Brad: Hurry up, we're going to be late! Why do you always take so long to get ready?
Melanie: My god, you're annoying! The more you complain, the longer it's going to take!
(
Pinkey-
Leman comes into the room, meowing)
Brad:
Pinkey-
Leman, would you like a saucer of cream?
Pinkey-
Leman: Why, that would be
purrrrrfect, thanks
And the amazing creature produced a slip of paper, on which the following was written:
Darkness, Cloudness, Cover-my-sheetsLeave me to ponder the evergreenI see a pattern in the trembling heatof an oven-charred, withering skeleteenBy now, Melanie was finished with her primping, and said, "I decry the state we're in, this modern age, where no reverence is held for fine things, where craftsmanship has become an impractical practice befit only for the fairground." And they all nodded in agreement.
Pinkey sat on the sofa, with one leg atop the other, casually slurping on cow's cream. Bradley remarked at the feline's fine scarlet cap, well-made vest, and glittering brass buttons. "What fine clothes you have there, old Pinkey-Leman!" he said. "Thank you, young man", Pinkey-Leman replied, with a pleased expression. "When you become old, like me, you might be able to collect a few nice things yourself. Take this scarlet cap, for example. When my father, Santiago Vespanino, set sail for the southern coast, he had not a penny to his name. When he arrived at the small port of Mannings-Wincelsly, he gathered a group of respectable young adventurers and set off for the fabled silver temple, a place of unbelievable wealth free for the taking. For three days the company traveled towards the mountains, and on the third night one of them wrote this in his journal:
If i lived in 2019,I would be in a heavy metal band with a gay-cowboy theme,I would play drums and every slapof the drum-skin would take me to a sunrise breakfastin the most wonderful cottage,Where lovely airs and worldly careswere nothing compared to the full flavor of the tea,and after breakfast the crash of the cymbal would be anafternoon excursion through the sunny meadows of a luscious valley,with marigolds spread across the grass as liberally as I had spread fresh creamon my morning toast,and There under a sweeping stroke of tufty vine I would sing this ballad:"O'er the fullness of a weeping wind,
the angel comes and goes again,
The sun doth shine in such a vale
and moonlight renders it akin,
to shallow gardens, green and pale."
And with those words I would be yet again above all peaks,swaying in the winds, the arctic wind, and the doomed winds.The next day the travelers arrived at the mountains of Sarad'Aldur, and beheld
an ancient riddle, carved in stone:
"He who dares to travel 'yond, shall first make offerings to HOD, respectable keeper of the willow wand"
For eleven days and eleven nights, the company pondered this gloomy omen, until the fourteenth night they said, "let's make a burnt offering to HOD, and peel ourselves a willow wand". And so they did, wrapping a pine limb with the fatty skin of an avocado, and burning it. They then peeled seven willow wands and waved them about, all of them except the man who had written the aforementioned passage in his journal. This man, named Barbon son of Barbon, was wary of ancient words, and did not believe in mythology.
They passed beyond the puzzle-gate and began their ascent of the mountains. On the eve of the next day, they arrived at a dark cavern, from which an old woman wearing a moss-green hood emerged. "Who go by me house at this hour?" she cackled, raising her crusty eyebrow up and down, up and down. "Let me take a look at ye, and i'll tell ye if ye can pass be me house". She made the company stand in a tight row and paced up and down, grabbing hold of their chins or wrists as she saw fit. When she came to Barbon son of Barbon, she stopped. "Let me see ye wrist, young beast!" she demanded. Barbon held out his wrist to the slimy hag, who examined it and was very displeased. "I see that ye wrist be not covered in the sap o' the willow like ye brothers here, tellin' me ye did not heed the words carved in stone, carved by my grandfather and 'is grandfather together!" And with these words she dragged him into her cave and he was never seen again. The rest of the company were relieved that they remained unscathed, and continued their ascent.
Pinkey-Leman paused, and took a sip from his saucer of cream. He then continued, "
After another three days journey, the company reached the silver temple. It was a breathtaking structure, jutting out of the thick stone as if it had simply asserted its existence to the phlegmatic earth, who, unable to deny such claims, yielded to the silvery hulk. The six shining tiers of the building were perfectly smooth and geometric, and appealed to the objective aesthetic sensibilities of all the universe with its mathematically perfect constructions. As my father beheld this sight, a brave young chap of no more than 11 years scrambled towards him from some nearby bushes. "Sir, I have here fine scarlet caps for sale, if you would be so good as to purchase one for the very reasonable price of ____". My father looked down at the boy, and said, "Young lad, you are a very brave soul to endure the hardships of this mountain for your trading purposes. I commend your manliness, and I will agree to purchase a fine scarlet cap, obviously of the highest quality craftsmanship. However, I have as yet no money to give you, so I will propose a deal: I will take a cap from you now, promising that when we emerge from this temple I will pay you double the price you have mentioned." The young one thought about this proposal, and saw that it was good. He gave my father the fine scarlet cap and disappeared again into the bushes."
Pinkey-Leman stood up, straightened out his vest, and said, "And that is the story of how this fine cap came into the possession of my family. The rest of the story is not pertinent to the acquisition of this cap, but I will let you know that my father did indeed repay the child as promised."
Bradley and Melanie applauded.
Bradley looked at his watch with impatience and told Melanie that
they were gong to be very late if she did not hurry to put on her shoes.