Tales of Kigal and Enos

Enos and the Friendly Dragon

The Tales of Kigal and Enos is a beloved children book across Ethae. A book of cradle-tales based on ancient stories of a Dragon named Kigal the Child of Irkalla, and a Adaite man named Enos of Enish who strike up a friendship with the dragon and the two share many adventures together. While historians think there is some truth to this myth, in that there was an actual man named Enos that befriended a dragon named Kigal in what is estimated to be the Randond Period, around 3700 pre-sc, most of the 'adventures' in the Tales of Kigal and Enos are embellishments and later additions.

The original stories were oral traditions from the prehistoric periods recorded sometime in either the late Randeris Period or early Edian Age. Many fragments of clay tablets with these stories have been found throughout Craddle Valley showing that the Tales of Kigal and Enos were popular even in the remote past. Nearly lost to history after the fall of Ancient Siduum, some of these fragmented tablets were found by adventurers during the Lakorthian Age. With the fervor of all things Siduumites sweeping through Lakorth at the time, the tablets were transcribed, translated and shared. The stories invigorated the populations passion for Ancient Siduum and the world before. The Tale of Kigal and Enos spread throughout Novyum and beyond and never slowed down.

Today, one can walk into any library across Ethae and most likely be able to find at least one copy of the Tales. As stated, the Tales have been embellished and added to over the ages. New stories are added every few generations, some are taken away as cultures change and relevance in a topic diminishes. The original three stories stays relatively the same, however. Some scholars and book enthusiasts have taken to collecting various copies of the Tales of Kigal and Enos to compare them. Several Tomes of research have appeared over the years as scholars debate which stories are true, when others appeared and disappeared from the tome, and what relevance each speaks to the cultures that transcribed the stories.

Despite the endless scholastic interest in the Tales, the stories have remained children focused. The Tales are filled with moral lessons for children to learn, some dark, other light or even silly. These tales often focus on the two friends meeting some misguided stranger and watching that person's life unravel in some way. Sometimes they can save that stranger, often they do not, but learn a valuable lesson for themselves.

Type

Manuscript, Literature

Original Stories

The Meeting Story is largely made up of a conversation in poetic rhyme (at least in the original language) between Enos and Kigal. The two meet on the coast of the Canaab Sea and sit to share stories of their lives. The surviving account focuses on Kigal's story of his leaving Gir Kur to explore. It ends with Kigal following Enos home to live as part of his family.

The Fire Story Is the second story of the Tales. It picks up at some point after Kigal has lived with Enos' family for some time. He desides to teach Enos' wife about the secrets of fire. According to the text the knowledge of fire spreads quickly through the land of Enish and beyond as cooking becomes an art among the people. Most copies of the Fire Story ends at this point. However, one of the clay tables found in Ancient Siduum has a continuation of the story. In it, Alu is angered by Kigal's gift of fire. He punishes the dragon by taking away his fire and replacing it with a heart of ice. Kigal is than cast to Ezutu, a frozen dark land of eternal mist and ice (thought by some to be an ancient referance to Aquilo). Most disregard this story as uncharacteristic of the other tales, as well as problematic, as none of the other tales would exist if Kigal is not as Enos' side.

The Mother's Story The final original story in the Tales is odd addition. Enos does not feature in the story in anything more than a passing refence as building Briga while Kigal sings. Kigal sings a song to a 'Stranger of a Strange Land.' The song tells of Irkalla the Red Mother and her anger towards Alu. In it she wants revenge. She vows in the story to burn Aterleg to the ground and eat all people she finds. There is no context to why she is angry or wants revenge, when this takes place, or what the results are. The song ends with Kigal telling the stranger he must return to the cold shadows once more.

Later Stories

The Cave Story is about Kigal finding a cave to explore that goes deep into Wat Qu Waten (the modern Cutting Mountains). Enos follows his friend but ends up getting lost somewhere inside. Kigal worried about his friends travels around Enish asking for help, but most people want nothing to do with the dragon. Finally an Aggel comes to his aid, leading a party of people into 'Haaredern' to find a bored, but otherwise unharmed Enos. This story is the first reference to the Night Below, which the ancients called Haaredern.