The Tale of the Golden Bullby Edward S. Gault
I.
Once
upon a
time, there was
a
village with
a golden bull.
The
people in
the village were
going
through hard
times, so someone
came
up with
this idea to
bring
prosperity back-
they would build
a
spectacle in
the village square
to
draw people
to their dusty
little
corner of
the land. So
they
had everyone
go to collect
whatever
gold they
might have in
their
homes, (and
they didn't have
a
whole lot)
to bring it
to
the village
smith, who then
melted
it all
down. He poured
it
into a
mold he had
created
in the
form of a
bull.
Because the
villagers didn't have
much
gold, the
statue wasn't much
of
a spectacle:
it was only
knee
high. Still
people from the
other
villages did
come, and paid
to
see it!
With the gold
paid
by these
first visitors
the
smith was
able to add
to
the creature-
increasing its size
so
it came
now to the
waist.
More travellers
came giving their
gold,
then going
back to tell
the
news of
the bull (stretching
the
size of
the bull at
the
time they
had seen it).
But
by the
time others had
come
to see
it, it had
grown
to the
size they had
come
to expect!
Before long,
the
bull had
grown to the
height
of the
village church tower.
II.
Around
this time,
People began to
disappear.
They would
go into the
forest
to hunt,
or to get
wood,
and never
return. People grew
afraid
and began
to tell stories
of
bandits, murderers,
and wild beasts.
One
day a
fisherman and his
son
left for the
lake. It was
a
two day
journey through the
woods.
Many people
warned them. This
was
a trip
they had taken
many
times before-
they weren't afraid.
Only
the boy
returned-and he
couldn't
talk. The
villagers grew more
afraid.
Maybe people
would quit coming.
III.
But
people did
come and their
bull
grew as
tall as the
cedars.
Soon people
began to settle
there,
and the
village grew into
a
town, and
then a city.
By
this time
the bull reached
To
the sky.
The city continued
to
grow until
it swallowed up
the
nearby villages,
becoming a metropolis.
It
established its
own mint, becoming
the
kingdom's center
of trade. Poets,
artists,
storytellers, and
performers of every
kind
made the
city a new
Bohemia.
Every night
there were parties
and
celebrations of
every kind-so
naturally,
the people
were much too
busy
to pay
much attention to
reports
that the
disappearances and killings
were
getting closer
and closer. Those
that
did listen
to the reports
simply
laughed, rolled
back their eyes
and
continued drinking
their wine. Sometimes
those
trying to
spread warnings were
jailed
for mischief,
so people learned
to
keep quiet.
Some left for
fear
they would
lose their lives.
One
day, during
the autumn revels,
a
shadow
was cast across
the
land, people
looked up to
where
the sun
should have been-
and
screamed. A
giant claw came
out
of the
sky and swiftly
down
in one
fleeting second, struck
the
golden bull,
sending pieces of
debris
down onto
the city. All
was
havoc in
the streets as
people
ran for
their lives-many
did
not make
it. Some were
mauled
trying to get
out, others were
eaten
alive. Those
who did escape,
travelled
to the
far sides of
the
kingdom where
they settled-and
never
spoke about
their old village.
Copyright 2008
One Single Impression: Fleeting
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