fine dwarven memes

[memerabilia]

THE WOLF AND THE WOODSMAN | AVA REID | PART I

adjust as necessary!

I need my hair braided for the ceremony.

Some of us care very much about the history of our people.

No fighting today. Let's not do our enemy's job for them.

They're coming for you.

You must have known all along.

Still, you need to forge some silver.

I don't understand why you want to march me to my death.

You did mean it, or else you're a liar.

What's worse, a liar or a monster?

When are you going to dazzle us with your magic?

It's not something that can be taught.

The loathing is in our blood.

I'd rather pass the time by talking than staring into the darkness and waiting to die.

Perhaps the rest of us would rather die in silence.

I intend to run away screaming the moment I see so much as a pair of eyes in the dark.

Don't worry, [name]. I was only teasing.

I promise to protect you when the monsters come.

You're going to tease your way to an early grave.

Better to die young with a smile on my face than live a long life without laughter.

It's not magic. It's faith.

You don't deserve the dignity of a swift death.

Don't. Don't say his/her/their name again.

You know the punishment for treachery, [name].

I suppose I should thank you. For saving my life.

I don't uphold my oath for your gratitude.

You must also fear the wrath of your gods if you dare stray from their righteous path.

Our gods don't ask us for perfection.

Do you know what will be done to you?

I looked for you everywhere. I couldn't find you.

Is that all you have to offer?

It's better not to agonize over such things.

Why did you lie to me?

Do you have an ounce of magic at all?

I'm not interested in knowing the minds of demons.

I thought you were a clever soldier.

It turns out you're just a stupid prince.

That's the stupidest logic I've ever heard.

I don't expect you'll survive very long.

So it's the fate of your own soul that has you so troubled?

You'd rather make a man suffer than bear the guilt of killing him?

Better to wound than to kill.

We'll just go north until there's nowhere left to go.

Do you call a hawk evil when it snatches up a mouse to eat? Do you call a fire evil when it burns your logs to ash? Do you call the night sky evil when it drinks down the day? Of course not. They are surviving, like the rest of us.

I don't think the hawk is evil. But I'm not a mouse.

Mice don't have the luxury of passing moral judgement on every living thing they come across. Mice just gets eaten.

And have you kept your faith staunchly?

Are you saying you are holier than us?

I have sacrificed much to be as blessed as I am.

You'll have to show a bit more repentance than that.

As if you could do a lick of damage without my help.

Will you please untie me?

Do you know how hard it is to scratch an itch when your hands are bound?

Your god can keep his mercy. Perhaps you should ask me for mine.

You're a prince. Act like one.

If I acted like a prince I'd bind and gag your for talking the way you do.

People don't simply disappear.

It must hurt you to know how much you need me. How you couldn't survive without me.

My life is worth much less than yours. If it now belongs to you, then you struck a poor bargain.

Fight your own monster, then.

Uphold your own silly oath.

You are terribly stubborn.

I suppose you'll want me to feed you, then.

Don't rifle through a man's things like a common thief.

Better to die swiftly under a knife than to watch your fingers and toes rot away with the cold, or feel your belly eating itself until there's nothing left but bone.

Can I trust you not to be such an imprudent fool?

Are you trying to punish me?

If you're trying to make me feel sorry for what I did, you've already succeeded.

It's not for me to decide if a man deserves to die.

That's all I've been taught. My entire life. To endure the slight and swallow my loathing.

All this talk of quiet obedience is for their benefit, not yours. They don't have to go to the effort of striking you down if you're already on your knees.

Let me see your cut.

If you die of blood poisoning, I will kill you.

We've lost so much time already.

You're welcome to keep going on your own.

You don't need to remind me of that particular pain.

Every day I think I'm remembering less of my mother than the day before.

You are an oddity, then.

That's an awfully kind way of putting it.

