Page 69 - Folio Only
P. 69
of ruby. (“Wait,” I hear you saying, “Did you say 'when he takes out his eye?'“
Yes. Hold that thought; I'll tell you more about that later. Altro da sequire.)
His other eye, his left one, it's made of a soft stone, also red, but you can't see
through it. It looks more like it's made of chalk. the kind which artists use to
sketch out preliminary drawings. Darker, though; not orange like the painters'
chalk, but blood red. Yes, Kinderslüka's left eye is crumbly like dried blood,
but bright red. When Kinderslüka is hungry and trying to find some child to
eat, he takes out his eyes and throws them on the ground in front of him,
where they grow larger and larger and turn into a pair of goats pulling a
chariot. The goat on the right which springs from the ruby stone can see in the
dark or in any light. This is the Goat of Vision. When the crumbly-blood chalk
stone lands upon the ground, it breaks apart into a cloud of red powder which
scatters to the four winds, landing in boulders, crevasses, streams and
mountain passes. When the cloud dissipates, standing at its apex, harnessed
and ready to run, is the second goat, the Goat of the Winds, who can traverse
any terrain.
Although Kinderslüka's face has empty hollow sockets when he takes out
his eyes, he is far from blind, for he sees with the eyes of his goats. His hircine
vision allows him to outsee us all, ready to scramble over any terrain to get to
us. So you see, Kinderslüka will leap into his chariot and he'll hunt you down.
One stumble and he's overtaken you. If you try to hid in a dark grotto or above
on a camouflaged crag, the goats will smell you. They'll hear, see and smell
you in the dark, whether you're good or wicked. If Kinderslüka is hungry,
there's little you can do.
Now, you can imagine the town of Vierspitzen wasn't happy when their
children started disappearing, leaving only traces of bright red blood (from the
children, not the goats). They had thought they were finished with Kinderslüka
when he disappeared eighty-one years ago. And though the grandfathers who
had been born after Kinderslüka's final scourge had tried their best to keep
69