Episode 3: The Creatures of His World
Besides the numerous small and large spiders that inhabit Sir Elrod’s castle, the only other large creatures, (besides Sir Elrod), who inhabit the valley of Macadonia in the land of olde Olde Cubanacan are two old deer and a horned owl. The two deer, a doe and a buc who Sir Elrod named Elsie and Elmore, usually are hidden somewhere in the woods. This is truly an astonishing feat, given the fact that the forest of Sir Elrod’s fief only consist of a small area, the size of perhaps one regular square city block. This leads Sir Elrod to believe that perhaps there is a gate somewhere in the woods, where the deer slip in and out of Sir Elrod’s world. Though he has been looking diligently in the woods almost every day, Sir Elrod has yet to find any trace of such a gate.
The old horned owl is another matter altogether. Named Horny (of course) by Sir Elrod, he actually has the gift of speech and is the only creature that Sir Elrod has the pleasure to converse with. The only problem is that Horny has a limited vocabulary and usually just says yes Elrod, and no Elrod, to whatever Sir Elrod says. Still, since that is the only feedback that he gets from a talking creature, Sir Elrod does enjoy the rare, mostly one sided conversations. Another problem with Horny is that he is only seen past the witching hour and only when there is a full moon. That would severely limit Horny’s appearance in most parts of the world, but in the land of Olde Cubanacan there is a full moon every night. Of course it can only be seen when the cloud cover lifts at night, and that is as rare an occurrence as sunshine is during the day time.
Among the other creatures that inhabit Sir Elrod’s world are the seven koi who live in the pond outside the castle. They were named Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sneezy, Bashful, Sleepy and Dopey by Sir Elrod after the dwarves of the popular Disney movie. He is still hoping for Snow White to join them one day and bring Sir Elrod a much needed female companion. Hope Spring is indeed eternal, even in Sir Elrod’s limited world.
There are birds that live in Elrod’s world, though to his view they are different ones every day. That also leads Sir Elrod to believe that there is a hole in the sky high above his little valley of where they get in and out everyday. He hopes to exploit this possibility one day by constructing a hot air balloon and escaping that way. The only problem is that he hasn’t been able to locate a source of materials to construct neither the balloon or the gondola. Sir Elrod. ever an optimist, thinks that one day, that way or another he’ll surely get out by becoming
a balloonist, a cherished dream that he hopes to fulfill, one day.
TO BE CONTINUED!