies have turned the planet into a steampunkish, pseudo-medieval wasteland in order to stop their technological advancement, particularly in weapons, the story follows a foot soldier who is going to join the Iron Duke's army to help him in his siege at Port Morningstar, a town held by the despotic Council of Seven.
Along the way he finds a talking stick which convinces him to take it with him.
In a 2017 interview, Swanwick said: "I came up with the idea for "'Hello,' Said the Stick" while listening to a friend's reading on a Friday night, started writing it the next morning after breakfast, and got it into the mail at 2:30 that afternoon.
If every story came that easily, I'd be a very happy man.