alnahn’alna’resdul
Fable Eleven
Vivec and the Cripple
ord Vivec, while walking down a road, came upon a cripple with a gnarled and withered hand.
²“Young bravo!” the cripple cried, “Will you not help an oathman in need?”
³Vivec stood before the cripple and furrowed his brow.
“What is wrong with you, old mer?” he queried.
⁴The cripple lifted his hand and replied, “Do you not see my withered hand? It is twisted as old roots and pains me greatly when the storms roll in. ⁵Women shun me because of its ugliness, and children run at the sight of it. Please, have pity!”
⁶Vivec stood quiet for a moment, then drew his bright sword and severed the mer’s hand in one clean stroke. ⁷The cripple howled in pain as the warrior-poet dressed the wound.
⁸“Do not bawl so, old mer,” said Vivec. “Do you not see that I have done you the greatest kindness? ⁹Better to be done with an evil than to carry it on for pity’s sake.”