The Love Story of T'lula'taku and the Aleated Ceraclops

A poem popularized by the bards of old that details the love, loss, and great rift between T'lula'taku, Our Lady of Despair and Jefferson, the Aleated Ceraclops. Although originally confined to the oral tradition, attempts to record it have been made. As the two primary focuses of the tale are still alive, whether this is at all appropriate is up to debate, but neither of them seem to acknowledge that their story is considered part of the literary tradition. It is an old epic form, though not as long as epics typically are, originally in dactyllic hexameter in Old Draconic.

Summary

The poem opens with a fairly generic description of their relationship and what the two lovers did together, likely due to not much being known about the private lives of the two. It is known that they collected treasures, though the means through which they did that are not well-known.
The poem then gets more specific as it describes what happened during The Liberation of Sackurb, a historical event well-attested to, with the two subjects' involvement. Scholars agree that the poem is actually fairly accurate to history - in fact, the Aleated Ceraclops did engage the giant King Ogden in a duel and win in order to liberate the city.

Translations

The poem has been recorded and translated from Old Draconic many times over, into at least a half-dozen other languages. The most prevalent and popular translations are in Modern Draconic and Common. Popular Common translations are typically known by the name of the lead translator or a patron who funded the translation effort. The latter is the case for the Samson Codex funded by Edvard Samson III, a wealthy collector of art and literature. It is known for being perhaps the most accurate-to-the-text translation. Although the translators knew some of the nuance was lost in it, they made up for it with footnotes and editor's comments.
Other well-known translations into Common include the Lavvy Codex, which aimed to keep the meter intact, and the Yuslav Codex, which was originally a student project by Anthony Dee.
Modern linguists hotly debate the merits of the Lavvy Codex's metrical translation, with one group arguing that it ruins the meaning and nuance of the original and another praising how close the translation is while keeping the dactyllic hexameter. Still others argue that due to the natural rhythm of Common, dactyllic hexameter doesn't really work for the poetry the way that it does for Old Draconic. This third group argues that the Samson Codex is already poetic enough, with the added benefit of a more accurate translation.
The original copy of the Yuslav Codex is held by the library of the Sacred Order of the Aleftav Renaissance, and the aim of Yuslav and Dee was to examine any deeper meanings found in the work. Its footnotes are even more extensive than the Samson Codex's, but they focus on alternate and occult meanings in word, idiom, and symbolism choices.
Most scholars frown on attempting to translate it into the common iambic pentameter used by most of the drab poets today, and especially take umbridge when it is translated into rhyme. (Rhyme is sometimes used for poetic effect inline in the original poem - scholars do not mind if these in particular are translated into rhyme, but it is usually not possible while also preserving the entire nuance of the original piece.)

The Samson Codex translation

Friends listen, open up your hearts, and hear the story of the two
Starcrossed, destined lovers, who are doomed by fate
To never be, wrong as it is, wrong as it could be
The tale of the Dragon and her lover non-Drake
A beast so beastly, from unknown origins

This is T'lula'taku and the being
Perhaps a fiend, known as the Aleated Ceraclops
An unlikely story, met atop the Mountains of Wind
Lonesome where they, two demigods without peer
Perhaps this is what drove them together
The want of a friend who could match them in intellect

And so he brought her gifts of many things
Gold and gems, and things of the cold
But to her the greatest gift was the time
In conversation they spent many hours
Losing track until the sun came up the next morning
Friendship grew to companionship and then to something more
For in the Aleataed Ceraclops' eye, she was the beauty he beheld

For all the talks and gifts, and though she loved the company most
What made her love, what pushed that bar, was when he played his music
Fine music for her, music from his horn
His magic horn with the sound to soothe, even the soul of the goddess herself

They danced together and traveled the world
Gathering and collecting, treasure abound
As is the wont of a dragon lady
The Ceraclops too hoarded such

When one day they arrived in a town
Filled with giants stomping about
The towsnfolk simple humans were
The giants commanded, threatened and cajoled

"We must save this pitiful lot" declared the lady, ever soft
"Yes we must!" her lover agreed, but he had another thought in mind
Perhaps he connived and wanted to betray
But perhaps he thought she had the same plan

Either way they went to war, pugnacious against the giants
From collecing hoard to facing hordes they went
A dragon and the Ceraclops faced the many
But when entire crowds of giants fell,
Their leader, the King Ogden stood

"I challenge you in a fight,
One on one for the victory of all!"

The lady was eager to pick up that stone
But her lover wouldn't allow her to take that risk
He stepped in and agreed to fight
As her champion, for the whole war

They met at dawn and readied their arms
The giant with his axe and sling
The Ceraclops needing nothing but his talons and horn

The Seconds sounded the beginning of the fight
And a blast from his horn struck the giant stunned
King Ogden recovered fairly quickly, but his sling shot found no happy mark
A spell cast by the Ceraclops left him dizzy and he could not find his foe

The Ceraclops then approached up close
Ogden's axe struck him sound
But both combatants were tough as oak
And the Ceraclops raked Ogden's eyes

Dizzy and half blind, but a skilled warrior
Ogden still did not back down
He struck again, cutting foe's leg

Yet he was nearly done for, as the Ceraclops' power had yet to be shown
Another spell delivered with a touch
And Ogden fell, consumed by fire

When on the ground, the Ceraclops drew his talon
Across the fallen's neck, just to be sure

He turned to his dear, happy in victory
And though she felt his final act too far
She was willing to concede it may be for the best

But next he said, that fiendish Ceraclops
"The city is ours, now they are our slaves!"
And this is what caused the lady to fret

"That is not what this has ever been about"
she cried to her lover, growing upset

"I thought this was what you intended"
The Ceraclops, confused, replied to her

"It never was" she wept as she flew away
It was then that the Ceraclops realized that
What he had wanted was not what she had said
But he didn't understand why she wouldn't

"She's a liar, and has betrayed me" the Ceraclops decided to himself
From then he vowed that he would get her back
For no matter how hard he tries
He cannot forget his lovely cold love

Type

Text, Literary (Novel/Poetry)

Medium

Oral Tradition / Word of Mouth