As the Crow Flies

Salutations, dear reader. Last week, we analyzed The Mythology of Mindanao. This week, I'm writing a modern story based on that tale from the Philippines. I hope you like monsters!

Regular crow or deadly giant?

John stopped at the edge of the trail and listened. Everything was silent. He grinned. "This way." He turned back to his brother. Matt nodded and followed John. Both men had belted their swords on after they lost the other hikers, and now they walked with their hands on the hilt. There was a monster out there, and they were not going to be caught off guard.

Despite his vigilance, John almost didn't see the shadow getting bigger and bigger until it hit. He rolled out of the way, standing up smoothly and drawing his sword. Matt had rolled the other way and also stood with his sword in his hand. Their attacker looked like an oversized crow with wicked talons and a cruel beak. This giant bird of prey had been attacking everything on this mountain for a few months. It was high time someone stopped it.

The brothers didn't need to speak. They had done this often enough. While the bird was grounded and disoriented from its botched landing, they moved in on either side of it and slashed its wings. Aggravated, the bird flapped its wings outward, but they didn't work quite right anymore. There would be no flying away from this battle. The indignant squawks of the bird drowned out any noise the brothers were making. As always, they worked quickly and efficiently. There was no sense in giving their enemy time to recover. Soon, the bird was going through its dying throes and the brothers stepped away to avoid being hit.

"Nicely done," Matt said.

"Thanks," John replied, cleaning his sword. "Can we eat this thing? I'm starving."

Matt looked critically at the bird. "It doesn't seem to have any poison on it or it would have tried to attack us with that."

"Great! Let's eat."

Soon enough, the brothers had set up camp far from the body of the giant crow and were cooking chunks of it over their fire. There was supposed to be a fountain of health somewhere in these mountains, which is probably why the giant crow had chosen here, but the brothers didn't put much stock in tales like that. In John's experience, everything magical was usually out to kill you.

After a time, they were done eating. "I'll take first watch," John offered. Matt nodded and climbed inside his tent to sleep. The two had hunted enough to know you had to set a watch during the night when you were in the field. Their small tent walls would do nothing to stop most monsters.

The brothers changed watch during the night and the morning found them both awake and unharmed. They broke camp quickly and got back on the trail. These two mountains were supposed to be cursed and John and Matt were intent on getting to the second mountain quickly. They found that often these curses were monsters that most people didn't know how to explain or deal with.

A few uneventful days of camping later and they reached a spot on the second mountain that was missing bird calls, squirrels, or any living thing. John smiled and nodded. He supposed it wasn't that far, as the giant, vicious crow flew. They knew nothing about what kind of monster was on this mountain, but it was likely to be similar to the giant crow they had fought on the first one. Animals like that tended to like having one of their own kind close by, but not so close their hunting territories overlapped.

Sure enough, a shadow began to get bigger and bigger over John and Matt. John rolled out of the way and stood up with his sword. Matt hadn't been so lucky. His right leg was already bleeding. John guessed Matt had gotten hit with one of the bird's talons, each as large as a sword. "I guess our luck couldn't last forever," John thought. This would be a different battle. Matt wouldn't be able to move as quickly, so John would have to distract the bird. Great.

The brothers moved in, but John kept himself nearer the bird's range of vision than Matt. They sliced the bird's wings, managing to ground it, but then everything went wrong. The bird knew it had wounded Matt and it focused on him, trying to grab him in its beak. John was forced to jump in farther than he wanted to and cut the bird's neck without the benefit of Matt acting as an equal diversion. Every time he cut it, the bird focused on John for a moment and John danced out of the way. Then the bird would go after Matt again and John would look for another weak spot.

Finally, John landed the final blow and the bird went into its death throes. John dodged out of the way, but the bird was still headed toward Matt, even as it died. Matt was hit by one of its wings and went flying. Immediately, John ran after his brother, dodging the bird as he went. By the time he got to Matt, the bird was already dead and Matt looked far too pale.

"Stupid way to go," Matt said.

"You're not dying on me!" John snapped, looking around him. "There's got to be something." He looked around for anything that might help with Matt's several injuries. His eye fell on a glass of water. At first, he didn't believe it. How could that have appeared on a mountain side? Cautiously, John picked it up and sniffed it. It smelled like water, which is to say like nothing. Slowly, John took a small sip.

