Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Subject: Re: Saph: Another answer to Drax's riddle. Message-ID: <1992May22.045841.1503@rat.csc.calpoly.edu> From: jax@polyslo.csc.calpoly.edu (Jaxman) Date: Fri, 22 May 92 04:58:41 GMT References: <1992May21.214149.1497@gacvx2.gac.edu> Saphire speaks: >Saph ponders a minute and looks pleased that although most have gotten the >first riddle correct easily, the second is giving more of a chalange. Then >suddenly an idea strikes her and she smiles assuradly, "Dear Drax, could the >answer perhaps be sand? I have seen eyepieces of glass which is sand that >enabled on to see, and sand in one's eyes blinds. Also, sand can erode >mountains given time, and it makes hills called dunes. Finally, does not >almost every ocean have a sandy bottom that will eventually fill in and dry it >up?" She winks at Drax. "Is that what you saught friend Drax?" Drax nods to the Lady Saphire, and smiles. "Ah, I see this time you have guessed correctly, although the previous answers were hardly far from the truth. That is the answer that I had in mind when I posed the riddle. A worthy mind doth thou fair head carry, m'lady." > >"Dear, Drax, you seem to come off pretty swift, tell me, why do you spend your >life in service of a box. It seems to cage you and own you, not vice versa. >Many people indeed are owned by their possessions or are serving in a box; yet >do not know it. Perhaps you have an advantage over them in that you know what >you serve, or even that you serve, but I put it to you: Are you free or do you >meerly long for freedom? Are you happy or are you questing for happiness? >What is Drax like without his box to keep him warm at night, without his >service to it to make him more than the average man? What is there to Drax >that is not to the box; that makes him shed his tears for it? What can Drax >give that the box may not? For although, Drax, you seem the giving type, the >type that lives to help others, I fear this chest you bear will destroy you >that you will only see gifts from it as worth while and not those more precious >gifts which only Drax can give." Drax seems to ponder the words for long moments, you can almost hear the gears grinding as he seems to look off into another realm. Finally, he seems to reach a conclusion. "Ah, m'lady, I see there are some things still that are mysteries to others. For what is freedom and what slavery? True, I am bound to the chest, but I still manage to enjoy life, and have lived many spans longer than I could have ever dreamt. But, with age goes pain, and watching those around you wither away is never pleasant. Drax without his chest is just that, an average man. Perhaps a bit more generous, or more gullible some would say, with a few skills of his own, but nothing of spectacular flare. As for what I can give that the box cannot, that is simplicity itself. Love, companionship, friendship, succor and support, these things that we find so difficult to measure, yet invigorate the giver as much as the receiver. I realize the gifts that only a being can give to another being, and the tears I shed are for those gifts, so soon to dissolve, that will no longer fill the ears and hearts of others. And, I shed tears for the times in which we find ourselves, living by the blade and the blood. There are many things which I realize, for I have lived long, and felt pain as well. Hopefully you will not have to experience this to the fullest." > >She pauses, "Perhaps, I or we," she looks around, "can give something to friend >Drax here. Something of the nature of these wonderous gifts he has been giving >out. What say you my friends?" Drax seems to smile sardonically. "Any such gifts would be appreciated, although I fear they would be short lived." ---Drax Adventurers Credo: "If we break into someones house, steal all of their wealth, and then they attack us, they MUST be evil."