How Llankor Mhy Became Curious
Trickster used to pay frequent visits to Llankor Mhy's library, and sometimes he met the bearded one while he was there. One time when he was in the library Trickster's hand got caught in a book when Llankor Mhy slammed it closed and sat on it. Trickster thought about gnawing it off and running away, but he was quite fond of that hand, and he knew it would be difficult to get it back. The old greybeard agreed to return it if Trickster would swear to follow some rules. He could not steal any of the books or scrolls, nor eat them, nor could he correct what was written, nor could he sing the words aloud, nor could he blow his nose in them, nor could he even touch any of them. In return the old sage would answer one question per visit. Once it was answered Trickster would have to go away.
This new game sounded like fun, so Trickster agreed. He immediately blurted out his first question: "Why do you spend all your time collecting these bits of knowledge from others, instead of finding them yourself?" Llankor Mhy answered, "I must collect them so that they are not lost." He was not satisfied with his own answer, though. After Trickster left he searched through his entire library, every last scroll, looking for a better answer.
Eventually Trickster showed up again carrying a chunk of rock. "Why is this rock grey?" he asked. Llankor Mhy consulted with his father's Mostali, who used strange instruments to illuminate the rock with many colors and made incomprehensible charts on paper. This took a long, long time. While he was waiting Trickster grew hungry - so hungry that he ate his own shoes, the Mostali charts, and eventually the rock itself. That interrupted the Mostali and made Llankor Mhy grumble, so Trickster smiled and backed out the door before anything bad could happen.
Later on Trickster returned after taking a nice long swim in the sea. He arrived soaked with water from head to the last toe wedged in his squishy galoshes. As he walked his feet made a sound like 'squee squee squee!' and he left a trail of wet footprints behind him. Walking up to the bearded sage he asked, "Why is the ocean blue?" Llankor Mhy rubbed his chin and started to tell the stories of the Water Tribe, starting at the beginning. He was not sure which myth explained the color, but he was sure he would remember it if he told all the tales in the traditional sequence. This took quite a while and Trickster grew bored. After sitting for too long he stood up and stretched, up as far as he could, until his hands reached the arches of the ceiling far above. Then he stretched out one foot, all the way to the opposite wall. It went 'squish' and left a wet footprint on the marble surface. The sage grew irritated at his inattention but did not stop telling the story for fear of losing his place. Trickster tried lifting his other foot and stretching it out to another wall where it left a muddy mark. Soon he was running up the walls and across the ceiling, leaping from stack to stack and dashing across the edges of the shelves. He came too fast around a corner, though, and crashed into a cabinet - the cabinet holding Llankor Mhy's new index to the library. Small paper cards flew everywhere. Llankor Mhy was now frowning with anger; he was resolved to beat the trickster as soon as he finished the story. Rushing through the words he tried to reach the end before Trickster could cause any more damage. Sheepishly Eurmal apologized. Gathering up the cards, he tried to fix the index by re-filing them. He finished this as quickly as he could and ran out of the library. Looking upon his soiled walls Llankor Mhy realized he would need to be better prepared next time if he were to get rid of Trickster before he could cause more trouble.
After a long interlude the door of the library swung open to reveal Eurmal holding a clump of sod. Before he could open his mouth Llankor Mhy interjected, "Your pattern reveals your next question. You will ask why the grass is green. I already know this answer - it is because green is Ernalda's favorite color, and the grasses seek to please her." Surprised, Trickster dropped the sod and danced a jig around it, circling three times. He then grabbed Llankor Mhy by the beard and kissed him - a big, long, wet kiss on the lips - before the Sage picked him up and tossed him through the door.
Eventually Eurmal returned to ask one more question. He arrived at the library clutching a box to his chest. Looking around carefully to the east, and then scanning the horizon to the west, he crouched down to set his eye level with the lid of the box. Opening it just a big, he peered in, and then slammed it shut. With a suspicious look he lifted the box up to Llankor Mhy's height and lifted the lid cautiously. "Hmn," he reacted, "I wonder why the shadows hide in the corners of the box?"
Trickster leapt with glee and did cartwheels down the road, yelling "I won! I won!"
Powered by hypermail