He felt restored and rejuvenated. He could do anything now. John remembered the legends he had heard about the fountain of health in these mountains. It seemed John had found it. Propping Matt up, John got him to drink the whole glass.

Matt sighed with satisfaction and sat up. "What was that?"

"A drink from the fountain of health," a woman's voice said.

The brothers tensed and snapped toward her.

"Don't worry," she said. "If I wanted to hurt you, I would have already. You killed the monster. That deserved some kind of reward."

John was trying not to let his jaw drop. He hadn't expected anyone else out here, let alone a beautiful woman who just happened to know where a mystical spring was. "Who are you?" he managed.

"My name is Melody. I used to come to this mountain all the time to gather supplies, but with those giant birds, it became a lot trickier. I knew they were looking for the fountain of health and I couldn't let them find it. They were a big enough problem as it was."

"But you gave us some of that water," John stated. He was trying to get his brain to start working again.

"Yes, in return for killing both birds. I thought it would be a shame to let him die."

"Thank you," Matt replied. "We are truly sorry to have trespassed on your mountain."

John could have hit himself. Just because she looked like a beautiful woman, didn't mean she wasn't a spirit or any other magical creature who felt territorial.

Melody laughed. "It's hardly my mountain. Well, I expect you'll be wanting to find the nest."

"The nest?" Matt asked.

"Yes. Otherwise once those eggs hatch, we'll just have the same problem."

"Oh," John said, standing.

Melody shook her head, smiling. "You two are fun. Let's go."

Wondering if, once again, they had gotten more than they bargained for, the brothers followed Melody up the mountain to their next adventure.

The Mythology of Mindanao

Caw, caw, heroes!

Hello, reader. This week's story comes from the Philippines. The Mythology of the Mindanao is a story about brotherly love and destroying monsters. Click on the link above to read the story and continue below to analyze it with me.

In this tale, we have a brave and mighty king and his brother, who is also brave and mighty. It's a nice change for the brothers in a fairy tale to get along and both be good. They are both strong, since they were each able to kill two of these terrifying monsters, but there was still some risk in traveling to fight these creatures who were so far from them. It's nice to see two genuinely good guys in a fairy tale. Lucky that divine water appeared to bring Sulayman back from the dead, though.

It is also a nice reversal that the old woman gave the king something to eat, as opposed to the other way around. I liked that this story wasn't entirely about the king and his brother from a distant land killing monsters, but that we also got some detail about how the people of that land had been living. It was pretty smart to hide underground, but I guess that was really their only choice. Hiding in a tree sounds pretty chancy.

I do have questions, though. The king sees a girl, thinks she's pretty, and gets to marry her. What happens next? Did they actually get along? Did Indarapatra stay in her land? Did they go back to his land so he could rule his kingdom? What happened with them?

I suppose the moral of this story is that if you're going to go try to kill dangerous monsters, make sure your brother has a way of knowing if you die so he can come reserect you. Or, I guess, don't die when you're fighting monsters. Have another question? Think of something I didn't? Have a story you want me to talk about? Comment below!

Allies

Hello, reader. Last week, I analyzed The Dagda's Harp. This week, I wrote a modern version of that story. Enjoy.

Always tip the buskers.

Dan strummed his guitar and glanced in the case. He'd never had a problem making money with his music and he was doing well today. Still, he'd been a bit unsettled recently. He kept seeing the same few people watching him, no matter where he set up to play. They'd even shown up in some of the bars he played in. Dan decided he'd take what he made today and head home. He hadn't seen one of those people yet, and he didn't want to.

Dan finished his piece and let it drift away on the wind. Then he scooped up his earnings, packed up his guitar, and was off. After a few blocks, he checked behind him. The same guy he'd seen yesterday was tailing him. "Great," Dan thought, hefting his guitar. Normally, Dan liked the size of this town, but today he wished it were larger. If he had played near the college today, he could have easily found a crowd to hide in and his guitar wouldn't have made him stand out so much. As it was, there weren't enough people around for that and no one else downtown carried a guitar. Dan cycled through possibilities in his mind. Downtown wasn't that big so he'd have to figure this out soon.

