Message-ID: <43799asstr$1060330203@assm.asstr-mirror.org> X-Original-Message-ID: <003501c35d5c$b36f5c20$8ece0043@compaq> From: "Conjugate" <conjugate@butter.toast.net> X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1165 X-ASSTR-Original-Date: Thu, 7 Aug 2003 21:25:19 -0600 Subject: {ASSM} The Last Roc <*> (nosex, some violence, misanthropic) {Conjugate} Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2003 04:10:03 -0400 Path: assm.asstr-mirror.org!not-for-mail Approved: <assm@asstr-mirror.org> Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories Followup-To: alt.sex.stories.d X-Archived-At: <URL:http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/Year2003/43799> X-Moderator-Contact: ASSTR ASSM moderation <story-ckought69@hotmail.com> X-Story-Submission: <ckought69@hotmail.com> X-Moderator-ID: gill-bates, dennyw <1st attachment, "RocFable.txt" begin> Once upon a time, when the world was much younger, there came to a small obscure village the last bird of that species called the Roc. And the Roc was very near to death, for it had had nothing to drink for a long time, and was weak from the heat, and so desperate that it had no choice but to approach the village and trust to the kindness of human beings, which it knew had no love for its kind. And the people of that village, when they perceived that a great bird had come among them, fled at first and cried out for salvation, but the Roc, searching desperately for water, harmed none of them. Then the people perceived that the Roc was weak and defenseless. Small children threw stones at it, and others laughed and jeered, and when it slipped and fell on a road and could not get up, others came and threw sand in its eyes, and still it did nothing. Now there was in that village a woodcutter, and seeing the Roc took pity, and taking his small share of the water from the last well washed clear the eyes of the Roc, and gave of it to the Roc to drink. And the villagers warned him, be careful; for perhaps there is nothing wrong with the Roc but its thirst, and when you have given it enough to drink it will turn on us and destroy you as well as the village. But the woodcutter persisted, and soon the Roc was able to rise again to its feet, and drink the rest of the water it had been offered. As it happened, there was nothing wrong with the Roc but its thirst. Yet, rather than be angry at the village, he spared its people because of the one who had saved it, and told the village in the subtle non-direct ways that the Rocs used in those days that it would lead them to another place, one where there was more water and where the village would be happier, and told them only to remember its two great instructions. In memory of the one who aided it, they were always to hold the profession of the woodcutters sacred, and treat them with the utmost respect; and because it could see what was wrong with the land in which the people dwelt, it bade them also be careful of trees, and harvest no more of them than was required by greatest need. And the people agreed gladly to follow the Commandments laid down by the Roc, and followed where it led, proclaiming it to be their new god. And the Roc led them to a distant, forsaken place, and because it could smell distant water down deep directed them to dig in a certain spot, and there they found a well that provided them with plenty of cold water, and in another place the Roc made for them by digging into the stone of a hillside a spring that fed a small pond that would keep their village provided for and happy. The people rejoiced, and the Roc, speaking again to them in the subtle way that requires no voice, told them that it would sleep now, and would stay asleep for some time; but that while it slept, it hoped that they would remember its commandments, and stay faithful to them until it woke. And the Roc took itself into a cave in the hill, and there it slept for very many years. While the Roc slept, the villagers remembered that they were to treat trees with care, and carefully planted fruit trees, and shade trees, but for long years could not cut any of them, for they were too small, and the only wood that they used was deadfall for many years until the Roc would awaken again, and there were no woodcutters in the village, so that the first of the commandments was honored only by the teaching of it. Then one day the Roc awoke, and looked about its cave, and saw that where all had been dry, there were now woods and many trees. The Roc rejoiced, and went to the village to see what had become of it, and saw a rich, happy place with many people going about their lives. And the Roc, not wishing to disturb or frighten many of the people, went to a man who lived alone near the edge of the village and appeared first to the man, telling him that the Time of the Awakening was come, and that the man should build for the Roc a shelter of wood, and described it most particularly. The man agreed, but pointed out that the only wood available for building was deadfall, and that there was far too little of it to make the shelter that the Roc required. Do not be troubled, the Roc replied in the subtle way. For did I not make it my first commandment to you that the profession of the woodcutter would always be honored? Now you will be the first woodcutter that this village has seen in a very long time, and will have an honored profession and be uplifted amongst men. So the man agreed to do as he had been told, and went to find an axe, for such items were rare where no woodcutting had been done. Then the man went to a tree in the woods, as he had been directed, and began to cut it down, and when the villagers heard the strange sound of the axe on wood they came to see what transpired. And when they saw the man chopping down the tree, they at once demanded that he desist. "For," said they, "the Commandment of the Roc" is to treat trees with care, and not harvest more than we need." The man explained that the Roc was awakened, but the villagers did not listen, and the man ran from them in fright and came upon the Roc where it waited for him. Perhaps, the Roc said to him, the two of us should leave this place and go to another place where we can make new lives and so avoid the angry villagers. But the man advised against it, telling the Roc that when the people saw it, they would realize that they had been mistaken, and would relent. So the Roc waited, though not easily, for it knew much of people and was not very hopeful. It knew also that even a god, if he allow his people free will, must needs fear the voice of the mob. And it happened that in a while the people came to where the man and the Roc waited, and the Roc and the man tried to explain the matter to the people, telling them that the first of the Commandments of the Roc was to respect the office of woodcutter. But mostly all that the people could see was that there was someone less deserving than themselves who sought to be raised above them, and then they could not clearly remember the Commandments that they had been taught with such care, and called the Roc a false god, and drove it away by hurling cobblestones at its delicate wings, and laid hands upon the man. As they took the man away, the Roc looked after them with a great pity, and then went to the stream from the spring that still fed the pond, and drank the pond dry, and drank much of the water from the stream before blocking the spring with a great stone. It was not disturbed, for the people concerned themselves with the fate of the man who had tried to destroy their whole social order. The Roc found also a great tank where the people stored water to irrigate their fields, and it drank the tank empty, and it was not disturbed, for the people were listening to speakers proclaim that the True Commandment Of The Roc was that no man should disturb or harm any tree, and whoso did this must die, and that the commandments that had been taught to the people for many years were the result of a mistranslation and poor memories. And the Roc flew away grieving, for it was still not strong or whole enough to save the poor man who had tried to help it, and as it left the village for ever the screams of its first woodcutter could yet be heard in the air. And the village soon disappeared, for with no water the crops failed and with no spring or pond the well was not sufficient, as the village had grown much larger in the many years while the Roc slept. But the Roc winged its way back to the distant mountains of legend, whence its kind had dwelt for many years, and where, far from men, perhaps it dwells yet. <1st attachment end> ----- ASSM Moderation System Notice------ Notice: This post has been modified from its original format. The post was sent as an email attachment and has been converted by ASSTR ASSM moderation software. ----- ASSM Moderation System Notice------ -- Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated. +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | alt.sex.stories.moderated ----- send stories to: <ckought69@hotmail.com> | | FAQ: <http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/faq.html> Moderator: <story-ckought69@hotmail.com> | +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |Discuss this story and others in alt.sex.stories.d, look for subject {ASSD}| |Archive at <http://assm.asstr-mirror.org> Hosted by <http://www.asstr-mirror.org> | +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+