Chapter 28

The frightened young female Fraggle ran as fast as she could, dodging rock formations and skittering past various mammalian and insectoid creatures. Everything seemed so disorienting to her. It was just tunnel after tunnel and cave after cave. The further she ran, the worse she felt. She was certain she was going the wrong way. "Home" was the other way, but she couldn't picture it in her mind.

At long last she fell down a shaft and landed with a hard thud on a hard rock floor. She looked around cautiously, groaning.

"More tunnels," she remarked in desperation. Indeed, it seemed like an infinite amount of tunnels lay all around her. She started to pant from exhaustion, leaning against the arch of a craggly tunnel.

The resulting vacuum took her breath away. She saw a yellow glow and flew backwards, tumbling through the air, until she landed with a thud next to a large desk. All over the strange room were paintings and engravings, all in various stages of completion.

"Wer sind Sie?" asked a rough voice.

The Fraggle looked up, dazed, and saw a pale-skinned bipedal creature, easily perhaps three times her height, wearing a fur-lined brown robe over a white tunic. It had shoulder-length curly brown hair and facial hair around its mouth. Its eyes had brown irises.

Was she going crazy? Not only could she not remember her own name, but this creature spoke some silly gibberish.

"What are you?" she asked timidly.

Its eyes grew wider in shock and it jumped backwards. "Sind Sie eine sprechenratte?" it exclaimed.

"Are … are you calling me a 'rat'?" asked the young Fraggle, an instinctive frown curling her snout downward. "I am not a 'rat'." She sighed. "I just wish I knew what I was." She started to sob.

"Sprechenratte," it said again. She determined it must be a male creature by the tone of his voice. He pointed a long pale finger at himself. "Albrecht."

She repeated what she assumed was his name. He nodded. She pointed at herself and shrugged, patting her head gently.

He smiled as though he understood. He picked her up and set her down on a small table, which was warmed by a strong light coming from a window nearby. She curled up and went to sleep underneath the blue cloth in her hands.

For several days the young Fraggle ate the small vegetable and cereal meals the male creature prepared for her, as meat did not seem to suit her very well. With time, she found that each morning she could understand him almost as well as she understood her own speech. He had two names, apparently, "Albrecht" and "Dürer". He seemed very busy each day, painting and carving on paper and wooden blocks.

(How are you feeling today, talking rat)? he asked her as she awoke late one morning.

She smiled in reply. Her head wasn't aching like it was. Perhaps she should have worn that shiny metal helmet when she flew through the tunnel.

(You look better).

She hopped over to his workbench as he etched a design on it, well, started to, anyway. (Why do you cut your pictures)?

(Because), Albrecht noted, (with a painting only the one who has it will enjoy it). He stopped to compare his work with a drawing lying nearby. (With a woodcut, many copies of the drawing can be made, and many can enjoy my work at the same time).

The young Fraggle opened a nearby book and saw a picture like the kind he was making. A cylindrical tent decorated with funny hats opened to reveal a central creature with a crown surrounded by many similar creatures, the two foreground ones holding a long chain in front of the central creature, which Albrecht had said was "woman".

He saw which picture had caught her interest and smiled. ("Folly and her fools") he told her. ("Folly has lavish retinue/the whole world joins it, even you/if you have power and money too"). He nodded. (No matter how bright is the leader, a throng of fools soon appears. This is the meaning of that picture).

For reasons she did not understand, she felt her heart drop at the explanation. Why should she feel sad? Did she experience this herself? Perhaps she was once a leader as well.

She couldn't stand it any longer. (I have to go), she said with certainty. (I have to see if I have friends or family).

He nodded. (You should take some food with you. I wish you well, talking rat).

She jumped down on the floor, grasping her helmet and cloth tightly, and entered a small hole that had appeared when she flew out of the wall. The tunnel walls glittered and seemed to sing to her, guiding her back to where she belonged.