Alpine Lake Creator without a conscience

Tohka was pleasantly surprised, albeit a little overwhelmed, when Wraen asked her to tell both versions of the story. “Alright,” she said, “I guess I’ll start with the bad ending. The good ending is much longer, and I’d rather end on a happy note.”

She gazed out over the water, then the sky, then returned her attention to Wraen and began telling her story. “It all began with a severe illness that struck a litter of pups, and only one of them survived. Although the boy did recover his illness, it left him weak and sickly, so he wasn’t able to do much on his own. As the only surviving pup, his parents doted on him constantly. They fed him, protected him, and talked or sang to him whenever he wanted, so he basically always got whatever he wanted and didn’t have any responsibilities to speak of. He never learned to take care of himself, and even believed he couldn’t take care of himself.”

“As he grew older, he wandered further and further from the den, and one day he happened upon a pond, similar to this lake here, but much smaller. He knew from the stories he had been told that the pond was actually a shrine to Taijo, the dragon of the forest, and that the water within was sacred. But he didn’t care. He was used to doing whatever he wanted whenever he wanted, and he wanted to play in the pond, so that’s what he did.”

“Soon the enraged dragon appeared.” Tohka deepened her voice and spoke loudly, trying to imitate what she thought the dragon would sound like. “ ‘How dare you defile the sacred waters!? Get out of that pond right now!’ his angry voice boomed. The boy trembled as he returned to the shore and faced the dragon. ‘As punishment for your insolence, I will put a curse upon your mother and father. They will itch as if covered with fleas, but there will be none, and the healers will not be able to remedy the affliction.’ ”

For the boy’s voice, she lowered her pitch just enough to give the impression of a masculine voice and continued. “ ‘Why would you curse my parents?’ the boy asked, ‘They didn’t do anything wrong. Shouldn’t you curse me instead?’ ”

“The dragon’s booming voice answered, ‘Why should I put a curse on you when you’ve already cursed yourself? You do not hunt, gather, or fight. You contribute nothing to your pack, and even believe that you can’t. You would learn nothing if I simply cursed you. That is why I will curse your parents instead.’ ”

“The boy returned home to find his parents already under the dragon’s curse. They could no longer hunt, gather, or even play. Instead they just kept scratching themselves, trying to vain to relieve the itching. The pack’s healers tried to cure them, but nothing worked. The pack refused to share any food with him, knowing that it was he who brought the curse on his parents, and he still believed he couldn’t hunt on his own. He just watched helplessly as his parents’ condition deteriorated until they passed away, and he starved to death soon after.”

Tohka paused to allow the the story to sink in, then said in an uncertain tone, “So I guess the moral of the story is that if parents don’t teach their pups to be responsible, then the pups may get themselves and their parents in trouble later.”

After another brief pause, she continued, this time telling the ‘good’ version of the story, or the one that she liked better anyway. “The pond plays a bigger role in the version of the story with the good ending. Instead of helplessly watching his parents die, the boy went back to the pond and called for the dragon. When the dragon finally appeared, he lowered his head and said, ‘I’m sorry for what I did. I knew I wasn’t allowed in the pond and decided to play in it anyway. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you? Is there any way for you to lift the curse on my parents?’ ”

“It was the first time the boy had ever tried to be responsible, and the dragon recognized that. ‘There is indeed something you can do. The pond is not just a mere puddle. It is a gateway to another world, and a kitsune from that world stole one my scales. Dive deep into the water and return to the surface to enter the other world. Find the kitsune and recover my stolen scale and bring it back to me, then I will lift the curse.’ ”

“The task seemed impossible, but the boy knew he had to try. He took a deep a breath and dove into the water. To his surprise, he found that he could swim quite easily. He dove down deep, passed through the gateway, and swam to the surface to emerge in the other world. He found himself in a forest similar to the one he had left, but he had no idea how to find the kitsune. He finally put his nose to the ground and sniffed for anything that smelled like a fox.”

“He eventually found the scent trail of a fox and followed it until he found the animal that left it, which was a large fox with nine tails, and he held the missing dragon scale in his mouth. Upon seeing the boy, the kitsune fled, and the boy chased him. When the boy finally caught up, the kitsune simply said, ‘Play with me. If you play with me, I’ll let you have the dragon scale.’ ” She used a slightly higher pitch than for the fox’s voice to give the impression of a smaller animal. The boy agreed, and the two chased each other, tackled each other, and wrestled until the boy had no more energy and lay down in the grass. The kitsune said, ‘That was fun. We should play again sometime.’ With that, he ran off, leaving the boy and the dragon scale behind.”

“The tired boy picked up the dragon scale and returned to the pond. He dove down into the pond, passed through the gate returning to his own world, and swam to the surface. He found the dragon and presented the scale to him. ‘Well done,’ the dragon said, ‘As promised, I will lift the curse I placed on your parents. You may keep the scale if you wish. I have no more need of it than you need the fur you shed. The point of the quest was for you to see what you could do if you actually tried. You tracked the kitsune, chased him, and in your play you tackled and wrestled with him. Those are things required of a hunter. There’s something for you to think about.’ The boy returned home to find his parents well and no longer under the curse, and he took what the dragon said to heart and joined the pack on their next hunt.”

After a brief pause, she concluded by saying, “The point of this story is that you shouldn’t be held back by things you think you can’t do, or even by things that others think you can’t do.”