Tuesday, March 24, 2020

The Jankz and the Hurrum. A Dark Sun Fable.

The Jankz always sleeps during the day. Then after sundown, when the crimson light fades from the sky and the shadows rise slowly through the desert, out she comes blinking from her underground den. She begins her hunt for the bugs, beetles, and mice she likes to eat.
Now there was a certain old Jankz who had become very grumpy, and hard to please, as she grew older, especially if anything disturbed her daily slumbers. One hot afternoon as she dozed away in her den, a Hurrum nearby began joyously humming very loud. Out popped the old Jankz's head from the opening in the ground that served her both for door and for window.
"Get away from here, sir," she said to the Hurrum. "Have you no manners? I am old and I deserve respect! Now, go and let me sleep in peace and quiet!"
But the Hurrum answered impolitely that he had as much right to his place in the sun as the Jankz had to her place in her underground den. Then he struck up a louder and still more shrilling hum.
The wise old Jankz knew quite well that it would do no good to argue with the Hurrum, nor with anybody else for that matter. Besides, her eyes were not sharp enough by day to permit her to punish the Hurrum as he deserved. So she laid aside all hard words and spoke very kindly to him.
"Well sir," she said, "if I must stay awake, I am going to settle right down to enjoy your humming. Now that I think of it, I have a bottle of wonderful wine here, sent to me from Urik, where even the mighty Hamanu enjoys the sweet taste. Please come up and taste this delicious drink with me. I know it will make you hum even more beautifully."
The foolish Hurrum was taken in by the Jankz's flattering words. Down he crawled to the Jankz's den, but as soon as he was near enough that the old Jankz could see him clearly, she pounced upon him and ate him up.

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