Sgeulachd an tuathanaich
Or The Story of the Farmer
Long ago,
A daonna farmer was in dire circumstances,
Throughout the harvest season, his crop was attacked by a flock of crows every day,
Once he had eventually chased away the flock, however, the damage was already done, and his fields were left barren.
The farmer had only one field left, and he knew the crows will return the next day,
If he did nothing, he and his family would starve during the harsh winter months.
A Phobos belonging to the kin of Trom-Laighe heard of the farmer's plight and took pity on him,
Sneaking into the farmer's dream, the Nightmare talked to the poor farmer,
The Nightmare told him that she can teach him how to scare away the crows so that he and his family could eat,
The farmer was grateful and thanked the Nightmare.
However, the Nightmare made the farmer promise to only use what she taught him on no other living thing but the crows that desolate his crops,
The farmer agreed and promised the Nightmare happily,
And thus, she taught him.
The next day, as the farmer saw the flock of crows fly towards his field, he went to them and used the magic he was taught,
To the farmer's delight, the crows squeaked and shrieked and flew away from the field,
And so, the farmer and his family would not starve.
However, as the farmer strolled around his fields one day, he spotted a group of rowdy youths damaging his land,
The farmer persuaded them to leave, but they would not listen,
Without a thought of the consequence, the farmer used the fear magic to scare away the youths away from his land.
Once the parents of the youths discovered this, they marched to the farmer and demanded he apologise,
The farmer believed it was unfair that he was being punished for protecting his land and so scared away the parents as well.
The parents told their village's mayor of the famer's actions and so the mayor sent a mob to arrest him,
But yet, the farmer scared them away.
With his new power clouding his mind and preventing him from seeing the causes of his actions,
The famer began to scare everyone.
He terrorised the villagers,
He frightened the animals and the wildlife,
He even scared his family out of their home.
He forgot the Nightmare's promise and rejoiced in his dominance over the land.
That is until the day he met his repercussions,
The farmer was walking across his land when he felt something in his mouth,
He reached in and pulled out a single straw of hay,
He pulled out a second and a third and continued to do so as he joints became stiff and his skin turned rough,
He could feel straw scratch his throat as he felt his body become rigid,
Straw entered his arms, his body, his legs and up into his head,
He tried to scream, but found that his mouth had been sewn up by string,
His skin had become a rough fabric and his eyes had become black buttons,
Eventually he stopped screaming, stopped moving and stopped living.
The Nightmare warned him of the dangers of fear,
How if you do not treat it with care, it can take revenge on its user.
The farmer stands there to this day in his field,
Watching over his crops and scaring away any who wish to harm to it,
For the farmer had wished to scare away the crows,
And his wish had been granted.
(Except from the 'Leabhar a 'chinnidh phobos' written by the kin of the Gun Aghaidh. Acquired and translated from Timorin by Victor Soul.)