 Tales of the Woven City I |
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| Added by | Tamriel Data | ||
| ID | T_Bk_TalesWovenCityPC_V1 | ||
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200 |  |
2 |
| Skill | Mysticism | ||
Once, there was a soap merchant who lived in the city of Bravil. He was a wealthy man, who relished in things of beauty and delight: silk, wine, and honey. One day, while walking along the banks of the Niben, the merchant espied a fat and lustrous serpent bathing in the river shallows.
The snake was white in the noon sun, and its hide was set with gold, sard, agate, and amber. Said the merchant to the snake, "Many years have I toiled for the wealth I now possess. I have labored in the mud of the Niben, beset by stinging flies, and I have argued in the sweltering marketplaces that are thick with the stench of offal and incense. How have you, noble viper, amassed such wealth that now you may appear so fine and radiant?"
Replied the snake, "To work for one's riches is a fool's errand. It is because I have struck without mercy, and devoured my enemies whole, assuming as such every aspect of wealth and beauty they once possessed. Heed, merchant, for this is the secret key of all who prosper."
So the merchant took the serpent's advice to heart, and with his walking stick he beat the snake to death. Then, he concealed the limp corpse beneath his robes, and carried it to a secret chamber in his villa. There he devoured it whole, from the tip of its white tail to the last sparkling smaragdus, until nothing was left.
But the snake, who was in fact a cunning and evil spirit, had intended this from the start. It coiled around the merchant's core, and slowly consumed him from within, eating and eating until nothing was left of the man but his skin. The snake then walked around in this skin, causing all kinds of mischief. It ate the merchant's wife and children, and his mistress, but still it was not satisfied.
It ate his books and secrets, but still the snake was not satisfied. It ate his dreams, his thoughts, his ancestral silks, until nothing was left of the poor wealthy merchant but his pitiful soul, the flickering flame of his mortality. Then, the beast ate that too.
But in the throes of blind hunger, the beast had been too greedy. Stuffed with the burning fire of mortal life, the beast became too fat for the merchant's skin, which split open and revealed its serpentine denizen. The people were witness to this, and the priests and hermits came down upon it to curse at the beast, they spat at it, and with powerful invocations and mantras chased it into the great river Niben.
The river took umbrage at this foul creature, drowning it and bashing it in the strongest currents, until it was torn asunder. Some claim the man and his family emerged from the snake's belly, unharmed and newly affirmed in their reverence to the saints and spirits. Others say that nothing came forth from the beast but a mass of decay, which fell into the river and was carried away.
Beware wealth and success, when you cannot ascertain their source. The river will wash away the iniquities of evil spirits.