Authors Note: Fables aren’t my specialty although I will try to make this one worth reading. I know there are many stories about how the snake lost its feet (If they ever had any) but to make my story work I will change the idea of how they disappeared.

Fable

Snake and Lion

The sun was shining brightly through the trees when Greidlen the snake walked through the forest, ignoring the dirt and rocks that adorned the forest’s floor. Although his four pudgy feet were bare, the feeling of the harsh rocks against his feet did not hurt him, for he had been shoeless and sock-less all his life. Greidlens thoughts were far from what was below him anyhow seeing as how he had many things on his mind. Such as the wonderful prosperity that would be all his if, somehow, he was the royalty that slept in one of the best valley’s and was worshipped by all the other creatures of the forest. He could vision his worst enemies, such as the bear and the eagle, having no other choice but to worship him.

It actually happening was highly unlikely and often Greidlen denied that, but the vision was something he enjoyed and always put him in high spirits throughout the day. In his eyes he did not deserve to be one among the low ranks; he often found the days living among the monkeys dreary and annoying, as well as having to hunt barbarically through the forest. The king got food given to him daily and Greidlen was upset that the same was not for him.

His patience with the whole ordeal had long since subsided into a type of fury that had not grew violent yet but soon would if he didn’t do anything about it before it was too late. So that’s why he was walking through the forest with a determined expression upon his face, because Greidlen had lots of things on his mind, including a contemptuous plan to make that prosperity and recognition his.

When Greidlen finally reached his destination, which was at the top of a grassy hill that seemed to jolt out of the shallow pool below it, there was a bird perched atop a branch. The bird stared scrupulously at Greidlen, his two wide eyes fixed upon the snake. For a moment Greidlen stood annoyed and perplexed at the bird’s attention on behalf of the fact that he did not like to be studied without knowing why.

Than the bird made a sound and said to Greidlen in a high pitched voice, “I am the messenger, do you wish to see the king or speak with one of the officials? Tell me the name or status and I will inform them.”

“Oh yes,” started Greidlen with a smile on his face; he couldn’t believe that he forgot about the messenger bird, “I wish to speak with king Edinous about something of great importance.”

“Your name?” said the bird.

“It is Greidlen.”

The bird flew away when his question was answered; Greidlen was forced to stay and wait for the bird to come back with information about the king’s arrival, despite just how impatient and annoyed he had become over the short amount of time. One thing Greidlen was not afraid to admit was that he had an attitude problem, but, although he was smart for an average snake, he was ignorant and liked to deny things he did not wish to know. In this case, he denied that it was because of his anger that usually got him in such horrible predicaments throughout life, such as this horrible predicament he was tossing himself into voluntarily.

When the bird came back, he was along side with the king, who was a majestic lion of gold fur and a well tuned figure. The sun had made quite a shift in the sky and now the day was gradually transforming into a misty night.

Greidlen was so impatient, so anxious to begin his plan that he could not wait any longer for the lion to come to him and so the conniving snake ran to his king. His mind was only set on one thing, and that was to make his dream, no matter how greedy or horrible, a reality.

Greidlen forced himself to bow to the king and then said, “King Edinous! I am Greidlen, snake from the northern borders. I must inform you about something that can not be heard by any other. Is there a way we can talk without lingering eyes?” It was obvious that he had been referring to the messenger. This did not make the bird happy, but because of the king he had to leave. And so he did, flying off with a horrid glare aimed at Greidlen.

“Okay then, Greidlen from the northern borders,” started the king. His voice was wise and slow, and his eyes never left Greidlens. “What must you say that is so confidential that my messenger, Kilf, cannot even hear?”

Shifting under the lion’s intimidating gaze Greidlen took in a deep breath and thought of abandoning his plan. He knew that it was either now or never and he surely did not think he would be scared even before the real danger began. So he took in a deep breath, deciding upon the fact that he would rather try and get the prosperity instead of just backing down, and there he began his life changing lie. “Shall we walk?” Greidlen asked, his voice now confident and straight.

It seemed to be a long time before the king answered and the silence became awkward almost instantly. Although Vaguely, Greidlen was able to hear the sound of other forest inhabitants having silent conversations and the mysterious sound of nature; the trees brushing against each other in the wind, the dirt being blown up only to fall back onto the ground again, and the large moon, which seemed to be spying on the both of them from behind its cloud.

“I do not wish to stand in one spot...but I do not want to stray too far in the forest.” He seemed to be thinking, weighing his options, but in the end he sighed, nodded his head in agreement, and said, “We shall walk. But I will be keeping my eyes on you, both if I must.”

