Synopsis: man fights nasty dragon, catches dragons fire
in magic pot, but loses his hand in the process. Dragon gets fire
back from a pixie in return for small treasures,... pixie runs off
, dragon now looks after the magic pot.
Once upon a time, when dragons and monsters and pixies roamed
these parts, one dragon in particular was the most feared of all,
and she was called Gail.
One day, a local ploughman called 'Hoe' Lee, decided enough was
enough of this dragon Gail's terrorising, and he hatched a cunning
plan.
Hoe left his little castle early one cold misty October morning
in search of Gail, and eventually found her sleeping near a tree
hollowed out by the scorching flames emitted by the snoring from
her gynormous nostrils.
Slowly and quietly with his heart racing he reached for his
magic container with a shaking hand, and opened its lid, very
carefully. The dragon stirred, and opened one of it's giant and
evil blood red eyes and Gail saw Hoe Lee standing there in front of
her.
Gail sprang to her feet instantly, beating her scaled wings behind
her in fury, then arched her long snake like neck backwards before
lurching her head forwards with the most ear splitting screech that
echoed for miles around and showed off her big blood stained fangs
off to great effect.
Hoe Lee was frozen with fear, what had he done, he was to perish
here, right now, becoming nothing but a little snack for
Gail.
Towering above poor Hoe lee and with her tail lashing around her,
Gail drew in a huge breath before unleashing a fire more bitter hot
and vicious than any that hell could muster. Hoe, sensing his time
was nigh, thrust the opened magic container up towards Gail's head
and closed his eyes. He heard the roar of the fire and it shook the
ground around him, but the blistering pain he did not feel?
Slowly he opened one eye and peered up with tilted head, Gail was
still there but with a puzzled and forlorn look on her face, two
smoke trails spiralling gently up into the morning air. A smell hit
Hoe Lees senses, a familiar smell, the smell of bacon frying, then
he noticed his hand, blistered and charred as black as coal from
Gails fiery breath as it had passed into the container. Quickly,
Hoe placed the cap back onto the magic container, with his one
remaining good hand, his right hand still burnt on to the container
itself, but in doing so his poor blackened burnt hand snapped off!
to be a part of the magic container forever more. This was the
price Hoe had paid, the price of containing all the dragons fiery
breath within his container and making the village of Nercwys a
safe place for all to live one more.
Hoe was hailed a hero by the village who that night threw a
party in his honour. But before he went, Hoe hid his precious pot
of fire somewhere Gail could never get at it. Somewhere very safe,
but close to his home so that he could keep a close eye on
it.
What Hoe had not banked on was that very night, a travelling pixie,
knotted handkerchief bag dangling off a stick held over his
shoulder, idling past the hiding place.
As everyone knows, a hungry pixie has a nose that more than matches
that of any truffle snuffling pig when it comes to sniffing out
food, and the food this pixies nose picked up was bacon, lovely
roasted porky bacon.
Licking his lips, and even dribbling slightly , he reached for
the tasty morsel, only to notice it was not bacon at all but a
gruesome black and burnt hand! but one that was interestingly
holding a pot of somekind?
He opened up the pot slowly, then took off the lid, and peered
inside. The pixies eyes glowed hot orange in the dark night,
reflecting the fire that shone from within the container.
'Dragon fire!' he exclaimed to himself in an excited whisper.
It did not take the pixie long to find a sad and smokey Gail in
some woods near by.
The details from there on are sketchy, except to say that a bargain
was struck and in return for a few items of treasure, Gail had her
fire given back to her by the greedy meddling pixie. Who could only
fit so much in his handkerchief bag, and so left the other bits in
the flask to make up the weight of the fire he had given away
before hiding it again in a secret place where he could return one
day to collect his treasures, and bag over shoulder , off he hopped
to continue his aimless journey.
One handed Hoe cam back from the party very late in the night
and was a little unsteady on his feet after drinking perhaps just a
little too mush of the local village vexation ale during the
celebrations. But as he came to open his door, he noticed that the
door was missing, and so was the roof, and so too were many of the
walls, crushed by frenzied lashing tails and clawing talons and
very fiery breath.
His castle was in ruins! shattered by the angriest dragon in the
country....Gail was at large and in a worse temper than ever.
Hoe Lee fled the land, never to return to his little home in the
country, and Gail? well she was to roam and terrorise the land fro
hundreds of years, and some say ....still does, guarding her
precious little pot of treasure from wandering pixies, or indeed
cachers.
The exact location of Hoe Lees Gail or became lost in the ever
darkening and dense mists of time, and became but a legend told
from parent to child through generations of local people. The
mystical container was to become known as the ho-ly Gail.
Now dont tell anyone , but I have uncovered a way point for where
the Holy Gail container now may sit, close to where Gail herself
used to sleep and close too to Hoe Lees now ruined castle.
Good luck, and if you should find it, do it silenty and carefuly ,
so that Gail never knows you have been near by
Good luck on your quest!
(story taken from zagcatts's tales of insanity vol 1)
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