He was coming up to an intersection where the light was about to change. Dan shot across and turned sharply into an alleyway. He tucked his guitar behind a garbage can and said a small spell over it so it wouldn't be noticed. Then he ran down the alleyway and out the other side.

He cut across a few more streets and doubled back in a parking lot. When he checked behind him, the man was gone. Dan gave it another five minutes and when he still didn't see anyone, Dan began to slowly make his way back to his guitar. He eased into the alleyway and looked behind the garbage can.

There was nothing there.

This was bad. No one should have been able to find that. Unless they also had magic. Dan had come to this town because he knew there was some magic here, but he'd never expected to be on the wrong side of a mage. If this person had taken his guitar and they knew Dan was a mage, that could only be bad. The thief had to know Dan would stop at nothing to get his guitar back. Part of his magic was in the instrument and in the wrong hands, it could be sent back on Dan. Sure enough, as Dan moved the garbage can for a better look, he saw a slip of paper.

"Prairie. Tonight at midnight. Come alone."

Dan shook his head. That was the trouble: he was here alone. Once this was done, he needed to make some allies. Dan decided the magical risks of touching that paper weren't worth it. They could have a tracking spell on it, and Dan did not want them to know where he lived. So, he just turned around and headed home.

Once he got home, Dan began to prepare. He had learned how to use a knife, at least a bit, so he chose a knife, wiped it down, sheathed it, and set it near his boots. They were probably going to try to force him into something and Dan did not intend to come quietly. Then he turned toward his notebooks of spells. There had to be something he could do without his guitar.

Once his preparations were done, Dan ate and laid down for a nap. He would need his strength for this.

Awhile before midnight, Dan's alarm went off and he got out of bed. He ate again and went over his preparations again. He could always sing his magic, but Dan hadn't put much effort into learning that, so those spells weren't as powerful. "Add that to the to do list," Dan thought ruefully. Briefly, he considered bringing his phone. There was a possibility he would want to call for help, but the only people he could call didn't have magic. Besides, that would be one giant source of information about him if his enemies got it. Dan turned his phone off and slid it under his mattress. He took a quick look around his apartment.

He had already locked away his magical notes and paraphernalia and hidden the keys. It just looked like a normal apartment for one. Dan checked his motion with his boot-sheath one more time. Then he left his apartment and locked the door behind him.

He should have figured it would be cold on the prairie at midnight. It was always windy in town because the land was so flat, but it was even more windy out here. The wind could pull his music away before his enemies heard it, making it useless unless it was loud enough. Great. Dan kept walking on the path, guessing his enemies were waiting somewhere on it.

There was one good thing about the wind, it flattened the tall grass enough for Dan to see the three people waiting for him just around a bend in the path. Those were the three who had been tailing him recently. Of course. Dan walked around the bend, just until he could see them, and stopped.

"Good evening, Daniel," the one in the middle said. He was the one who had stolen Dan's guitar today.

"Hey," Dan replied.

They stared at each other.

"So, what are you going to try to make me do?" Dan asked.

"Make you? Dear boy, we have an offer for you."

"An offer? That you had to make in a deserted spot at midnight after you stole my guitar. Sounds like it'll be good."

"It will be. Don't you tire of hiding your magic?"

"I'm not sure what you mean," Dan replied, wondering why he had put his knife somewhere that was impossible to subtly remove it.

"Oh, you may play for the crowds and bespell them into paying you, but that's hardly practicing openly. Your whole skill-set is based on trickery."

"Why would that be a bad thing? Life is much easier if you just blend in."

"We offer a way you won't need to blend in any more. We're going to make the world one of magic."

"Excuse me?"

"We'll change it. All of the people without magic will be gone, so there will be no more hiding. It will be paradise!"

Dan raised an eyebrow and carefully shifted his feet to distribute his weight better. "Paradise, huh? Don't you read?"

"Excuse me?"

"Any time someone offers you paradise, it's a trick. No one can make this world perfect all at once like that."

"I did not realize you were so jaded."

"Funny thing about me," Dan replied. He was going to rush them. Maybe he could do this without the knife. "I'm never quite what I look like." Before he finished speaking, Dan ran toward them, lowering his head. He hit the speaker for the group first. Dan took the hit on his shoulder and knocked the other man to the ground. Dan used his momentum to flip over the man and get himself standing. He turned around to deal with the other two, but he stopped in his tracks.