[memerabilia]

THE SEVENTH SEAL | INGMAR BERGMAN

adjust as necessary!

who are you?

i am death.

my body is afraid, not me.

oh, i've seen it in paintings, and heard it in songs.

yes, i really am a quite skilled chess player.

you can't be more skilled than i.

people speak of ill omens. two horses had eaten each other during the night. at the churchyard the graves had been opened and the remains of the dead had been scattered. there were four suns in the sky yesterday.

i've had a vision! no, not a vision, it was real.

oh, you've had a vision again.

it was real. not the kind of reality you see, but another kind of reality.

otherwise people will take you for a fool, and you're not. at least not yet, as far as i know.

i haven't asked for my visions. i can't help that voices speak to me and the Holy Lady shows herself for me and that angels and devils like my company.

i have told you i need to sleep in the mornings. i've begged you, pleaded with you and nothing helps. so now i say: quiet!

if the priests didn't pay well i'd say no.

can't we set up something lewd? people like it better, and it's much more fun.

will the women love me in this costume? just asking.

thought one might remind people of the fact they'll die.

why the hell must one always make people happy? one can scare them a little now and then.

a skull is much more interesting than a naked woman.

me, scared? you don't know me.

i think you were scared after all.

i want to confess my sins as honestly as i can, but my heart is empty.

the emptiness is a mirror turned towards my face. i see myself, and i'm filled with repulsion and fear.

through my indifference to humanity i've been placed outside of their society.

now i live in a ghost world, enclosed in my dreams and fantasies.

and despite this you do not wish to die?

is it to terribly inconceivable to grip God with one’s senses? why must he hide in a cloud of half-said promises and unseen miracles?

how can we have faith in the faithful when we ourselves lack faith? what will happen to us, who want to have faith but cannot? and what happens to those who neither can nor want to have faith?

why can’t i kill God inside me? why does he live on in me in a painful and humiliating way, even though i curse him and want to evict him from my heart? why is he in spite of it all a mocking reality i can’t be rid of?

i want knowledge. not faith, not assumptions, but knowledge.

i want God to give me his hand, uncover his face, and speak to me.

i call to him in the dark, but sometimes it is as though there’s no one there.

if there is no one there, then living is a preposterous horror. no human can live with death before his eyes, and the knowledge of everything’s nothingness.

most people reflect on neither death nor nothingness.

but one day you still stand on life’s farthest peninsula and look towards the dark.

we must make an idol of our fear, and that idol we shall call God.

he grins at Death, laughs at God and smiles at the girls. his world is believable to no one but himself, ridiculous to all, including himself.

next time we meet i'll mark your face as one does with petty criminals.

i am a nice young man who has never done anything but noble deeds and never thought anything but beautiful thoughts.

i'm married, but i'm hoping my wife will be dead by now.

i saved you from death, so you owe me a lot.

do you know this could be your last hour? death stands behind your backs. who of you will he come to first?

oh it's true, the plague is all over the west coast. people die like flies. usually one can make good business there.

it's terrible with all these ill omens.

some people cleanse themselves with fire and die. but the priests say it's better to die cleansed than to die and go to Hell.

faith is great suffering. it's like loving someone who is out there in the dark but never shows himself.

i will remember this moment. the stillness of the evening. your faces in the twilight. i will try to remember what we spoke of, and i will carry this memory in my hands.

you bastard! if i were in your lousy rags, i'd be gripped by such shame over my person that i would free nature from my embarrassing sight!

i will squeeze your belly until your intestines come out through your ears!

just kill me! i will thank you - afterwards.

he has to fight me or i can't kill him. he's got to at least make me angry.

he's dead. he's very dead. i've almost never seen someone so dead.

are there no excuses? no special rules? no loopholes? no exceptions?

eat this, and the pain will lessen.

you look anxious. are you hiding something?

do you no longer recognize me? you've changed too.

now i can see it's you. somewhere in your eyes, somewhere in your face, but hidden and scared...

it's over now, and i'm a little weary.

in the dark where you are, where we probably all are, no one hears your complaints or cares about your suffering.

dry your tears, look at your reflection in your own indifference.

o lord who is somewhere, who has to be somewhere, have mercy!

they move away, away from dawn in a solemn dance, away to the dark lands while the rain washes the salt of their tears from their faces.

