BOR
Every school child is familiar with the story of
Phee and Bor, the
abandoned twin babies suckled at the breast of a babbling
brogmoid. The
earliest written version of this story can be found in the
pseudo-
Fizbozian narrative history, part of which is reprinted below.
Raised by this caring and, incidentally, terrifically idiotic female
brogmoid, the young twins grew to adulthood on the shores of the two
parallel rivers that now bare their names. When the mother brogmoid
finally succumbed to hunger and lack of blood (she had, according to
the sources, been living off her own flesh for some twenty-three
years), the twins, now young men, decided to set out into the world and
seek their fortune. Stopping along the way to search for food through
the occasional pile of boulders, they came at last to the confluence of
the two rivers between which they had spent their entire life.
It is at this point, apparently, that history was made. The older
brother, Bor, not knowing how to get across the
One River, and of
course seeing no other options, announced to his younger twin that he
intended to stop where he was and build a city. Apparently displeased
with his brother's selfishness and lack of consideration, Phee
proclaimed his similar intention, and the disagreement promptly led to
a physical conflict. When it became apparent that Phee had beaten his
brother, Bor turned to leave, but not before handing out a few parting
words. The pseudo-Fizboz narrative clearly describes
the
next sequence of events:
“A
curse! A curse upon Phee! A curse upon Phee for that is all he shalt
be! Great
gods, whom my fathers hath rejected so! Grant life so long, to mine
city
below!” So spoke Bor in his anger.
In
answer, fourteen corbies, so giant and so black, overhead they didst
fly.
Fourteen, for the number of Pheebor’s lifetime they did proclaim. And
thus, Bor
went forth, across the One River, he did, out of Phee’s life, forever
and ever
and ever and ever and ever.
Historians are left with no other option other than to
recount this narrative as one possible explanation for the origin of
the cities of
Pheebor and
Borphee. The only shred of evidence
that allows us to repeat
this myth and still retain our dignity is the archaeological testimony
of the
Phee Hourglass. If modern scientists have correctly interpreted
the functioning of the Hourglass, then the earliest settlements on the
Pheebor site date back to roughly 1800 BE. Conveniently enough, this is
almost exactly 14 centuries before the city's ultimate demise, a figure
identical to that predicted by the mysterious flying
corbies.
| SOURCE(S): A History of Quendor |