O listeners, hark and I shall relate unto you the tale of the
Lady of Calavar and the Gryphon of Lagour.

Know that in the ancient times, before noble Calormene men had
conquered the lands of Tehishbaan and Pugrahan, there was known
in the east of Calormen the gryphon. And know that these gryphons
are rarely seen today, save the carvings and statues of the
temples and streets of Tashbaan, which date from days still older
when the beasts were not feared but revered.

In such times, the city of Calavar, far south and west in the
Empire, was at the border, and above it to the west did rise the
Pugrahan spur of the Western Mountains. Calavar has famous
markets, where silks and other merchandise may be bought at fair
prices. And in this city, in the time of the gryphons, did live a
lady who's husband had died when she had seen only 18 summers,
and left to her his wealth, a thousand Crescents and an estate of
beauty and reknown, with pools and pillows and tapestries and
singing birds in secure cages.

And thus did the lady enjoy her life and ways, and she wandered
through the markets of Calavar and purchased the finest silks and
paid the merchants to trade them in distant cities for twice what
she paid and so increased her wealth, although not her fame for
what woman is talked about with respect save beauty?

But she was beautiful, but no husband desired she, for her late
master had been a man of respect and was thus old, and his
company had pleased her not, and though all of the men of Calavar
would have asked for her hand, and many did, she wanted them
not. And so she took to concealing her face beneath a veil and
speaking with a twisted tongue to not make the men stare and
ask. And thus she traded and dealt and amassed more of a fortune
than her husband could have during a hundred lifetimes had the
Irrefutable Tash so smiled upon him.

And one day, as she was selling a remarkable silk, woven of the
purest golds and ivories and bloods and emeralds and seas did she
notice that the son of the merchant to whom she was giving
instructions was a handsome and comely youth, and her eyes did
wander and she did desire him. So, as her thoughts were as quick
as the wrath of the Tisroc (may he live forever) she did offer
the merchant a hundred Crescents if he would allow her to
accompany the caravan to its destination, the palace of Mezreel.

And lo, he did accept (for a hundred Crescents then and now is no
small matter, even for a Tarkaan). And so did the merchant,
guessing her needs, purchase a cart and a horse and veils and
barrels of ices and prepare to bring the lady along with the
company of traders on their journey. And so they set off.

The ride was long, and in those days the roads were not as clear
as they are now, and had many bumps and detours and fallen
bridges, and so the route was neither straight nor
comfortable. And thus did the lady have her pleasure during the
trip: "Oh boy, lift this side of my cart, for it tips and my
sherbet spills!"

And thus: "O youth, fetch me that flower by the side of the
cart!"

And thus: "O son of a merchant, carry this barrel to the front of
my cart... no no, to the back, you stupid boy, not the front."

And so did she watch him move and watch him lift and watch him
bend and lo, did her heart flutter and her brow bead with
sweat. And the youth knew her mind and did not shirk before her
and through her veils and her disguise he knew that she was no
crone or foul witch but a beauteous maiden. And so the lady did
plan to buy the youth from his father and take him to live in her
palace when they returned to Calavar. But the trip was not so
short nor simple.

For halfway along the journey, as the caravan passed below a
mountanous peak, a gryphon swooped down from above and plucked
the lady's caravan clean off the road, laughing and simpering and
taunting as it flew away into the sky.

And the caravan master looked down and shook his head. And so did
the merchant, and all the others in the train, for who would
return from whence a gryphon takes you? But the youth did not
look down and did not shake his head.

He marked the place in the mountains towards which the gryphon
had flown, and took leave of his father, who beseeched him to
stay upon deaf ears, and he walked along the path he had made, to
rescue his lady. He took no knife and no sword, for he had none,
and his father had none, and none of the rest of the caravan
would part with theirs, for to hunt a gryphon was an allusion
even then to walk to one's death, and so they did not gift such a
man with their prized blades.

But he walked, and he walked, and he climbed and he climbed and
lo, did he near the peak of the mountain he had sighted. And
there he discovered a cave, with a dark entrance with marks of
claws in the stone, and black oily feathers and the bones of
creatures and men by its entrance. And within he heard the tears,
not the tears of a crone about to die but of a young maiden, and
his heart swelled as he knew he had not been wrong about the lady
of Calavar. And he heart the caws and the barks and the laughs of
the vulture-headed beastas it tormented her in the cave.

And so he sat and thought, and then cried out in a twisted voice,
like that of a bird taugh to speak, "Are you there?"

And the reply came: "Yes, and I have a juicy morsel, so be off
with you!"

And so he knew that his plan worked; no man would address a
gryphon, but another gryphon might.

And he waited and thought, and then said in the same voice, "Then
you won't be wanting a whole party of dancing village-girls,
hmmmm?"

And the reply came: "How many?"

And he said: "More than you can count on your twenty claws!"

And the reply came: "And you tell me of this?"

And he said: "Even I cannot dine on so many succulent morsels!"

And the reply came: "Nor can I! Shall we tell the others?"

And he said: "Yes! Fly east and west and south and tell all of
our kind, I shall fly north, and tell our brothers there. Then
meet in the courtyard of the palace by the lake with the flowers
two nights hence!"

And then he heard a laugh, and he hid, and from within came the
foul stench of the mighty winged jackal with the vulture head as
it erupted from the cave and flew east to start spreading the
word of the feast to come. And he watched as the beast vanished
into the horizon, and then within the cave he crept, holding his
nose at the rancid odor of the beast. And lo, there chained to a
post was the damsel, her clothing in tatters and her hair
scorched and her face stained with tears.

And when she saw that it was he, she cried again and smiled and
laughed and he kissed her there, and then undid her binds, and
they hurried forth to Mezreel to warn the people there.

And two days passed, and as the night drew nigh, the gryphon and
his ilk flew across the valley of the thousand perfumes. And not
a soul did they see, and so did they laugh when they thought of
the numbers awaiting them. And as they neared the palace, in the
courtyard they did see torches and hear music and see dresses and
costumes and did lick their beaks and cry out!

And they dived! And their talons clutched, and tore!

And they found they held only straw in rags.

And then from atop the courtyard walls did erupt a rain of arrows
from all the archers in the province, and the gryphons were
struck dead, every last one of them.

And then truly did the people of Mezreel celebrate.

And they did celebrate all the way back to Calavar, where the
tale of the adventure was told again and again, and the lady was
wed to the youth, and it is said that they became the lord and
lady of Calavar in their later years, for the man was wise and
the lady shrewd.

And lo, did they live happily and Tash looked kindly on their
souls at the end.

But yet there is more...

For if you know of the tale of the Efreet's Prize, you know that
not all the gryphons had died.

Some suspected a trick, and so the crafty ones did live on, and
in later years only the most conniving and plotting and shrewd
gryphons did plague Calormen.

And if the faint of heart and tender of soul will cover their
ears for this next part...

It is also said that the merchant who's son was the youth
searched out the cave of the gryphon to retrieve the valuables
that the lady had lost. And he did find that it took a scant
single day to reach the cave from Mezreel, while the youth and
the lady had arrived in a run with barely time to set their plan
in motion. It too is related that the woman bore bruises across
her arms where she was bound to the post by the cruel gryphon,
but is said to have smiled and laughed and treasured them for the
rest of her years.

Thus is the tale of the Lady of Calavar and the Gryphon
concluded.