This is part of a myth from before your people left the homeland. I couldn't resist adapting a myth about counting thousands of pigs. I turned it into a story of King Hooafting, one of your heroes during the Darkness.
Hooafting and Stenya
Long ago there stood a city called Gundgund. Its streets were narrow and twisted. A man could easily become lost there and never find his way out! In Gundgund lived a woman named Lady Stenya, whose beauty was unsurpassed. Also in the city was a great treasure, a magical three-legged table. When one tapped on it and commanded it to bring food, it would bring whatever was desired. Unlike most tables, the top of this one was made of leather.
King Hooafting's wife had died. One of his young warriors, Tynuquo, proposed that he marry Stenya. Hooafting said, "She won't go with me."
Tynuquo replied, "A man doesn't let the drinking horn pass him by. She will go with you, Hooafting."
They set off and came to Stenya's home in the city. They were made welcome, and Tynuquo told their hostess, "Hooafting has no wife. So we have come to court you." Hooafting said, "Come away with me, Stenya!"
"I will not marry you, Hooafting."
"What is wrong with me, Stenya?"
"We are of different folk, you and I. Our kind never marry.
We could never have children."
"Many white sheep stand among our herds. Black give birth to
white. White give birth to black."
"Your old hat is in tatters, your old cloak has been dragged
through the underbrush. Your shirt is a boar skin. How could I ever
marry you?"
"I will wear my finest at our wedding."
Stenya replied, "How could I every marry the likes of him,
Tynuquo? You bring before me a white-bearded old man."
Now a frown came over Hooafting. "I'll make you a swineherd's wife, or you can shave off my mustache, you witch!"
Then Hooafting returned home. He sent out messengers, and called together a great meeting of all the Entruli. When everyone had assembled he asked, "Who is absent?"
"Argwan of the Ueneli did not heed your call," said Wusar the
Venerable, who was famed as a seer. "Without Argwan the Mighty,
Gundgund City will not be yours."
Hooafting sent a young warrior. "Argwan, you must come. The Entruli have been insulted."
Argwan answered, "If so, then I will come. But first you must tell me the number of my pigs."
Alas, the youth could not count so high, so he returned to the assembly. The army stood ready to set forth. When they heard the bad news, they didn't know what to do.
Among them was Yermi, a trader from the Eerili, who offered to fetch Argwan. He was dispatched.
"Greetings, Argwan! May your hogs be fruitful! I bid you join
the Entruli."
"Listen well, trader. You must tell me their number, if you
are to be a swineherd."
"Mother pigs-nine, tuskers-ten, buff-eleven, shaggy
ones-twelve, half-greys-eighteen, their mothers-thirty, and their
fathers-thirty. Another thirty behind each of these. Leading each sow
is a piglet. Thousands upon thousands, they stand in the valleys."
"Yes, that is the size of my brood. If I leave, you must care
for them. You must not lose a single one!" Argwan saddled his boar
Wayekwacha, and set off for the place where the Entruli stood
assembled.
[adapted from "Setenaya and Argwana," Nart Sagas p.34]
-- David Dunham Glorantha/HQ/RQ page: http://www.pensee.com/dunham/glorantha.html
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