The woman was holding his guitar.

"Play nice," she warned. "Something might just happen to this." Her crony nodded, but didn't seem to want to move toward Dan.

Dan shut his mouth with a snap. He was not going to beg these people for anything. Wait. Dan began speaking, varying his pitch just slightly. "Please give me my guitar back."

The woman laughed. "Never! You're ours now!"

Damn it. Dan concentrated. "Please give me my guitar back." He was a bit louder this time.

"I told you no!"

The man in the middle began to pick himself up, coughing. The third person looked like they might be ready to attack, now that they had backup.

Dan had no choice. As loudly as he could, he sang, "Please give me my guitar back!"

Before they could stop it, the guitar sailed over and into Dan's hands. Immediately, he played a chord. His three enemies began laughing hysterically. That wasn't right. Were the strings out of tune? Hopefully the intervals between them were all about the same. Dan slid his hand a bit down the neck and tried a different chord.

His enemies began wailing as if their hearts would break.

Sighing, Dan moved his hand even further down the neck. He separated his fingers just a bit more and played again. Now, his enemies stopped crying and fell into a deep sleep. Finally.

Sighing, Dan walked over to the side of the path and found his guitar case. Dan played a quick melody on his guitar and checked they hadn't messed with his case or guitar. They hadn't. Sighing in relief, Dan put his guitar away and snapped the case shut.

At the sound of someone clapping, Dan whipped around. There was a man with dark hair standing in the prairie grass. Something about him held Dan's attention. Dan had met many magical creatures, but this man made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

"Nicely done," the man said. "Although you might want to learn a few more spells without the guitar."

"Probably," Dan agreed, wondering if he needed to get his guitar out again.

The man laughed. "Don't worry about me. I'm a friend. Or I could be."

"A friend?" Dan asked.

"Yes," the man said, walking toward Dan. "Here, take my card."

Dan looked down at the card. He wanted to trust this man. His gut told him it was okay. Listening to your gut at a time like this could get you killed. "Thanks, Luke," Dan said, looking at the card, "but I'm lousy about business cards. Lose them all the time."

"Ah well then." Luke put his card away. "Out of curiosity, why didn't you take their offer?"

"They were forcing me into it. It couldn't have been good for me."

"That makes sense," Luke replied. "If you ever need me, come to the Velvet Tango Lounge. I am a great person to have on your side."

"I'll keep that in mind," Dan replied. However, after he left the prairie and made his way home, the first thing Dan did was look online for bands looking for a guitar player. He decided to audition for a Prince cover band called Charming. He hoped there was another mage in the group. This town was starting to get dangerous.

The Dagda's Harp

Like this, only covered in gems.

Hello, reader! This week, our fairy tale comes from Ireland. The Dagda's Harp is a story about thieves and a merciful king. Click on the link to read the story, and continue below to analyze it with me.

I have to admit that as a musician, I am a sucker for stories with magical instruments. There are many stories with that theme and it makes perfect sense to me. Anyway, the Dagda's instrument is literally magical, not just metaphorically. The Dagda can basically do whatever he wants with this thing. I mean, he put the seasons in order with it. I'm surprised he had any enemies who would stand against him. I wonder who made this harp. We're never told, so it could have been anyone, I suppose. Well, anyone with a substantial amount of magic. And gems.

I also need to talk about the Dagda. I'm pretty sure there's a death chord on his harp, since it seems to have everything else. So he could have killed his enemies with music, which is pretty metal. Even if he didn't, his army could have killed the other army while they were all alseep. He could have stolen something from them. He didn't do any of these things. He got his harp back, messed with his enemies a bit, made them all sleep, and left. It's definitely the more honorable thing to do and the more merciful. The Dagda seems like a pretty legit king, which is a nice change from a lot of these other stories. All in all, I like this story.

The moral of this story would have to be: don't steal someone's instrument. Alternatively, if you do steal their instrument, you'd better hope they're nice about getting it back. I wouldn't have been.

Have another moral? Know of a fairy tale you'd like me to talk about? Are you a musician? Comment below!