alnahna’resdul
Fable Ten
The Friendly Alit
jovial alit pranced across the Ashlands, ever watchful for a beast it could call “friend.”
²Presently it came upon a nix-hound who was preening itself in an ashpit. The alit smiled a great smile and cried out, “Greetings, friend!”
³The nix-hound, seeing the alit’s huge teeth, panicked and dashed under a rock. The alit sighed and pranced on.
⁴In due course it came upon a vvardvark rooting through a beetle-nest. “Hello!” the alit shouted, smiling widely and revealing its huge, sharp teeth. ⁵The vvardvark squealed in terror and scampered off into the bushes. The alit released another mournful sigh, and trundled on toward the shore.
⁶Finally, it spotted an ash-hopper rolling in the sand. The alit summoned up its widest, most cheerful smile and said, “Hail, ash-hopper!” ⁷The ash-hopper leapt back in horror and sprung away as fast as it could.
The alit was heartbroken. ⁸“I will never have a friend as long as I have these terrible teeth!” it hissed. ⁹The beast resolved to be done with them altogether. It took a huge rock in its mouth and bit down hard—knocking out all its teeth like a box of loose nails. ¹⁰“Finally,” it sighed “other beasts will no longer be afraid!”
¹¹Just then a great Kagouti arrived, stomping its feet and preparing to pounce. The alit growled and opened its wide jaws to frighten the predator away, but the kagouti just laughed. ¹²“You fool! You’ve no teeth left in your head!” ¹³The alit realized its folly too late. The kagouti lunged and swallowed the cheerful beast in one huge gulp.
¹⁴So you see, child—that which we hate in ourselves is often our greatest gift.