[memerabilia]

THE BEEKEEPER'S PICNIC-a sherlockian adventure | afoot games

adjust as necessary | SPOILERS UNDER CUT!

You're not hurt, [name]? For God's sake, say that you are not hurt!

If he had killed you, I would not have let him get out of this room alive.

[Name], I do wish you would stop that. Ruminating over my injury. You must stop worrying.

We could go back to [place], you know. For a holiday. I imagine it is rather nice when one is not fleeing for one's life.

[Name]? Is it possible that you are slightly bored?

It is my practice to keep my unread correspondence firmly secured to my mantelpiece with a jackknife.

Books do make a place feel like home, don't they?

I suppose you hope it will reply back to me, perhaps engage in a light musical number? We are not in a fairy tale, you know.

Ah, my loyal beakers, my beloved Bunsen burner, my most excellent test tubes.

You are quite certain you require nothing of me?

I value your companionship, but beyond that, no special measures are needed.

[Name], you are brooding again.

I am touched that you are so affected—deeply touched, but I hate to see you keep berating yourself.

Of course I will come with you if you need me. If you ask me to join you, I will.

No, I cannot ask that of you.

You are loyal and true to a fault my dear, dear [Name], and I am certain that you would give up your passion to join me in mine.

It seems that we are being drawn along different paths, then.

They were wonderful years, weren't they? I loved every moment.

[Name], they were glorious years. We were glorious.

You won't vanish on me, will you, [name]? You won't simply disappear without telling me you are going? I could not bear that.

Oh, I remain as wiry as ever under the knitwear, I assure you.

There is a legend which states that if you tell your deepest secrets to an instrument, it will share it with others when you play.

I feel it does a man no harm to look at his death every once in a while.

Death is a mingling of eternity with time. In the death of a good man, eternity is seen looking through tine.

Although acoustically it is a Platonian shadow of music, I must say that I enjoy putting on a record in the evenings and enjoying a concert in the comfort of my own home.

I think it may be a fundamental law of the universe that a cat cannot be used.

I decided to challenge myself to paint a small painting, one each day throughout a month. I only completed eight before I became distracted by another project.

Pah, arthritis! Are you entirely sure I have arthritis?

Sorry for having to say 'honk, honk'. I used to have a little horn but I've lost it, so now I just say 'honk, honk' in a cheerful sort of way. Honk, honk!

I was always told redheads should not wear red, so I try to do so as often as possible.

It means a lot to a child when an adult takes them seriously, I think.

It's a great pleasure to meet a fellow appreciator of bees.

And dare I say it, I am happier here.

If you wear a monocle, people assume you must be somebody important.

Who knows what these hands may one day accomplish? The discoveries they may make, the wounds they may heal.

Mmmmm. I don't know. I still think you may be magic.

Then... may I choose you to be in my family?

I'm afraid you made several elementary errors in your scheme.

In the future you may want to add a slight amount of blue dye to your fake blood, and perhaps cornflour to make it more viscous.

Hmmm. When did I begin to look so avuncular?

What an odd creature you are, [name].

I have always been an odd looking fellow, and I cannot say age has improved the situation.

I find it prudent not to ask.

I'm a door-to-door fact deliverer! Did you know that newts can grow back their limbs if they are chopped off?

The nutria is my absolute favourite large herbivorous semiaquatic South American rodent!

I say, that's ballsy clever of you!

I suppose if I were to say that it is for some amateur dramatics, you wouldn't believe it?

I think it is for mischief.

We bring moments of joy and escape into the lives of our readers. What could be more important?

I feel I have seen too much war and death. It is about time I took up my ease.

That is your greatest gift, my dear fellow. It always was.

