Week 2 Story: Beffajez and the Mountain of Gold

Beffajez and the Mountain of Gold

Once upon a time, there was a huge mountain giant named Beffajez. Well, half-mountain giant. Beffajez was also half dragon. But he was not descended from the cool, take-to-the-skies and swoop in to save heroes kind of dragon. He was descended from the greedy dragons who said and hoarded their treasure without circulating it back into the economy. 

Background aside, Beffajez was known all throughout the local village as a terrible monster whose demonic gaze could make a man pass out on sight. Furthermore, he was known for raiding the town, stealing bags of gold, and taking them back to his lair. This left the local village, Cradda, stuggling to get by. Many villagers were lucky if they knew where next week's meals were coming from.

However, one day, Beffajez noticed something: he was profoundly alone. To fix this, Beffajez started taking a housewife everytime he ransacked the village for gold. The first woman he took, a simple and sweet woman by the name of Maven, kicked and screamed but eventually she was manhandled by Beffajez's gross ugly hands. 

Back in the mountain cave where Beffajez resided, Maven was immediately put to work. See, it quickly became apparent to Beffajez that he not only wanted a companion, but he wanted someone to clean the house, cook the meals, and fend off rats. But of course, he didn't want to contribute any to the workload and instead decided to make the working conditions unbearable while he directly profited from Maven's work. After a few weeks, Maven finally collapsed from the overwhelming amount of hard work she was expected to do relentlessly. Upon collapsing, she was never to get back up. So, Beffajez decided that it was time to ransack the village.

The next woman that Beffajez abducted was a woman named Tirni. Tirni put up more of a fight, but eventually the giant's hands eventually scooped her up and took her on their way. However, what Beffajez didn't know was that he was being followed. The village had sent for help following Maven's abduction and there was a new hero, Lrakmar, in town. Lrakmar followed Beffajez to the secret lair. Once there, Lrakmar waited until nightfall, went to Tirni's cell, and set her free. She thanked him profusely and kissed his cheek goodbye. Then, Lrakmar inserted himself into the cell. When Beffajez awoke the next morning, he absentmindly opened the cage and let Lrakmar out. Lrakmar had guised his appearance to look like Tirni, so he started to fulfill her duties around the house. Luckily, Beffajez was too apathetic and too stupid to notice the personnel change. 

When Beffajez got hungry, he demanded his usual bowl of soup. This bowl, roughly the size of a stadium arena, was filled to the brim with steaming hot chicken soup. However, Lrakmar had added a special ingredient: poison. At first, Beffajez noticed the slight difference in taste. See, for as oblivious as he was to Tirni being gone, any change to his food was directly noticed. Anticipating that, Lrakmar used a masking agent to help the scent of the poison pass. Beffajez commented on the new flavor and Lrakmar let out a chuckle and a faint smile. By then, it was far too late for Beffajez. The poison had taken effect and Lrakmar had slain the giant monster. He then loaded up the gold that was stashed away in the secret chamber, loaded it up on a cart, and took the head of Beffajez as proof. When Lrakmar returned to the village, he received praise and admiration. He took his pre-agreed-upon 5% and the rest was distributed to the villagers to ensure that they live happy lives. 

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 This story was inspired by The Cunning Crane and the Crab, from The Giant Crab and Other Tales from Old India by W.H.D. Rouse. I decided to take a different spin on telling the tale of greed and its blinding effects, as originally presented in The Cunning Crane and the Crab.

   (image: the titular Crane conversing with the fish, surely deceiving them. Image credits: W. Robinson)