I'm sure many of you have heard the mysterious tales that encircle me, every year when the cold winds begin blowing from the north, that strange season between the warm harvest days and that first pure and white snow, those ill winds bring something...
tales of terror,
riches found and then lost again, stormy seas and bone-chilling nights. I cant say why such strange happenings fall upon me but that evil wind brings them...
As you might well have guessed this season was no different. It must have been a fortnight ago when we began hearing rumors coming from the north, that a new terror was abroad, something that human eyes had never laid on til this year. I laughed, I did, when I first heard those tales, such a thing could not be true, save in dreams and from fireside stories late at night. A scourge on the land, a beast so fell that even the mere sight of it would cause a grown man to swoon. But yet not quite a beast, it was something more ancient, something they said that came before the days of men. So I laughed when I heard it, such a thing was unthinkable... til now. I have seen it and I shall never be the same again.
Laugh not at me. My hands tremble even now when my mind goes back again to the night before last. I tell this tale now for your very own sake, as it may save you from a horrible end.
Twas the night before Halloween and you already know that strange wind was blowing. There was something in that wind. A sound. A very strange sound. It seemed at first to be something I had heard before and yet something more, like a junebug buzzing round a lantern on a hot summer night. I heard this sound coming from afar as I was coming up from our small garden to our warm and cheerful house, its lights all aglow, as the last bits of sun faded from the sky. I paused when I heard it, craning my head to the heavens in curosity wondering what it might be. But that sound of curosity turned to a sound of horror when I realized it was the sound of wings bearing something quickly toward me. Fortunately for me, I still had sense enough to drop my basket and I lit out for the house like the devil himself was on my heels. As I pitched myself headlong thru the door crying out for mother to shut it tight behind me, I saw that fell creature from the corner of my eye, as it swept past the door and then on again for some other unfortunate soul that was not as wary or swift of foot as I. Even the mere glance of it, left me quaking on the floor, mother had to dash the pitcher of water in my face to bring me back to my senses.
It was a beast unlike any other, and yet something even older and more terrible, an insect, the size of which had never even been imagined in the most wildest dreams. Eyes as black as pitch and which would probably freeze cold any poor victim that dared to look into them and the pinchers... Pinchers that could cut a grow man clean in half like like scissors thru cloth.
A Stag Beetle, the size of which has not been seen since the dawn of time.
How, you ask, am I still here to tell this tale? Well, for some time we thought we were without hope. But lucky for us we have our mother around, she breathed one word. Gnome. Only a Gnome with its special power over all living creatures would be able to help us.
Now Gnomes are not often seen in these parts, but as luck would have it, mother had seen one whilst in the garden but the day before. A feisty little Gnome that ran from here to there laughing and giggling, making a joke of everything it found. We could only hope the Gnome would come upon that terrible beast before the beast came upon us.
And fortunately for us, that Gnome found that terror of a stag beetle. And fortunately for us the Gnome and the Stag Beetle became fast friends... well perhaps not friends, more partners in mischief. Surprised we were, mother and I to see these two odd creatures dancing gleefully over the hills and thru the valleys the next day. There was no blood falling from those terrible pinchers on the stag beetle only chocolate and caramel and the Gnome's beard and chest were stained with much of the same, but they did not seem to mind, in fact it seemed to increase their power. Of course, Gnomes are always full of life, only this one, more so. And mother and I have learned that gianormous stag beetles should not be feared unless they catch the scent of sugary treats.
Whither those two went, I cant say, no doubt up to some silly mischief. But I have an idea they may return again with that strange wind, time will tell.
