How Bonepecker became Woodpecker

From: Erik Sieurin <BV9521_at_utb.hb.se>
Date: Fri, 8 Dec 1995 22:18:58 +0100


Joerg:
>. In my Glorantha, 
> northern Winterwood would be like the middle Swedish forests at its worst, 
> i.e. incredibly open for Aldryami forests. 
Huh? What do you mean by "at its worst"? And "middle Sweden"? That's were I come from, and our birches have full-fledged elves, not runners, thank you. Yeah, I know its trivial, but...... The Vronkali of this region
> are grim and solitary types, and their birch runners and dryads aren't too 
> sociable either. They might even have mosquito-winged pixies with strange 
> notions of making fertilizer out of living intruders...
NEVER underestimate mosquitoes, or any of their relatives. NEVER.

Regarding dragons and mystics loosing their personality: Mighty ultra-cool idea. Just one trouble: How do I ACT like a person that is neither (for instance) greedy, generous, or in-between? The only thing I can think of is just staring at empty space and doing nothing, but INACTION is also a choice that is preempted by emotion of some kind, to me at least.

Then, I often see the theist (central Gloranthan theist) Divine Magic as becoming-your-god as well. Not too big a difference towards the Mystic attitude as described by.... erh, was it Andrew Behan?

Finally, a mythically incorrect fairy-tale. No footnotes or explanations are attached; feel free to make your own. I think some kinda Orlanthi tells it, but I'm not sure.

HOW THE BONEPECKER BECAME THE WOODPECKER - -Grandad, where did the woodpeckers come from? - -Woodpeckers? Honeypot, the Woodpecker once had another name. He was Bonepecker. Bonepecker was a servant of Bonesmith, of course, that Bonesmith got from his Cousin, The Golden Bird Lord, as his tooth-gift. His feathers were fire and his beak was hard copper. Bonepecker helped Bonesmith in his work by hammering at the god-bones that Bonesmith made wondrous things from, like Barntar's Scythe and Voria's Comb and Voriof's Horn. Yeah, and a lot of weapons for the gods with a bad temper or families to defend. - -But god-bones are metal, and woodpeckers cannot make a _dent_ in a kettle or a knife!
- -Hssh, you rascal! Don't destroy your sister's story! Honeypot, what your brother say is true, but you have to remember two things: This was not a woodpecker, but the Bonepecker. And the Bonepecker was the First of his Family, and much stronger than his grand-grand-grand-a-lot-children of today, just like our ancestor Tybor Heelhot was stronger and braver and wiser man than your no-good big brother.
- -Grandpa!
- -And your father and myself and my father too, for that matter. The Bonepecker helped Bonesmith peck on the bones when he worked, and chop stone for the fires....
- -But you cant burn stones!
- -You blasphemous boy, if you continue to interrupt your elders the rats will bite your tiddlewiddle at night! The dwarfs burn stones, and Bonesmith learned how to hammer bones from Dwarf-King, so he burned stones just like him! So, the Bonepecker helped Bonesmith, and the Bonesmith fed the Bonepecker golden seeds that Mama Earth payed him for his tools, and everyone was very happy.

One day a man that had never visited Bonesmith came by. He was huge as a thunderpine with eyes coloured like dark-green cabbage. His hair was tufts of pine-needles. His skin was gnarled as bark and he was skinny as a clothesline, but wiry as oak. His ears was like witchbulbs at a tree, with lot of twigs sticking out, and his nose was like an owl's nest. On his back he carried a bow longer than a log-house, with a bowstring made of a holy serpent who could have swallowed an ox, and the bow twisted and grew while Bonesmith was watching, as if it was alive. On his hip he carried an axe made of polished dark copper and a quiver with ten young living saplings, who held sharp flint-blades in their roots. His voice was somtimes like falling trees and sometimes like birdsong.