To new beginnings. To sublime joy. To the tenacity of hope.

It was all for naught. I have lost him again.

There is hope yet. Yes, there is hope yet.

You put a great deal of effort into staging your murder, and I was not appreciative.

Sometimes I feel it is almost like we share a soul, you and I. Even when we are apart, I feel there are threads pulling us together again.

I think I've always been in love with you, [name]. That's the rub of it. I simply felt you should know.

I can only hope that the regard you have for me and the memories of our association are not tarnished by this.

Why have you taken me on as a burden when I have mistreated you so?

Sometimes the things we find most difficult about a person are also aspects of the things we love most about them.

No, [name], you are fallible. Thank heavens for that.

[Name], you are trembling. Whatever are you afraid of?

I am afraid I will treat you badly, we will quarrel terribly, and then I will lose you again.

Of course we will quarrel. You think two caring people whose lives are caught up together never get thoroughly sick of each other? When we do, we shall see it through together.

I think there will be no more partings, except the one brought on by Death himself, and I think even he may have a hard time of it.

I also feel that I should observe the ancient customs that bees should be informed of significant events in the life of their keeper.

[memerabilia]

JUNIPER & THORN | AVA REID

adjust as necessary.

I checked under my bed, but the monster was gone.

When I was younger, their mean words made me cry.

Dear [name], no one will believe we're anything but witches if you don't put a comb through your hair.

But that doesn't make as lurid of a story. And it doesn't sell as many papers.

You really don't know anything of the world, do you, [name]?

What do you do when you're young and have already achieved everything that most people can only dream of? You have the rest of your life in front of you, but nowhere else to go.

In an hour he'll vomit up another half liter of vodka and then fall asleep, and his body will punish him in the morning.

Tell me, what sort of witchery do you practice? Are you a soothsayer? A hedge-witch? A phrenoligist?

Oh, I've always wanted to watch a real witch do her work.

Perhaps you can come back to the theater. It would make me very happy to see your face in the crowd, [name].

Shall i cast a spell that will give you cat's eyes and chicken feet? Perhaps I shall. Perhaps I shall turn you all into hags.

Wipe away the dewiness in your eyes and scrub the flush from your cheeks.

Do you think I would ever let his serpent's jaws close around you?

One night. One night to indulge this foolish desire, and then no more.

There's hardly anything in life worth doing that doesn't make somebody angry.

Why should I care what happens with my body when I die? Cook up my heart and liver if you have a particular craving, though I think I'd be a bit gamy.

I really am glad to see your face again, [name]. I wasn't sure I would.

Please tell me you haven't chosen a girl whose father can sharpshoot.

It's rude to let a lady sit empty-handed at the tavern. All the other patrons would think so poorly of me my reputation would never recover from it.

Drinking vodka gets easier with every swallow. Like anything, really. If you do it for long enough it stops hurting. Then other things stop hurting.

I've never been so truly eviscerated by a man I only once met.

I don't have any secrets. At least none that I would mind you knowing.

This is the first time in a long while I've gotten to dance at a place I chose, with a partner to my liking.

Well, you're my first lie, my first secret. Does that please you?

Only if it pleases you.

You don't need to drag around your family history like an old dead dog.

I try to live every night like death is riding for me at the very first hour of dawn, so I'll have very few regrets when he finally stands in the door.

Almost all stories begin with a happy couple. If they have daughters, its generally a sign that things will go wrong.

Why have you been so kind to me?

The curse has it's teeth in my mind.

It would be another curse, to confess such things so baldly in the morning light.

Surely you do not wish to curse me so. You are not that kind of witch.

You are not a fool, [name], but sometimes you persevere in behaving like one.

Tell me, will you rejoice when you find me dead? Will you make merry over my pile of bones and skin, will you laugh as you tip my body into its early grave?

And is it a family heirloom? A talisman of ancestral sorcery?

Incidentally, I'm very sorry for your loss. Perhaps earning a pretty sum will ease a bit of your grief.

