Disclaimer: The entire ElfQuest universe belongs to the fabulous WaRP duo.
AN: This was an English assignment - write or retell a tale in poem format to go with the rest of Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales." This just covers the time from the High Ones leaving their home world and landing on Abode. I had leave out a bunch of stuff about the trolls and preservers, but I still think it's pretty good. So R&R!
The Symbol-Maker's Tale
Retold by Aki-Chan
A primeval place
Where no technology showed,
Was the World of Two Moons,
Now known as Abode.
The humans were savages
Living in caves
Hunting for meals
And nobody's slaves.
Their instincts still ruled
And when they heard thunder
Their minds were filled
With fear, awe, and wonder.
During a storm more terrible
Than ever before seen
Out of the clouds
Came a thing from a dream.
A palace it was
And the savages found
That it glowed like a jewel
As it settled to the ground.
As the hole in the heavens
Slowly faded away
The humans somehow knew
No good would come of this day.
For from deep inside
The strange "mountain thing"
The sound of voices
Leaked through the laticing.
Great doors swung open
And out of them tumbled
The innocent elves
Into the land where they'd stumbled.
Their original planet,
Light-years away.
Had slowly withered and died
As its sun faded away.
Not wanting to perish
They had gathered together
What few creatures were left
Hiding out in the heather.
And using the magic
They'd mastered so well
They built dozens of capsules
In which they would dwell.
Each floating shell
Went its separate way.
It is just one of these
That I speak of today.
It flew for millennia
Through glittering stars
Visiting many worlds
(Perhaps even ours!).
Some planets they stopped at
Were but dead and cold
Others teeming with life,
Stranger than can be told.
But loneliness caught up with them
And they made up their mind
To search through the skies
For signs of their kind.
Approaching Abode,
They saw down below
That of the other elves
The humans seemed to know.
For their legends and art
Showed immortal beings
That seemed to match perfectly
The traits of elflings.
The elves therefore reshaped
Their bodies and their shell
To match the descriptions
In the tales the humans tell.
They grew tall and slender
With bright eyes and silk hair.
The earthen shell they turned
To a palace that floated in air.
But something went wrong
As they prepared their descent.
The palace shook wildly,
Its course was all bent.
The trolls had rebelled,
Slashing the guiders' cocoons
And down the elves crashed
On the World of Two Moons.
Not only did they land
On the wrong continent,
But into the wrong time
The poor elves were sent.
Landing not in the Golden Age
Of fine arts and learning,
They found themselves stuck
In the very beginning.
As terrified of the elves,
As they were of men
The savage humans
Were panicking, then.
They struck out in blindness
Fear of the unknown
Overwhelming their minds
Thus setting the tone.
A slaughter ensued
As the elves quickly found
That their magic flowed weakly
And they were trapped on the ground.
The reason for their coming
Remained always unspoken
For the humans would not listen
To so much as a token.
The elves quickly learned
To give as good as they got
The feud did not cool-
Instead, it grew hot.
For countless generations
The battle went on
Man against surviving elves
They would not get along.
The elves murdered humans
While trying to find
A way into the palace
They'd had to leave behind.
The humans struck back,
Seeking their revenge
And so the cycle started
Of a hate that never ends.
This is but a few pages
From a thirty-volume epic,
But what I have to tell you
Will sum it all up in a tick.
Most hate is not caused
By wisdom or wit.
Rather, ignorance is
The beginning of it.
AN: This was an English assignment - write or retell a tale in poem format to go with the rest of Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales." This just covers the time from the High Ones leaving their home world and landing on Abode. I had leave out a bunch of stuff about the trolls and preservers, but I still think it's pretty good. So R&R!
The Symbol-Maker's Tale
Retold by Aki-Chan
A primeval place
Where no technology showed,
Was the World of Two Moons,
Now known as Abode.
The humans were savages
Living in caves
Hunting for meals
And nobody's slaves.
Their instincts still ruled
And when they heard thunder
Their minds were filled
With fear, awe, and wonder.
During a storm more terrible
Than ever before seen
Out of the clouds
Came a thing from a dream.
A palace it was
And the savages found
That it glowed like a jewel
As it settled to the ground.
As the hole in the heavens
Slowly faded away
The humans somehow knew
No good would come of this day.
For from deep inside
The strange "mountain thing"
The sound of voices
Leaked through the laticing.
Great doors swung open
And out of them tumbled
The innocent elves
Into the land where they'd stumbled.
Their original planet,
Light-years away.
Had slowly withered and died
As its sun faded away.
Not wanting to perish
They had gathered together
What few creatures were left
Hiding out in the heather.
And using the magic
They'd mastered so well
They built dozens of capsules
In which they would dwell.
Each floating shell
Went its separate way.
It is just one of these
That I speak of today.
It flew for millennia
Through glittering stars
Visiting many worlds
(Perhaps even ours!).
Some planets they stopped at
Were but dead and cold
Others teeming with life,
Stranger than can be told.
But loneliness caught up with them
And they made up their mind
To search through the skies
For signs of their kind.
Approaching Abode,
They saw down below
That of the other elves
The humans seemed to know.
For their legends and art
Showed immortal beings
That seemed to match perfectly
The traits of elflings.
The elves therefore reshaped
Their bodies and their shell
To match the descriptions
In the tales the humans tell.
They grew tall and slender
With bright eyes and silk hair.
The earthen shell they turned
To a palace that floated in air.
But something went wrong
As they prepared their descent.
The palace shook wildly,
Its course was all bent.
The trolls had rebelled,
Slashing the guiders' cocoons
And down the elves crashed
On the World of Two Moons.
Not only did they land
On the wrong continent,
But into the wrong time
The poor elves were sent.
Landing not in the Golden Age
Of fine arts and learning,
They found themselves stuck
In the very beginning.
As terrified of the elves,
As they were of men
The savage humans
Were panicking, then.
They struck out in blindness
Fear of the unknown
Overwhelming their minds
Thus setting the tone.
A slaughter ensued
As the elves quickly found
That their magic flowed weakly
And they were trapped on the ground.
The reason for their coming
Remained always unspoken
For the humans would not listen
To so much as a token.
The elves quickly learned
To give as good as they got
The feud did not cool-
Instead, it grew hot.
For countless generations
The battle went on
Man against surviving elves
They would not get along.
The elves murdered humans
While trying to find
A way into the palace
They'd had to leave behind.
The humans struck back,
Seeking their revenge
And so the cycle started
Of a hate that never ends.
This is but a few pages
From a thirty-volume epic,
But what I have to tell you
Will sum it all up in a tick.
Most hate is not caused
By wisdom or wit.
Rather, ignorance is
The beginning of it.