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Traditional Trabian Tales A Written Collection of Oral Literature

#1 {lang:macro__useroffline}   Zziggywolf5 {lang:icon}

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Posted 28 January 2009 - 12:44 AM

Sergiusz and the Mermaid
Many years ago, there was a young boy named Sergiusz who lived with his mother. Near their home was a large lake. Sergiusz's mother warned him t0 never go near the lake, and Sergiusz obeyed. But one day, it was very hot. Sergiusz wanted to find some way to cool off. He remembered that his mother had warned him to avoid the lake, but he had never seen anything wrong with it before, and his mother wasn't home to bother him anyway. Sergiusz decided to go for a swim. He carefully entered the lake and found nothing amiss. After swimming for a while, Sergiusz felt that he should go dry before his mother returned. When he started toward the shore, he felt something pulling him. In a panic, he began to tug to get away. The pulling stopped. A mermaid appeared next to him, grabbed his shoulders, and pulled him under with great force.

The mermaid drug the boy farther and farther into the lake until they were nearly to the floor. Then she swam into a cave with him in tow. She tossed him onto a damp ledge above the water level. The mermaid spoke, "This is my enchanted home. You will keep it in order for me and do whatever else I demand of you." What could Sergiusz do? He couldn't swim that far to safety, and he certainly didn't want to know what would happen if he refused. So he did as he was told. The mermaid laughed coldly and swam back to the lake.

Sergiusz's mother returned home, but she realized her son was nowhere to be found! She searched the house, the woods, and the field, but she could not find him. O, how she wept for him because she knew he must have gone into the lake. Every day she went to the lake and wept. Sergiusz also wept every day. This lasted for a year before one day a large fish heard the boy's crying. It swam into the cave and asked, "What is wrong?" "I am the servant of the mermaid! I was taken from my home, and I have worked here for I don't know how long. I can't escape, and I will surely die here." The fish replied, "I can help you escape. If you climb on my back, I can swim most of the way, but I cannot reach the surface without resting." "Thank you, thank you!" Sergiusz cried as he jumped onto the fish's back.

The fish began to swim as quickly as it could. On her way to back to the cave, the mermaid saw the fish carrying the boy. She began to pursue them. Sergiusz turned, saw her, and began to tap the fish in hopes of making him speed up. The fish stopped and shouted, "This is as far as I can go!" The surface was still a good distance away. Sergiusz jumped off the fish and frantically began swimming up. The mermaid knocked the fish out of the way and followed. Upon reaching the surface, he quickly clamored to the shore. The mermaid tried to stop, but her speed prevented her. She burst out of the water and landed on the shore.

Sergiusz's mother heard the noise and came out of the house to find her son and his capture on the edge of the lake. The mermaid cried, "Help me! Push me back into water!" Sergiusz and his mother pulled the mermaid farther from the water's edge. The two of them went into the house while the mermaid shouted at them. The shouting stopped when the mermaid shriveled and turned to powder.




The Thin Man and the Underdweller

Once upon a time near a town not very far from here, there lived an Underdweller. It wandered every night to find for food. It would cover its pale face with its dark hair to hide better in the dark. Upon finding prey, man or animal, the Underdweller would quickly dig its claws into the poor creature and drug it back to its tunnel to devour. It was not unusual for the townspeople to be awaken by the screams, but there was no way to save the victim. While they generally hid during the night, the humans worried that the beast might come into the town to find prey. The only way they could guarantee safety for a night was to guarantee the creature would find something to eat before it mover far from the tunnel. So they began to tie a single cow or bull near the entrance of the Underdweller's cave. Every night, the animals cries could be heard, and every day the people tied another animal near the pool the previous one had left.

This lasted for over a month until the last of the cattle was devoured. The townspeople quickly began using sheep, but they soon ran out of these as well. The people decided to use their last large animals, their horses. They did this for three days until an outsider came into town. The outsider was a thin, almost spindly man with light brown hair. He noted the sorrow on the people's faces and asked the innkeeper what was wrong. The innkeeper replied, "A terrible beast eats a live animal every night. We've offered all of our cattle, we've offered all of our sheep, and we're offering our horses. But the Underdweller continues to gorge itself!" The outsider assured the man, "Tomorrow, I shall go and kill this creature for your sake."

There was a commotion outside. The traveller went outside to find three men trying to take his horse. "Leave him here!" The outsider shouted. "We need an offering, and we're tired of using our things. We will use yours!" was the reply. "But I shall kill the Underdweller tomorrow! Surely you can spare one more horse instead of mine." The innkeeper exited his business and affirmed the traveller's vow. The three men sneered at each other and left without the horse. As they left, the one man spoke, "That outsider will promise anything to protect his possessions." Another predicted that the traveller would probably be leaving in the middle of the night to escape his vow in the morning.

Despite this prediction, the thin man remained. He awoke early in the morning and greeted everyone he met warmly. The people's leader asked him what he might need for his task. He asked for the best weapon the town could obtain and the leader obliged. She brought him a sword with an edge so sharp it could split a hair end to end. With it, the thin man set for the tunnel.

He reached the tunnel around midday. In the entrance was a huge pile of gnawed bones. Just a little farther was the Underdweller itself. The traveller carefully sidestepped the bones and silently walked to the beast. He lifted the sword above his head and swung it as hard as he could into the Underdweller's neck. But the neck was not severed, it was not even cut! The creature stirred and glanced toward the thin man. It rose slowly and growled, "What do you want? I have already eaten, if that is what you wanted." The thin man replied quickly, "I am a great sorcerer, and I wanted to show you some of my magic." The Underdweller looked interested. "What sort of sorcery could render to unafraid of me?" "Simple. I can heal any broken bone!"

The beast demanded the thin man show him this ability. "Follow me," the supposed sorcerer said as he walked out of the tunnel. On the way out, he grabbed a large bone from the pile and hid it as best he could. The Underdweller complied despite the discomfort of the light. He strained his eyes, but he could only barely see. The thin man led the creature to a pool of water. He said, "I will go into the water, break my leg, and heal it." "Hurry. I am not used to the sunlight."

The traveller entered the water and, with one quick motion with the sword, shattered the bone he had grabbed. The Underdweller quickly recognized the sound of breaking bones. "Now, I will step out of the water and my leg will be healed," the traveller declared. As he walked out, the creature grinned, "This power would be valuable, even to me. Show me how you do it!" The thin man instructed the Underdweller to enter the pool of water. "Which leg to you wish for me to break?" he asked. "Legs? If you can mend any bone, show me how to mend my skull." "As you wish." The supposed sorcerer swung the sword as hard as he could. The Underdweller consented, and so his head cracked easily. "Oh dear," the thin man remarked. "I seem to have forgotten the specifics of mending skulls!"

Not that this remark mattered, for the beast was already dead. The traveller went back to town and led the townspeople to the body to prove his feat. They thanked him greatly, but he refused all their gifts except for several days of food for himself and his horse and a free night at the inn. The next day, the thin man left.


QUOTE (JGJTan @ Jul 17 2008, 04:48 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I endorse stalking. :thumb:
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