I can cook a monster for you.

If he doesn't leave soon, I'll have to cast a spell.

Don't think I have forgotten your treachery.

It was a terribly selfish thing of you to do, and don't you try to tell me otherwise.

I think you're so stupid you don't even know why I'm calling you stupid. Do you?

You would just blush and bat your lashes if someone tied a tourniquet around your thigh and and prepared to saw your leg off.

It's no fun stamping through old dirty snow. People want to ruin things that are clean and new.

Even baby birds know how to shriek, even kittens know how to mewl, even puppies know how to whine. But no one ever told me I'm allowed to scream.

Why are you speaking to me in riddles? Speak plainly, or do not speak at all.

Why do you always make things worse for yourself, [name]? You can never manage to just keep your head down and your mouth shut.

I can't protect you from your own foolishness.

I'll be cross with you now, later, and whenever I damn well please.

I can't bear to watch a woman cry on my account. Unless I've moved her to new heights of ecstasy.

I might as well die when my face is still pretty and my smiles are still coy.

I want, most of all, for someone to steal the wretched, awful burden of it away from me, and to explain precisely how wretched and awful it was.

Magic is the first sip of a good wine that makes the edges of your vision blur. Magic is the cool breeze of the boardwalk at night and organ music in the air. Magic is the low flicker of tavern lights and the one you're courting leaning close so you can kiss.

It's good magic, you know. Maybe the best.

I feel different. Maybe its good magic after all.

It's the oldest story there is, men wanting things that could kill them.

If I kiss you again, will you turn into someone who believes me?

Do you plan to kiss your way out of every predicament?

Any predator can choose to smile without teeth.

I wish that I could give you a softer place to fall.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'll never leave you again.

I don't think I like this story.

You would not be ugly, not to me.

What spell did you cast over the door?

A parent knows their child the way a tree knows all its branches, the way a snake knows all the scales on its belly.

What right do you have to be rescued?

You told me once you have to beat your body until it obeys you. Perhaps you should treat it kindly instead.

I hope this has extinguished the charm of your little rebellion.

I want to hear what's inside your mind.

What happens when you hold up a mirror to a monster? In my experience, nothing enrages them more than the truth.

If you say you must go, I cannot stop you. But please, [name]—come back to me.

I don't want it to be true. Please, make it not true. Take it all back.

Say you take it all back. Say that none of it was you.

You wanted a story, didn't you? I am simply telling it. I do not think you would prefer the truth—it is ugly and mundane, and stories are sweet and safe.

What sort of man cares so little for the blood of innocents spilled?

What sort of man weds a woman with such sharp teeth?

I won't let you take their deaths from me. Your love cannot make me less of a monster.

Don't you see? You can take my heart and liver; slit up my belly and eat what's inside. I would sooner bear it than lose you.

If you ever loved me, it was only because I was a soft thing you threw down into the bottom of a pit to break your fall.

I couldn't bear to wage war with this awful world alone.

[memerabilia]

| SENTENCE STARTERS | THE BEAR & THE NIGHTINGALE |

PART I. | PART II. adjust as necessary.

Why after a hard winter and a hard summer must we waste food and drink on these?

Better to eat. There will not be food like this all winter.

Why do you stay here? No one would fault you for going.

A self-appointed task in service of your own pride.

It is a cruel task, to frighten people in God's name. However, [name], I am not afraid.

Wanting despite yourself, and hating where you love. Oh, you are beautiful.

After all your silence, do you speak to me at last?

Have no fear. I stand with you, and you will never again be alone. The world will fall to your feet because you have been loyal.

Be faithful, and I will never leave you.

I'd rather my sons living, and my daughters safe, than a chance at glory for unborn descendants.

Wild birds die in cages.

And so? Blessed are those who linger only a little in this mire of wickedness before they going into the presence of God.

The things you speak of are false; illusions to tempt the unwary. Hold to truth and all will be well.