"I am the High King of the Forest, Lord of the Elves", the stranger
said. "I have heard of your stoneart and fireart, your death-magic of gods' bones, and I have come to parttake of it, whether you like it or not, Deathsmith Makerfriend"
This was a rude way of introducing yourself, of course, but elves are like that, and Bonesmith was a mild-mannered fellow, unlike his wild brother Oakfire.
"I am no friend of him you call Maker, Elf-Lord. In fact, I have been
his thrall and escaped from him with bare luck and the help of King Storm and his Jester. And my art is one of Life; I bring back the dead gods as Craftsgoods, as living tools and weapons. I help anyone who will act according to good custom and give a smith his due, and who isn't out to use my goods to harm my King. What can I do for you, Pinejarl?"
"My arrows cannot pierce the horrible skin of Iron Man, the Unmaking
Maker. It is harder than stone and crushes my flint arrows. And if I were to use my cleaving axe, I must step near his Axe of Deaderthandead-Iron, which I fear greatly." said the Elf-king.
"That will be no trouble at all, Firprince. I will hammer copper
arrows, or tin quarrels, or bronze bolts, as many as you wish, that will pierce even Iron Man's mail, for I think I know how it is made, even if Mostal is the only one who can really make such a mail" answered Bonesmith.
"No, Deathsmith, that is not my way. I want you to make an
arrow-seed, so that I can grow an arrow-tree, of bronze made living from the dead bones of the gods." said the Elf-king and shook his great fists of gnarled wood.
"That is a magic-work, that my whole family must help with. It is a
great work, which even I may not succeed with. What will you give me for this?" said Bonesmith thoughtfully.
"I will give you anything. I will give you my daughter, Peach, as a
concubine. I will give you my son, Plum, as a thrall." said the Elf-lord solemnly.
Bonesmith's eyes beamed and his cheeks glowed.
"In the land of the Storm King there are no thralls or slaves" he
said. "But if you give me your daughter as my bedded wife, I will make you an arrow-seed!"
"When can you give it to me?" the Elf-Lord wondered. "Tell me when,
and I'll bring you Peach, the fairest of Aldrya's Children."
"Come here by Godsday, and I'll be finished" said Bonesmith - or
really, he said it differently, for Great Grey Sage hadn't figured out days and such things yet, but it was as IF he had said that.

And he hammered hot bones, and he hammered red bones, and he sang the arrow-song, and he sang the growing-song of Mama Earth at the same time, and all his family and even far-off relatives helped him sing and work the bellows. And on Godsday, he made the Arrow seed. The Elf-Lord came, and he had brought Peach with him, and she was incredibly beautiful, in spite of having leaves for hair and skin grey as peach-bark. Elf-Lord took the seed, and he saw it was good for its purpose, and he left his daughter with Bonesmith, and departed to sow the seed.

And for a while Bonesmith was happy with his new wife - until he realised his wife was not.
"My darling Peach, what bothers thee?" he asked her.
"Oh, my leman, my leaves ache with the heat of your fire, and by bark
shrivels at the sound of your hammer, but the worst is that I have long felt the smell of hideous Iron Man Unmaker, and I am sure he is bound here to undo you, my love, as well as myself and the whole hall and house." answered the elven lady.
At that Bonesmith became afraid, for he though he knew he could do wondrous weapons, he knew none could do as wondrous weapons as Mostal Dwarf-king, who had made Iron Man's mail and Iron Man's shield, Iron Man's axehammer and Iron Man's crossbow. And while he was no warrior, Iron Man was a horribly skilled warrior. So Bonesmith went to King Storm and asked for his protection. But he found that the King was gone, for this was the time of the Sun-Quest, and there was not a single warrior in the king's hall who could leave for the smithy. So Bonesmith went home and grieved, and he hammered less as he listened for the steps of Iron Man - and one day they came, echoing across the yard - BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!

And outside stood Iron Man, and his eyes where black and glowing at the same time. He was thicker than a barn yet fast as a rolling wheel. His skin was iron plates thicker than a tree, and his limbs where like enormous hammers. He was wearing iron mail made from threads thicker than a man's leg, and on his side was an iron shield so big it could hide the sun, and on his head was a helmet like a kettle for giants. He carried a great axehammer in his one hand, which he struck against the earth while walking, and it made canyons of ash and flint splinters whenever it struck. He carried a great crossbow in his other hand, and now and then he would shoot a quarrel off, and it would hit stars who fell screaming from the sky.

