Chapter 6 #3
Thano didn't know what he meant, they all lived in the same world, and for some reason, it annoyed him that Romeo was looking at Eli the way he did. He'd come here with Thano.
Eli looked at Humbert for a second, assessing his face. Maybe it was the first time he'd seen a non-human-passing bear. The ears could be a little unnerving. Since Humbert was sitting down, Thano didn't think his bear feet were distracting Eli.
"A fable is a short story, really short, with animals in them, and there is a moral lesson."
Humbert groaned. "Mom says things teach me lessons all the time, most often when I've hurt myself."
Eli laughed softly. "In the before times, long, long before the world changed--" He winced and glanced at Romeo, who shrugged. "--they used fables to teach people things. Like The Boy Who Cried Wolf."
Thano had no idea what Eli was talking about.
"I don't think they know it." Romeo cradled his mug. "Just assume they don't know any of our stories."
"You know it?" Humbert looked accusingly at Romeo. "Why have you never told it. Maybe Conal wants to hear it."
"I'd forgotten it. If you ask kindly, Eli might tell it to you."
Eli nodded.
"Why did he cry wolf?" Humbert was staring at Eli.
"There was a boy whose job it was to look after the sheep.
One day he was bored, so he called: 'Help!
Wolf! Wolf!' And the people in the village came running to help him protect the sheep, but there was no wolf.
The boy laughed at them, and they got angry with him and told him not to tell lies.
Some time went by, and the boy was bored again, so he called: 'Help!
Wolf! Wolf!' and the villagers came running again.
The boy laughed at them again, and they got angry again. "
Humbert huffed.
"Later the same day, the wolf came. The boy called for help, but no one came, and the wolf ate his sheep."
Everyone stared at Eli who took a sip of his tea.
"That's it?" Thano was confused.
"Yup, that's it. It's a fable. Short, and it conveys a moral."
Thano didn't understand. "What's the moral?"
"If you tell lies, people won't believe you when you tell the truth."
Oh, yeah, Thano could see what he meant, so he nodded.
"It was a boring story." Humbert leaned back in his chair.
Eli shrugged. "I never said it would be funny."
"No, I guess," Humbert grumbled. "What about the one with the bear?"
Thano wanted to grumble too. This was not what he'd had in mind when he'd brought Eli here.
Eli smiled. "Two men were traveling through a forest--"
"Off the paved road?" Excitement shined in Humbert's eyes.
"Ah...eh...yeah, I assume so." Eli looked at Romeo again, and he nodded in reply. What was that about? Did they both know the story, and if so, why had Romeo never told it to them?
"All of a sudden, a bear rushed out of the foliage--"
Humbert was bouncing in his seat. "A big bear? A male or a female?"
"Oh...I don't know. When my mom told it to me, she only ever said bear."
"I think it was a male bear."
Eli nodded. "It might have been. Anyway, the bear rushed out, and one of the men quickly climbed a tree, but the other didn't have the time to, so he dropped to the ground and played dead.
The bear walked up to him and brought his snout close to the man's ear, sniffed him, and then he walked away.
The other man climbed down from the tree and said it looked like the bear had been talking to the man on the ground, and he wanted to know what he'd said.
The man who'd been on the ground said: 'He told me it's not wise to keep company with someone who deserts their friend in a moment of danger. '"
"He spoke while in bear form?" Humbert looked confused. "We can't."
"It's a fairy tale."
Humbert shrugged but looked disappointed. "What's the lesson?"
"I don't know. What do you think it is?"
Humbert glanced at the ceiling. "Bears are kind and spare humans off the paved road. But it's not true."
This time Eli looked at Thano instead of Romeo. "Eh..."
Thano took a step closer to Eli. "The lesson is to choose your friends wisely. The tree-climbing human sacrificed his friend to get away from the bear, so he wasn't a good friend."
"Ah...yeah, I see." Humbert looked at him. "But in reality, the bear would've killed both of them. He'd climb the tree after the coward. And the crows would tell everyone else there were humans in the territory."
"Have you finished your tea?" Thano directed the question to Eli.
Eli looked into the cup and gulped down the last of it. "Yes."
It would be best if Eli could eat something, but they'd be here all evening if they didn't get a move on. "Can I take Eli to the office?"
Romeo nodded. "Yeah, sure, go ahead."
Last year, they'd kept all books in Romeo's bedroom to make sure no one stole them, but Ciar had grown annoyed at people wanting to come and look at them there, so he'd carried them into the smaller room next to the big room on the first floor.
They kept them in their different boxes and Romeo had thrown a sheet over them, but if someone wanted to know something, they could sit in the office and read about it.
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