I would carry your word to the ends of the earth, if only you asked it.

Only tell me what I must do. I will be faithful.

Call me with every breath and call me by name.

Only never leave me again.

There is evil among us. It creeps into our souls in the night, in the silence. It is waiting for the unwary.

I see you. You are all I see sometimes.

I see you. But, [name], there is little to see.

This winter will pass, as others have passed.

You want my people to love you, so you made them afraid.

Yes, I am all right. Forgive me. I must have cried out in my sleep.

You are out of luck, I am afraid, [name], and have been for some time.

If you do not take pity, we are all going to die.

It is my place, and they are my people.

Watch with me tonight. When you are here, I am stronger.

Get you gone. You have done enough evil here.

You would do better to come in and eat it by the fire.

Fallen so far, my poor creature?

I desire greatly that she/he/they retire from the world. It must be sooner, not later.

Do you be quiet and pray.

Defy me? It is done, and you will be bound with rope if you do not care to walk.

I have wronged no one. I have hurt no one. I have tried to save you!

I do not threaten. it is the truth.

Truth? Truth, you little liar, there is no truth in you!

A noble sacrifice? How will that help anyone?

I have helped all I can, and earned these people's hatred.

If this is the last decision I make, at least it is my decision.

Do you think I want to lose you to this folly?

Well, I was given a choice, and I am taking it.

You would not have saved me if you meant to kill me.

What madness brought you into the forest tonight?

This is my hour and mine alone.

I was so frightened I couldn't think.

I decided I would rather freeze in a snowbank. Well, that was before I began to freeze in a snowbank. It hurts.

I shall tell her as little as possible. And hope that is enough.

You are wounded. You are weary.

Perhaps you should be honoured; I do not often have guests.

There is magic in your bones. You must reckon with it.

You can walk where you will, into peace, oblivion, or pits of fire, but you will always choose.

Yes, there is death in it, but not before joy, or glory.

Will you stay here instead, and sing away eternity?

Some things I can heal. But I cannot heal gently.

I am little more than a shadow now, in the houses of men. Once I was a guest.

I am displeased, my servant. I am most displeased.

You will walk a hard road. If you have not the courage to meet it, better—far better—to die quiet. Perhaps I meant you a kindness.

Nothing changes, [name]. Things are, or they are not. Magic is forgetting that something ever was other than as you willed it.

All my life I have been told to 'go' and 'come'. I am told how I will live and I am told how I will die. I would walk into the jaws of hell itself, if it were a path of my own choosing. I would rather die tomorrow than live the life appointed to me.

What do I know of ancient magic, or ancient rivalries, or anything else?

No—please. Do not leave me, I beg. I beg!

And I was left with my sin—that I wanted you.

You must hold on, then. As long as you may. Be brave.

They are always afraid at the end. But the fear of the brave—that is best.

He had—such a look about him. As if he knew what to do, and how, and why.

Well, that is something, to be remembered.

It was his choice, [name]. It was his privilege. He would not have had it otherwise.

And I suppose you frighten people all the time on your own account.

I will be free, and I will not count the cost.

Anywhere, [name]. The world is wide, and the road will take us anywhere.

Come in, [name]. It is cold.

[memerabilia]

| SENTENCE STARTERS | THE BEAR & THE NIGHTINGALE |

PART I. adjust as necessary.

What tale will you have tonight?

Pray the wretched ewe delivers tonight.

You are sure you have the strength for it?

Power is a birthright to the women/men/members of her/his/their bloodline.

Come to bed.

Remember before? You used to tell me stories.

You will give me your word to care for them, will you not?

Sleep, [name], for it is winter.

It is two weeks' riding if all goes well. I will need you on the road.

They are all like that, the princes that live. Either they are good judges of men, or they are dead.

But there is peace here, peace beyond anything. I see you have felt it.

Many pilgrims come here, and many ask to stay. But we only take those who do not know what they are looking for.

