[Do] "Once Upon a Time"

by Peter Aronson

This is a letter for use in playing Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple.

Once upon a time, there was a kingdom terrorized by a giant silver rat. The silver rat could travel faster even than bad news and gossip, and would flicker from one end of the kingdom to another; grabbing food from the people's hands and mouths and gulping it down before they could swallow even a crumb. Everyone was soon faint from hunger, even the childless old king and his nobles. So the king made an announcement: anyone who could slay the rat would be adopted as his son and heir, and rule the kingdom when he was gone.

Many heroes came to slay the rat, but they all failed, and the rat swallowed them all down ("Snap! Gulp!"). The kingdom was starving and all hope seemed gone when the most unlikely of heroes walked into the palace. It was a calico cat, and she wore tall boots and a three cornered hat all of red leather, and at her side was the Sword of Swiftness.

The battle between the cat and the rat was terrible! Back and forth across the kingdom they fought, until at last the silver rat was exhausted and turned to flee. But the cat slew the rat, and cut off his head and took it before the king. And there, amidst great feasting, the king adopted the cat. And then, in the fullness of time, the old king died and the cat put aside her three-cornered hat of red leather for the crown of the kingdom. And the people, remembering the rat, cheered.

But the cat remained a cat, and soon found she had no desire to rule a kingdom.

However, unknown to the cat, the crown of that kingdom was magic and could only be put down at death or by the will of the people. And the people loved her for saving them from the rat. Then one day the cat had a wonderful idea! She would write to the monks of The Flying Temple, and they would send pilgrims to free her from her burden. So she wrote them a message, and tied it with ribbons in three different colors, and threw it over her shoulder at sunset.

The End


Goal Word
Cat
cat
cat
crown
crown
crown
nobles
nobles
"calico cat"
"calico cat"
"childless old king"
kingdom
kingdom
“Sword of Swiftness”
“Sword of Swiftness”
"silver rat"
"silver rat"
"silver rat"
"son and heir"
"three-cornered hat of red leather"

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