[Kransha]

Toby was reading wearily, his half-closed eyes focused on the torn page of a small, leather bound booklet. Of course, the book wasn’t his. It was small enough to be whisked neatly from the satchel hanging at a young hobbit’s hip. He flipped through pages of the neglected packet and brushed gathering dust from ancient parchment. The book had obviously been passed down as an heirloom, perhaps worth something more than just good reading. If he could not find a fitting cost, he could give it to his niece, Tanta, who particularly enjoyed her newfound ability to read and comprehend most forms of writing to some extent. Tobias smiled dimly as he thought of Longbottom again, but the warm look faded as he began to skim over the editon critically.

On the first page was the title, inscribed in flowing cursive. It said ‘Tales of Wonder,” with no author or publisher beneath. Tobias assumed it was a collection of some kind and peeled aside the next page with his skinny fingers. It bore picturesque scene filled with painting intricacy, though the ebullient color of the work had faded after many years of having voracious children gawk at them. The picture was reminiscent of a tapestry, bearing several different images spliced together with curling designs separating each one. There were no words anywhere on the page, and Toby scoffed under his breath, eyeing the pictures. He turned the page.

“Oliphaunts,” he read aloud to himself, “are great and beautiful beasts that bear great tusks to smite their foes. It is said that they live in the far south with their masters, ferocious southern warriors.”
He looked at the picture skeptically, frowning at the elephantine figure painted marvelously on the page. It seemed to be braying like a horse with its nasal appendage flailing like a whip. Toby’s right eyebrow rose even more skeptically than before and his left eye widened slightly as he examined.

“Oliphaunts, what nonsense. What hobbit has ever seen one to know what such a beast might look like? If any man or beast got close enough to draw such a picture, they would be long dead.” He snorted indignantly and turned the page, his nose and face wrinkling angrily as he looked at these other pictures, more delicate than the last. Here were great green beasts, which sprouted wings and horns and all manner of great limbs. From one such beast’s mouth, fire was pouring like water and aimed towards something not on the parchment.

“More nonsense. Fairy-talls and children’s dreams. Has the world lost all perception of reality?” He asked no one in particular as he spoke, snorting again and wrinkling his nostrils in disgust.

<font size=1 color=339966>[ 4:19 PM February 05, 2004: Message edited by: Kransha ]