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others than himself. And when no such human could be found, it was Lugh that
took it the hardest of us all though never a sign would he show of how he
felt."
"No such human could be found?" Rolf echoed. "Surely there've been lots of
humans who cared more for others than themselves?"
"Oh, indeed, there have been but it was for otherhumans they cared. Never yet
has a human been found who cares more for othercreatures than he or she does
for himself or herself."
"But how would a corkscrew show the difference " Rita began.
"Ah, but it's not just any corkscrew!" said Baneen, swiftly. "It's the Great
Corkscrew of Gremla, that symbol of Gremlin kingship that belonged to Hamrod
the Heartless and which Lugh himself stole away from the king when he brought
us here to pay Hamrod back for all his pranks and tricks upon Lugh, himself.
You see, in olden days so far back that your world of Earth was still a
steaming mudball, cooling down into a planet the Great Corkscrew was a test of
Gremlin kingship. Only one wielding more power and magic than any other
gremlin could pull it from its case. He who could withdraw the Corkscrew was
rightwise king of all Gremla. Every thousand years or so, whoever was our
Gremlin king must pull forth the Corkscrew to prove his right to rule."
Baneen paused and sighed heavily.
"If at that time he could not pull it out," he went on, "then all other
gremlins who wished to try had their chance until one succeeded and gained the
throne. Ah, but the sad year came, and the sad month and the sad day the then
king of Gremla not having been able to pull out the corkscrew when every other
gremlin on Gremla had tried as well, and none had been able."
"None?" said Rolf. "One of them must have had a little stronger magic than
any of the rest. It just had to be."
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Baneen shook his head.
"No, lad," he said. "It's clear you don't understand the strange and
marvelous principles of magic. It's not how strong your magic is, but how much
of it you have. The greater your soul, the more magic you can carry. And over
the centuries, unbeknownst to ourselves, our gremlin souls had become smaller
and smaller, so that even the largest soul among us could not hold enough
magic to let its owner pull the Great Corkscrew from its case."
"But," said Rita, "if nobody could pull the Great Corkscrew out, what
happened to the kingship?"
Baneen shrugged.
"Indeed, what could happen?" he said. "Since no one could pull the Corkscrew
forth, it fell into disuse as a test of king-worthiness. The then king stayed
on the throne, and those who came after him were smaller and smaller of soul
until at the end, Hamrod the Heartless was rumored to have none at all and
sure his actions seemed to testify to that. But still it was said, that
secretly Hamrod would go and pull at the Corkscrew now and then to try and
prove himself rightful king. It was to deprive him of that hope of
kingship-proof that Lugh stole the Corkscrew away and brought it here."
"What's all this about using the thing as a test, then?" growled Mr.
Sheperton. "If no one could pull it out, what was the use of it?"
"Ah, but it was only nogremlin who could pull it out!" said Baneen. "That did
not mean there was no human about with a soul large enough to free it. Indeed,
Lugh's conscience had been troubling him for some time then about our gremlin
rights on this world of yours and whether it had not become our world a second
Gremla, as it were just by our being here so long. He decided that we would
change our age-old custom of keeping to ourselves, and follow humans, if only
humans could prove themselves worthy of being followed. So, to find out if
such proof was possible, he set up a legend and a place, and disguised the
Corkscrew itself so that no one could guess its origin, and then waited for
what would happen."
"What did happen?" asked Rolf.
"Do you need to ask, Rolf?" demanded Mr. Sheperton. "Isn't it clear the
rascal's trying to make us believe that the celebrated sword in the stone of
Arthurian legend was no other than his gremlin Corkscrew?"
"And so it was," Baneen nodded.
"Stuff and nonsense!" snorted Mr. Sheperton. "Corkscrew indeed! It was a
sword!"
"But " said Rolf. "King Arthur pulled the sword out of the stone and was
crowned king of England because of it "
"So he did and was. But it was only with gremlin aid he was able to pull the
blade forth though little he suspected that, himself," said Baneen. "It
happened that by the time young Arthur got his chance to try pulling loose the
sword nearly everyone in England who stood a likelihood of being accepted
king, if he did pull it forth, had tried and failed. Now, Arthur was very
great of soul but not quite great enough by the width of a dragonfly's wing,
as all we gremlins know. So it happened that a number of us went and pleaded
with Lugh, and Lugh consented to our getting invisibly within the stone to
push, while Arthur pulled and so the sword came forth."
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"Hurrah!" cheered Mr. Sheperton.
"Ah, but if you remember, it all turned out sadly," said Baneen. "Arthur
prospered for a while, and brought justice to his kingdom. But you remember
how his reign ended the knights of the Round Table all divided against
themselves, with Lancelot on one side and Arthur on the other, so that
everything fell back to savagery and barbarism again."
There was a moment's silence.
"I'd like to try pulling that Corkscrew out," said Rolf, thoughtfully.
Baneen had been doing all this talking while keeping his eye on the boat and
his fists clenched at his sides. In the process he had gradually drifted
upward off the ground. He reached down now with one hand to make a brief pass [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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