Greidlen felt more than a little upset at the king’s words, for this seemed to make his task all the harder. For what reason he did not know, the king seemed to have close to no respect for him. By his choice of words and long observations he could see that the lion suspected him of something; had he said something, or done something, that hinted his plan?

Greidlen abandoned the thought; it would only make him less focused and vulnerable. And vulnerability was exactly what he was trying to avoid.

“I know that you are aware of the strange happenings in the forest and have been trying to find the criminal who is wanted for it. There are many and I have found one.” If anything else wouldn’t have grabbed the attention of the king, this was surely the magic words to do so. Abruptly, he turned to Greidlen with an alarming look and stopped walking.

“Where?” he whispered to himself. Suddenly his voice grew loud and defiant.
“Where is he Greidlen? Make haste I say, take me to the fiend who has slaughtered and vandalized our home.”

“It is far out; you said yourself—

“This is different though,” interrupted the king. “Do you know how serious this is?”

--“If you have asked for it then I will take you there; just follow me.”

What else could Greidlen do but smile? He had the king in the palm of his hand and could almost feel the gold now. They reached a cliff filled with rich grass and many tall and ominous trees. This certain part of the forest was rather disturbing and many of the animals stayed far from its dirt. This is why Greidlen chose this place, for if anything was to happen, and his plan would succeed, there would be no others as a witness.

“He has left, as he usually does around this time,” whispered Greidlen, looking at the king out the side of his eyes. “It is a vile creature; one with a scaly build and two split tongues. When I first heard his voice from afar I cringed at the sound of it...” and Greidlen went on like this, exaggerating and worsening the lie. The king listened intently and waited for the creature to arrive back.

They heard a crack, and a sudden movement above the top of the trees. Greidlen had actually begun to get wrapped up in his own lie, believing it himself, but he laughed on the inside and knew that he could take advantage of this action in the trees.

“What’s that?” replied King Edinous. He tensed up and shifted nervously, hesitantly observing the trees crowded above him, and then looked at Greidlen for an explanation. He did not answer; instead Greidlen stood up and beckoned for the king to follow him.

And then it happened.

Greidlen was on the edge of the cliff and the king beside him, when, just as he had planned, a vine flew from the tree and hit the lion hard against the back. His attention was now in the direction of the vine as he searched thoroughly for the creature; Greidlen knew then that it was time and so he mustered up strength remarkable for a northern snake and shoved the lion off the cliff.

It felt as though the shriek of the lion would always ring within Greidlens ears, but that did not matter to him. With the royal necklace in his hands he was destined to be the new emperor. “King Edinous died a respectable death. I was by his side the entire time when the assassinator attacked but it came as such a surprise...”

A group of important animals sat in a semi-circle around Greidlen as he explained, or lied about, the whole ordeal to them. There were nine different types of animals, including the messenger bird, and to his liking more showed sympathy than suspicion towards him. So he went on with the story until the others were satisfied and well fed with many lies that sounded rather real. Kilf would never believe it. He went soaring around the circle often, accusing Greidlen of being foul and a liar; it was the truth, yes, but many officials did not believe the bird. Kilf wasn’t as persuasive as Greidlen was and he was never well respected by anybody except the king. He knew that if Greidlen got the position he would be out of work again and he loved his job.

One of the nine animals stepped up once Greidlen was done with his monologue and said, “The necklace has fallen into your hands which could only mean that you are to be set upon the throne. The king has no family alive any longer, no wife, and no children. If it must be done, then I, by the votes of the others, shall crown you as our new king.” Unfortunate for Kilf, but fortunately for Greidlen, only three of the nine officials disagreed. If Greidlen knew it would be this easy, that they were so gullible and weak, then he would’ve killed the king a long time ago.

And so it was done. The ceremony was held in less than a week and he now lived in the peaceful valley. Of course, Kilf was fired, but it was of his own wish; he’d rather be dead then have to work for Greidlen. It came as no surprise that as the days went by Greidlens ego grew immensely and he became wretched and unreasonable to all the inhabitants of the forest. They had had Greidlen for less than two weeks before they were already trying to overthrow him.

In the meantime Kilf was on a mission to find the king. He could feel it and knew that Edinous was not dead. Remembering that day when the lion had first walked off with Greidlen, he smelled for the scent of the king, which was strong and unlike no others, and ended up at the ominous cliff. It was a bright day but the trees made it seem dark and made Kilf cower away; he had never been this far in the north of the forest and wasn’t prepared for such darkness. Any sound caused him to jump but he knew the king was somewhere around the cliff because he could still smell his scent. That was Kilf’s motivation.

