Ota's Tale

The village of Mansanu that ringed the bay wherein the Queen of Dice bobbed, tethered to the pier, was one of only three on the whole of Kyad. The other two were named Baraguin and Hol, and of the three villages it was Hol, on the opposite side of the island, that was the largest. That Mansanu was the seat of power in Kyad, and home to Dasai Callan, his wife Morio and their family, was a source of great shame and dishonour for the people of Hol, who had once held that seat themselves. The story of how this transfer of power occurred was told with reverential pride to the children of Mansanu, and with cautionary venom to the children of Hol:

'Over a hundred years ago the Dasai of Kyad was a man named Ota of Hol, and his wife Adalendi had born him five sons in ten years. Ota was not, therefore, lacking a successor to his seat, and in that respect he could rest easy. But Ota had loved his mother dearly, and she had been lost to him in the cruel winds of a storm, one that he had watched toss its fury upon the waves from his window. The body of Kara, mother of Ota, was never found, and Ota had wept for many weeks. Now, Ota was a superstitious man, and whenever he looked out of that window he had stood at when his mother was lost, he believed that he saw her out upon the waves, walking their crests and pining for the shore. And he took it into his mind that his mother's spirit was in need of a body, something made of her own blood that she could enter into and thereby walk once more on the land. And so Ota took it upon himself to sire a daughter for this purpose, and when she was finally born, last of all his children, he saw her both as his daughter and as his mother equally, and loved her twice as much as any other father loved their child.'
'One day there came a young man into Hol on a mission of trade from Mansanu, and he was the son of the best family in that village. Ota came to speak with the young man, along with all his family, and at first sight, his daughter/mother and the man from Mansanu fell deeply in love. Straight away, without even pursuing his trade, the young man asked for Ota's permission to marry his daughter. But this was something Ota could not allow, for to marry his mother to another man would mean that man becoming his father, and his pride was too great for this. And so he sent the young man on his way, though with generous gifts, and took his daughter home.' 'When the young man arrived back in Mansanu, he told his father what had happened.

“Then it is as the Sea-Dragons will, my son.” he said, “There is nothing you can do, nor should.”
Then the young man was angry at his father, and wept for a day and a night. In the morning his mother came in to see him, and he spoke with her about it.

“I love her more than I love the sea, and I love that dearly enough.” he said.

“Then without delay you should concoct a plan to be with her.” said his mother. “True love is not a thing that repeats itself in this life, and it must be seized by strong hands while it lingers.”

And so the young man from Mansanu took his mother's words to heart, and brought his loyal friends together to think of a plan.

“What we will do is this.” he said to everyone there. “We will wait until there is a train of crates being moved between the villages in trade, and then we will hide ourselves in one of them and by doing so come straight into that evil Ota's house.”

Everyone agreed that this was a good plan, and so they went and hid in the darkest places of the woods until, just as the plan said, a train of crates rolled by from Mansanu to Hol. Then they snuck past the guards and hid in the largest of the crates, and after a day and night of travel, came into the cellar of Ota's house.

“Now is our chance.” said the young man, and they crept through the house and into the bedchamber of Ota's daughter/mother. The young man woke her up and said: “I have come to take you back with me to Mansanu, where we can be married and live forever in happiness in the foam of the Sea-Dragons.”

And she said: “It is for the best that you have come, because I love you, and because my father treats me very strangely.” Then everyone snuck out of the house and travelled back through the forests, which was hard going. When they arrived back in Mansanu, everyone there was delighted, and thought it an excellent match. The young man's mother, especially, was very pleased, and lavished much attention on Ota's daughter. But the young man's father was displeased.

“Are you a fool?” he asked in anger. “You have brought war upon us!” Then the young man was ashamed, but his mother came up, and with her arms around both of her men she said:

“Ahh, but your age has blinded you my husband, for in this happy occasion is not just true love, but an opportunity for other gains. Ota's daughter tells me much about her father.”

And then the husband understood, and sent messengers to Hol with letters. In the letters was this: “Give the seat of power to the people of Mansanu, or your daughter/mother will be killed.”

Ota read the letter with tears in his eyes, for he had been stuck between two rocks. For him, the decision was between his power and his life, for what man can live without his mother? And so the seat of power passed to Mansanu, and the loving pair were married as well.'

There are two alternative endings to this story, one affirmative, one retributive. The one told in Mansanu goes:

'Then the Sea-Dragons threw up an almighty cloud of rich foam, and it fell upon the crops and made them grow taller than the trees for three full years.'

But a darker continuation, the reverse of the coin, is told by the bitter descendants of former Dasai Ota and his family, and it goes:

'But the Sea-Dragons, as punishment for destroying a kindly, grieving old man, sent sea-monsters from the deep to ruin the festivities, and they came dressed as men.'

How exactly these monsters from the deep 'ruined the festivities', was never told in detail, and those who are too young too remember that happy day settle for whatever ending they're given. But the older villagers were there on the day that sa Callan and si Morio were married. They all heard the news when Ota, father of Morio and former Dasai of Kyad, drowned himself in grief three days later, in sight of that fateful window. As for the end of the tale, those eldest of the Kyadians know full well that neither magical denouement ever occurred. They tell their grandchildren the tale, happy endings in Mansanu, tragic endings in Hol, because stories are good things, either way, and because magic is worth keeping. But they know that the Sea-Dragons leave their judgement for the long dark.