» Tue Oct 05, 2010 11:58 pm ************
The Tale of the White Guar
There once was a poor farmer who lived in the Grazelands his whole life. He dutifully tended the lands of his fathers, toiling all day in his fields of wickwheat. His sons were not so dutiful, and had all left to seek work in the cities, leaving him to tend his crops alone in his old age while his aged wife took care of hearth and home. This old couple made a meager living, but they were not hard done by. They both worked hard, and looked forward to the reward of first harvest.
It was nearing Last Seed, and the poor farmer went out into his fields as he did every day. It was on this day he found a herd of wild white guar grazing on his crops.
"Shoo!" he yelled as he brandished his sickle, "Shoo, or I'll make meat of you all and tan your hides!"
But the largest of the guar spoke, "We are the sacred guar of the Temple. Killing us would bring bad tidings, dear farmer."
The poor farmer felt he had no choice, so he left them grazing in his fields. Every night he prayed to ALMSIVI that they would leave, but every day they were still there, eating and trampling his wickwheat. After three days he had had enough. He went out into the fields to slaughter them, and mounted the head of the finest white guar on his mantle.
The next night the farmer heard a terrible noise outside his door. He ran outside brandishing his pitchfork, to find a pack of nix-hounds harassing his prized guar.
"Stop!" he yelled, "Stop, or this pitchfork will find its way into your spleens!"
The largest of the nix-hounds laughed, "You'll do no such thing! We are the hunting hounds of blessed Almalexia. She demands your guar as tribute."
"Blessed Almalexia would not keep such base creatures!" the farmer raged. He drove the nix-hounds off, but the damage was done. His prized guar was left dead. That night he prayed to ALMSIVI for peace.
Over the course of the next few days, the farmer tried to salvage his harvest. While he was in the fields he heard a cry come from his house. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him and threw open the door. There he found his wife being ravished by a giant rat. As the farmer stood stunned, the rat turned and brandished its teeth.
"I am the sacred rat of the sewers of Vivec."
"That's ridiculous," the farmer exclaimed, "sacred rat indeed!" and with that the farmer slit the rat's throat with a knife.
That night the farmer heard the faint sound of laughter on the wind, and he knew he had nearly been fooled by capricious creatures. He prayed to ALMSIVI for relief.
As Frostfall neared the poor farmer and his wife rejoiced, as she was with child. Despite being so old and frail, the child grew quickly in her womb, leaving her unable to rise out of bed. Her husband dutifully tended to her, and took on her daily work. She gave birth near the end of Sun's Dusk. The child looked healthy and fine and he was proud.
As the child svckled, his wife became increasingly languorous. She could not move from her bed, and the child lay on top of her; Drinking her and drinking her, the poor old woman began to shrivel down to her bones, and the child left her no more than an empty husk. That night she died, leaving the man a widower with a hungry child.
The small child sat up and glared at the man with its beady red eyes. "I demand meat and bread!" it bellowed with the voice of a grown man, "Bring to me everything you have stored for the winter!"
The frightened man ran to his larder, and gave the child everything he had. All of the guar meat the farmer managed to store, as well as the remains of his harvest, went down the child's gullet. It devoured everything -- hair and hide and bone. The creature supped greedily until the poor farmer's cupboards were bare. The thing became more bloated and grotesque with every bite.
"I still hunger!" the creature yelled, "I'll have the bones of your dearly dead!" and with that the creature leaped across the room and pulled the shroud from his dead wife, who was not yet removed from the farm house. The creature ate hair and hide and bone until there was nothing left.
"Monster!" the farmer cried, "Why do you torment us so! What have you done to my wife!?"
And with that the child stood as tall as a man, a bloated thing with yellowing flesh, red eyes, and sharp teeth. "I am a son of Molag Bal!" the creature blustered, "and I'll do to your wife as I please!" The creature then leapt at the farmer, bowling him backwards, before bursting out the door and disappearing into the night, cackling all the while.
That night, the poor farmer prayed to ALMSIVI for justice. The head of the white guar spoke:
"Blessed Almalexia already sent someone to protect you from Molag Bal and his servants. It was I, the white guar."
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Annotations:
The Tale of the White Guar was originally an old Ashlander tale. Modified by the Temple before publication, it originally attributed the protective powers of the white guar to Almalexia's anticipation, Boethiah.