Using it as his invisible path, he followed the scent through the ominous trees until he reached the end of the cliff, almost falling off head first. Then he knew that the king was somewhere over the cliff.

Kilf didn’t abandon all hope.

Instead he looked over the cliff and called out, “Master Edinous! Master Edinous!” There was no reply and so he repeated the same thing for what seemed like a long time. Again there was no reply throughout all his calls. It would be awhile before Kilf decided to give up and so he swooped down. The scent grew stronger and closer and he almost exploded with excitement for he found a large, flat rock on the side of the cliff, and on it was a limp figure laying on its sides.

“Master Edinous!” exclaimed the bird continuously. He landed beside the lion and, as if he was not able to see how much pain the lion was in from the fall, said, “That wretched Greidlen has stolen your throne! I will never accept it, not me master, but all the others believed his lie!”

Coughing, the king replied, “He will not get away with it Kilf, believe me.”

“Master you are so weak! Your color is fading; I will go and bring you some food and drinks and then you will heal.”

“Thanks Kilf,” was the last thing Edinous was able to murmur before Kilf flew back into the sky. For almost a month and a half Kilf flew the king meals every day. He told nobody about the finding of the king and didn’t plan on doing so until his master looked healthier and stronger. When Edinous was finally able to stand on all fours again and speak in his strong voice he asked Kilf about how the forest was holding up with Greidlen as king. Kilf told him a sad story about how everyone was being put out of work for wrong reasons and how Greidlen was getting more obnoxious as the days went by.

“Something has to be done,” started Edinous, “But what?”

They sat and thought for a while until Kilf jumped up and down and exclaimed, “The monkeys; they make all type of stuff for climbing and reaching heights. They would know what to do!”

“Great Idea Kilf; Hurry and inform them. I’ve never liked staying in one place too long and I’ve long since grew tired of this blasted land.”

Kilf flew without a second thought into the sky and made way swiftly to the home of the monkeys. There it didn’t take much persuasion for them to work together and create something like a lift. It was a simple tool made of a sturdy piece of wood as the standing place and two strong vines going through holes in the wood to pull it up. It was then that Kilf knew that the king would have his thrown back.

Many miles far away from Kilf and the monkey’s was Greidlen. He had grown fat from sitting on the high throne for so long and eating so much foods. But he had no reason to care for this. He had to admit that it did feel good to be in charge for a change, to be sitting on piles and piles of gold, and wearing jewels that made him visible from miles away. He was so greedy and indulged with himself that there was no room for guilt within his treacherous heart.

Actually, Greidlen was beginning to get quite bored and restless of it. He would never give it up, never that, but there was nothing exciting happening. It never occurred to him that the reason King Edinous never bored was because he actually helped and spent time with the animals of the forest, something he would never attempt to do.

For another night and another day he slept upon his throne and had nightmares that flashed so fast that when he awoke he hardly remembered what the dream was truly about. What else was there to do but sleep when he had nothing to look forward to? It was now that he was anxious more than ever to have something happen, just to give him something to do or say, but the citizens of the forest had long since stopped visiting him as well as the officials.

His wish was got whether he wanted it or not.

Kilf swooped over Greidlen’s head and shrieked, “You liar, you wretched liar!”

“Do not speak to me like that! I am your king and you must obey and respect me or I will make death of you!”

“You are not my master,” scoffed Kilf, “He is King Edinous.”

Greidlen laughed for a long time and then said, “You fool of a bird! This king Edinous you speak of has been dead for almost two months. He will only be heard of in history runes. Now be off with you. If I waste my time it won’t be with you.”

All of a sudden a voice boomed, “King Edinous is not in history Runes yet Greidlen.”

The snake could hardly believe his ears. Could it be that that was the voice of the king?

He laughed some more in denial and nervousness. “Show yourself you imposter!”

And to his dismay he did. Out from behind the trees walked Edinous and his stride was confident and carefree; Greidlen was speechless but knew that there was nowhere else he could run and nothing else he could say to defend himself.

In the end he found himself begging for mercy.

“Shall we kill him?” said Kilf to the king.

“No,” he replied, staring expressionless at Greidlen. “Killing him would not be enough pain for his deed. I must take away what is most valuable to him so that he, and all his relatives, can remember this day.”

And magically the four pudgy feet disappeared without a trace from under Greidlen’s stomach and he collapsed onto the ground.

Kilf swooped over to Edinous and sat comfortably on his shoulder and said, “That is wise. His greed has earned him this.”