Part Eight

"Narlesha had a final task in mind. She ran for her bag of dung. The main stream which fed the river that flowed through and supplied the drinking and irrigation water of Bokorinin was not far off. Into that, she dumped the dung. The very fish fled downstream from the awful smell ¹. Narlesha fled the other way, soon rejoining her comrades.

"The procession sent by the mayor thus arrived at the lair to find nothing but the scraps, the dragon's carcass, more cave hyenas, and Narlesha's message, and when they returned, they found their town rendered uninhabitable by the stench ² . The villagers fled but Narlesha paid the city of Samirkin out of the treasure to offer food and shelter to all the refugees – except for the mayor and council. Indeed, when the smell had dissipated a few weeks later and the residents could return to Bokorinin, she returned the treasure, apart from what she took to pay her accomplices (and generous as their payment was, it did not make much of a dent in the total) to the miners and townspeople on proviso that they be wiser in their next choice of public officials. Narlesha, never having needed the riches, returned to her father and the acclaim of her kinsfolk. For her, the best part was that for the rest of her life she never had to smell dragon dung again! Until this day, she is hailed a hero of our people, and inspired such sayings as 'to go Narlesha on someone' meaning to inflict deserved vengeance, and 'never stiff a dragonslayer'.

"So, my friends, that is the story – and that is, how here in Karan-Spalaitin, you deal with politicians!"

Narlesha the Dragonslayer Archive

Willem

21.07.14 Front Page

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