Wash off the stink. We are feasting tonight.

I see your holy man made quite an impression.

She/he/they is growing too old to lurk around the palace and make folk nervous.

There are convents enough. It is a simple matter.

She/he/they cannot fail to be a beauty.

Enough of that. I have decided, and it is for the best.

You thought that such as I do not walk in the places of men? Well, I go where I will.

Well, signs are not infallible.

The hour might have passed; the hour might never come.

No. Am I so easily defeated?

The blood holds.

I swear it. On the ice and the snow and a thousand lives of men.

There it is. A trinket, no more.

They will be here before nightfall; we must be ready to receive them.

I knew it must come, [name]. But it is a hard thing.

I think I need not tell you what will happen if you play me false.

To wed a decent man and be safe in his house, to worship God and bear strong sons—that is real and right.

Fairy tales are sweet on winter nights, nothing more.

The world is fair to me still, especially the north of the world in summertime.

I am sorry. It is a hard thing.

I must go, [name]. Do not hate me for going.

Give thanks. Your salvation is just at hand.

No, no, it really must be you.

Oh, a good woman; a good woman. Not like the mistress that was, but a good woman all the same. I know no harm of her.

Fear—and desire—not that you know anything of either.

Dying, they know me for who I am.

Here comes one who would be good eating.

He is full of desire. Desire and fear. He does not know what he desires, and he does not admit his fear. But he feels both, strong enough to strangle.

Perhaps he desires death. If so—I can help him.

I know what I need. But I do not know where to find it.

Gawky. Clumsy, half-grown. But half the house watches to see what she will do next.

At dawn tomorrow, I think, [name]. It is best to harvest before full light.

I know where the wild mint grows. And there will be elderberries if we are fortunate, and blackberries.

You are human after all. I wondered.

Not angels. Men only, but men with voices that would not shame angels. At nightfall they light a hundred thousand candles, and everywhere there is gold and music...

You did not want to come here, did you? We have no music or lights, and precious few people... Can you not go away?

I go where God sends me. If my work is here, I will stay here.

Are you going to save us, then? I think you should be careful, [name]. We have never needed saving before.

I— of course, [name], I am well, I just—forgive me, I...

Tell me what brings you to seek solace at such an hour.

They have not told you that I am mad?

But they aren't—can't—be real. No one else sees...I am mad; I know I am mad.

Oh. Oh, please. Make it go away. Make them go away.

I will pray and think on it. Go back and go to sleep, [name].

Have mercy on us and save us.

Repent lest you burn. The fire is very near. It is waiting for you and your children, each time you lie down to sleep.

Why should we alone be allowed to raise our voices in praise? Crickets worship with songs as much as we.

That will teach her/him/them the price of sin.

We must look to our children and our livestock, and only go into the forest in daylight.

Be still. Sit down. This is unseemly.

I speak for my people; they are afraid; they are sorry.

It is the coming storm. The first sign is fear. The second is always fire. Your people are afraid, and now the fires burn.

It is my wrath and my warning.

Courage will save you. If your people are afraid, then they are lost.

You have done wonders already. I am—do not think me ungrateful, [name].

Fear is first, then fire, then famine.

And I say to you surely that if he lives now, many will die.

You've done enough damage; can you not let them be?

I want to save you, [name]. I will save you all. There are dark forces you do not understand.

And it seems to me we did very well before you came; for if we prayed less, we also wept less.

Mark me, [name]. Pray for the dead, comfort the sick. But leave me alone, or next time one of them comes for you, I shall not lift a finger to help you.

He will call me and I will answer; he will have my allegiance and I will turn against you. I cannot do otherwise.

The leaves are falling. Do not leave the forest.

You were frightened when they sent you here. You felt the forest closing around you like a fist; I could see it in your eyes.

Hush. Do not be a fool; you are making yourself frightened.

You are right. I am foolish. I was born for a cage, after all.

It is easy to die. Harder to live. Do not forget me, [name].