PIRIN

Chests, coffers and boxes

Chests, coffers and boxes CHAPTER IV

The Sprite, eternally grateful to Theoson, blessed the man and told him: “To repay you, o noble and generous spirit, I want to indicate you the secret path leading to the Hall of Gifts. There, if you correctly answer the Guardian’s questions, the choice of a chest, containing a magical item, shall be granted to you ”.

“Explain yourself”, Theoson asked.

“The Hall of Gifts”, the colour-changing spirit continued, “is the place where the Dwarven King Drewthudrewi, who for his conduct and generosity had received great powers from the Gods, cast the last and most uncanny of his spells. The old monarch, soon before dying, had commanded the excavation of a great underground hall, in the heart of the woods, below the cut trunk of a great tree. By sticking his golden axe in the trunk and pronouncing magical formulas, the King out of the blue summoned a heap of chests, coffers and boxes, each of which contained a prodigious item. The spell entails that whoever comes to the Hall of Gifts may choose a chest as he likes best, either small or large, among the countless that are stored there, but only one, not any more, and any time a gift is granted, another will take its place. Only a gate leads to the underground hall, and that gate is guarded by a Keeper who holds the key. The Keeper is a weird creature, called Gbarothal. He holds in his hand a set of more than a thousand keys, and he is the only one who knows which is the only key that opens the gate of the Hall of Gifts. The Keeper shall open the gate only to the person who manages to answer his questions. Besides”, Nhaldharar continued, “the gate can only be unlocked as the sun-rays light the golden axe in the middle of the clearing”.

Theoson was led by the Sprite to the clearing where the golden axe of the Dwarven King was stuck in the trunk, and here Nhaldharar disappeared, leaving the young man alone before the glimmering weapon, the glow of which coloured the whole place of golden reflections as a jar of oil or a flagon of ale. Slowly, the small, awkward creature called Gbarothal came to him, commanding him to halt there. The Gbarothal creature was a tiny man with weird features, the ears of an elephant and a horn coming out of his upper forehead. He had long arms and short legs, as a monkey. His neck was long. His eyes were yellow, with tiny pupils.

The Gbarothal creature

He said: “Halt, traveler! To trespass this threshold, you must answer my questions”.

Theoson replied: “I am listening, Keeper!”

And the latter: “Which gift do you hope to obtain?”

“I come to you without expectations. I shall get what the Gods have in store for me”.

“Which gift do you think you deserve from the Gods?”

“No, Keeper. I do not deserve anything from the Gods. I am unworthy even that their radiant gaze may briefly focus on my path!”

“Well”, the weird creature said. “You may pass”.

And thus saying, Gbarothal took the secret key from the set, which is only given to the humble. He put it in the lock and the heavy gate opened. Theoson was waiting for the instructions of the Keeper, so the latter told him: “You must go alone. Descend the stairway leading to the underground hall. As soon as you arrive to the Hall of Gifts, you shall see in the middle the trunk and roots of the great tree. Among the roots of the tree all the gifts are heaped. You must choose a chest, only one, not any more. You shall open it and the content thereof, whatever it is, shall be yours from that moment on. You shall leave the hall by taking the second door which, passing through a corridor, leads to a secondary exit. Before abandoning this place, you must swear not to reveal the path leading to the Hall of Gifts, unless to a person you feel highly thankful to. Now go!”

Theoson descended with some hesitation the stairway leading to the hypogeum. As soon as he took the last step and crossed the threshold, the goldsmith found himself before an amazing sight. He saw a great hall dug into the depths of the earth, lit by great lanterns hanging from the hall vault, in the middle of which the trunk of the great tree stood. Because of the magical powers of the golden axe stuck in its trunk, the tree produced a wealth of underground gifts: the spaces between the roots were literally flooded with chests, coffers, caskets and treasure troves of any workmanship and size. In the hall an enchanted silence reigned. Theoson moved forward among the roots, coming out of the floor everywhere, and slowly walked around the trunk of the magical tree, carefully observing the heaps of treasure before his feet.

He was attracted chiefly by a casket looking to be the tiniest of all, yet, Theoson thought by himself, its worth must not necessarily be inferior to the others. He knew that too well, since he was a goldsmith. He also saw the casket was less flamboyant and gaudy than the others, that its decorations were simpler. And yet, he thought, even diamonds, in the heart of the earth, are contained within humble, insignificant gangue. Therefore, Theoson collected that tiny casket. He felt, as soon as he had taken it, a sound as though some boxes were being moved, and indeed he saw that, a few paces afar, a box had appeared out of nowhere. Curious to learn what was found within the casket, Theoson unlocked it, only to find within it a tiny wind instrument, wrought in precious materials, and adorned on the outside by lapis lazuli, alabaster and mother-of-pearl; but he also found a tiny scroll describing its miraculous nature in the following words:

“ Hewsi kem elfalhes I adesi xihado, ghalalhes hesm kasiyaar, ni e kem uharehes peh bar kajut, eh hes wefhòndoralhes” (Whoever plays this divine flute, his path shall be lit, and whatever was hidden by the cloak of night, it shall be shown to him).

Theoson kissed the tiny item, bowing to the benevolence shown to him by the Gods. He kept it in the casket and put the casket in his sack. Then he went to the exit, pronounced the oath of secrecy and went away, taking once again the road to the kingdom of Lothriel. He crossed the country of Dhal: from Mason Gottbin he came south, toward Duhjum, the gate between East and West. Once he had come there, Theoson halted, staying at a inn on the eastern side of town…