You may have heard the story of Midas, the man whose touch turned everything to gold. You may not have heard the story of his servant, however, and the magic walking stick. You see, Midas eventually found a way to reverse his curse and undo all the transformations he caused - except, when this occured, Midas' favorite servant did not revert completely to human. His leg remained gold.
Now the gods looked down with pity on this man, cursed through no fault of his own, and so they cut down a magic pine and from it, carved a walking stick for him. Not only did the walking stick's power permit the man to get about with as much agility as he had had before the curse, but it also blessed him with long life and great prosperity, so that when he died he was far wealthier and happy than Midas himself had ever been.
Now, after the man's death, all his heirs wanted the stick for themselves, but it was mysteriously lost, and remaine that way for centuries. It became a thing of legend, sought by treasure-seekers and the like, but never found. And then one day, a forester wandering through a distant wood found it as he was preparing to lay his fire. He noticed nothing unusual about the stick, added it to his collection, and then that night cooked his steak over it, noting only that the steak was especially delicious for some reason. And so, the stick passed out of history.
When the end of the stick became known, sages everywhere nodded without surprise, for it has always been the way of human to grillt he spruce that aids the golden leg.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2006-08-25 11:24 pm (UTC)You may have heard the story of Midas, the man whose touch turned everything to gold. You may not have heard the story of his servant, however, and the magic walking stick. You see, Midas eventually found a way to reverse his curse and undo all the transformations he caused - except, when this occured, Midas' favorite servant did not revert completely to human. His leg remained gold.
Now the gods looked down with pity on this man, cursed through no fault of his own, and so they cut down a magic pine and from it, carved a walking stick for him. Not only did the walking stick's power permit the man to get about with as much agility as he had had before the curse, but it also blessed him with long life and great prosperity, so that when he died he was far wealthier and happy than Midas himself had ever been.
Now, after the man's death, all his heirs wanted the stick for themselves, but it was mysteriously lost, and remaine that way for centuries. It became a thing of legend, sought by treasure-seekers and the like, but never found. And then one day, a forester wandering through a distant wood found it as he was preparing to lay his fire. He noticed nothing unusual about the stick, added it to his collection, and then that night cooked his steak over it, noting only that the steak was especially delicious for some reason. And so, the stick passed out of history.
When the end of the stick became known, sages everywhere nodded without surprise, for it has always been the way of human to grillt he spruce that aids the golden leg.