And Bonesmith was as afraid as a god can be, but he went outside to meet Iron Man. And though his knees was as water, he walked steady, and though the glow in his eyes had become a gloom, he let his gaze meet Iron Man's. And he said to Iron Man with a steady voice:
"What do you want, that come armored to a carl's house, that
threatens a man which bears you no
grudge? Why do you scare my wife and destroy my lands?" And Iron Man answered, and his voice was like death-screams and clanging metal:
"I AM THE IRON MAN. I WAS MADE TO UNMAKE, WHILE MY BROTHERS WERE
MADE TO MAKE. I HAVE COME TO UNMAKE YOU. YOU SERVE THE ENEMY, FIRST ELF TREEWARRIOR. YOU HAVE MARRIED INTO HIS CLAN. YOU ARE AN ESCAPED THRALL OF MOSTAL'S, AND I HAVE COME TO KILL YOU AND YOUR WIFE." And he raised his axehammer. But Bonesmith shouted:
"Wait! Is there nothing I can give to recompense you? I can give you
a seed like the one I gave the High King."
"SEEDS GROW" Iron Man said. "WE ARE THE MAKERS"
"Then Elf Lord is a greater warrior than you, for he dares to use his
enemy. He took a Made seed despite being a Grower." Bonesmith pleaded.
And honeypot, if you want a warrior to do something, you ought to hint that if he doesn't, he isn't a great warrior; nothing stings more. So of course Iron Man said:
"WELL, IF YOU CAN MAKE ME A SEED THAT IS AT LEAST AS
GOOD FOR ME THAT THE ELVEN KING'S SEED WAS FOR HIM, YOUR WIFE WILL LIVE, BUT I MUST KILL YOU IN ANY CASE."
"But what if I give you a servant that can do better work than me?
Then it would be foolish to slay me instead." And honeypot, if you want ANY man, not just a warrior, to do something, hint that he is a fool if he doesn't. So of course Iron Man said:
"WELL, IF YOU CAN GIVE ME A THRALL THAT IS AT LEAST AS
GOOD A THRALL THAT YOU WERE, YOU WILL LIVEAS WELL. BUT BOTH THINGS MUST BE READY NEXT GODSDAY."
And with that he left, his footsteps again echoing - BOOM, BOOM, BOOM. And Bonesmith did not know what to do, so he went to Mama Earth for advice. And she whispered good advice in his ear, and she gave him a bucket of grubs and a clod of oldest earth, and he went home happier.
And for another week he worked and sang, and hammered and blew and heated, and when the week was over he was tired as never before, and Bonepecker's flame had all but went out, except on the top of his head. And during the whole week, Bonepecker ate grubs and bugs, not seeds and kernels.
 And Bonesmith sat down to wait for Iron Man. And soon he heard his footsteps - BOOM BOOM BOOM.

And Iron Man said:
"WELL? WHERE ARE YOU SEED MOST VALUABLE??"
And Bonesmith answered:
"Here is your seed; it is the seed of a Dwarf mad of Earth. A warrior is far more
worth than an arrow."
And Iron Man looked at the dwarf, who bowed politely, and couldn't but respect it as good work. But he said:
" WHERE ARE A SMITH MORE SKILLED THAN YOURSELF?"
And Bonesmith answered:
"Thrall I said, not smith. More useful, not more skilled. Here is my
servant, the Woodpecker."
And it was the first time anyone had called Bonepecker that.
"He is a warrior, not a smith. He will beat the wood of your elven
enemies and chip them to their marrow."
And since Iron Man was a warrior himself, he of course thought of a warrior as far more worth than a smith. So he said:
"WELL DONE. I WILL TAKE THESE AS PAYMENT"
And with that he left.

And Bonesmith went to his wife, but she was still grieving.
"I must leave" she said. "I can no longer be your wife"
"Why, my darling?" he cried.
"Because you have helped the enemies of my father, and of my mother
and family.You have made your Tooth-gift into a tree-killer, and my father and mother and family will all hate you."
"My love, do you really think I told Iron Man the truth? Woodpecker
will splinter wood and make holes in trees, that is true, but he will never kill a tree. Instead he will eat the grubs and bugs of Insect Mother, and save trees from them." Bonesmith explained. And with that Peach was satisfied.
- -What kind of explanation is that? Everyone knows that trees fall because woodpeckers make holes in them, and the wind break them. - -Honeypot, your rude brother, who will never give you any little nephews or nieces, misses three things. First, by the time the woodpeckers have forgotten about the right way to peck wood, just like men have forgotten about the secrets of our ancestors. Second, it is the Winds that break those trees, not the woodpeckers themselves. Third, it is sometimes better to hear a lie told to avoid kinstrife and hate, and believe in it, than question everything and tear things apart. And that is about as much of both stories and morals I think you can take tonight, honeypot, and if you don't step off my knees they will break. So to bed with you.

Erik Sieurin


End of Glorantha Digest V2 #264


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