The Faeries and the Legend of Gadgadsbogen

      Does anyone know if Trickster Llugh ever truly existed? Possibly not. Though we all know that if the legend were to be proven true, the Mynci would definitely have a whole lot to do with the entire celebration. Alas, it would have been he who spread the seeds to begin with.

      You see, Gadgadsbogen is a celebration of an oddity that occurs every year in Mystery Island. Suddenly, new fruits begin to grow out of nowhere. Nobody quite knows where they come from, when they began to sprout up to begin with, or why it happens. Everyone assumes that it began to happen hundreds of years before they themselves were born, and that the true legend is locked away forever.

      In the legend of Trickster Llugh and Gadgadsbogen, it is said that Llugh made a bet with his friend. In the bet, he claimed that he could beat the sun. He would run across Mystery Island before the sun could set. They agreed that it was a bet, and he prepared himself for the feat the night before. The next day he awoke with the sun, leaving only a trail of dust behind as he ran.

      It is said that when he went to find the food in his backpack around lunch, he found only a few fruit remaining; most had fallen out without him knowing. He ate a few of them and saved a juppie for later, in case he would need the energy. Well, if he was to beat the sun across Mystery Island, it's very possible that he would need the energy.

      Once he was very close to winning (he had gotten ahead of the sun!) he saw a shaky figure who appeared very hungry. He knew they needed the juppie more than he did, and gave it to the person. However, it turned out that the cloaked figure had in fact been an Earth faerie. For his kind act, she helped him beat the sun; and even gave him the juppie afterward to help his hunger.

      If legend proves true, that is how the fruits began to pop up; while he lost his fruit along the way, it provided seeds for more to grow. That is the only legend spread around during Gadgadsbogen, but there are many others. Some aren't spread around for good reason, they're absolute rubbish; listening to them would only result in you believing the wrong kind of information. However.. If you were to ask another Mynci by the name of Lorna what she believes is the cause of the growing fruit.. you would come across a whole other tale.

      Today we shall not focus on the legends we already know, but on another legend all together. A legend that few have heard, and even fewer have spread through whispers. The inhabitants of the island who do happen to know this legend do not spread it, for they realize that only gifted ears are meant to hear it. Only neopets chosen by Cinto Pango are supposed to know of the legend.

      Who is Cinto Pango? Few know who he really is, and I'm sad to say that I'm not one of the lucky few who do; and neither is Lorna - even though he told her of the legend himself. He's a mysterious elder from the Pango tribe, and nobody really knows how old he is. There's not any native of Mystery Island who can say he wasn't around when they were born. Even though his age is something talked about often during the years, there is only guessing done. Some say he could be hundreds of years old. Some say he was the first inhabitant of the mysterious island.

      No matter his age, he knows more than any other native could possibly hope to know; and he passed some of his knowledge on to Lorna one cool, crisp day in the middle of March. There were still many days left of the festival when he came forward to Lorna while she was playing with her puppyblew named Toby. At first she hadn't noticed he was standing there, he had approached so quietly and she was so engrossed in playing fetch with Toby.

      In fact, Toby spotted Cinto Pango before she got the chance; and he began to bark at the elder. Lorna turned around, her jaw automatically dropping when she saw who was standing in the shade of a large tree behind her.

      "Toby! It's okay!" she exclaimed, keeping her eyes glued to Cinto Pango while trying to calm her puppy down. The elder smiled, wrinkles at the corners of his lips and eyes crinkling slightly.

      "It is okay, child, I have seen many barking puppyblews in my day." His soft voice carried over the breeze, sounding not only wise but kind. Lorna didn't have to say anything else to Toby. After hearing the elder speak, he quieted down. Rather than barking at him, he decided to play with his toy in the grass - as if knowing that the elder would be speaking to his owner.

      "C-can I do something for you?" Lorna squeaked, not knowing how she should behave. She hadn't ever actually been this close to the elder before. This was actually the first time she remembered seeing him in detail. Many people would crowd around his hut at the end of the festival, and she was far too short to see over many of their heads. Whether she knew his face or not, though, she would recognize his voice from anywhere.

      He smiled softly and Lorna was calmed slightly by the gesture, which was what he had been hoping for.

      "Every year I observe people of the island, to find somebody to tell a... story, I suppose you could say. I always find somebody who seems like they would enjoy a good story. Do you like good stories?" he inquired, sitting on a bench only a few feet behind him. She had already moved to stand beside him as he spoke, and a few moments after he sat down, she sat across from him on another bench.

      When she nodded, he smiled in response, obviously happy that he had assumed correctly in the idea that she liked stories. He looked at the clouds, as if wondering where he should start speaking, or what he should say. While he did this, Lorna took a chance to look at him more closely. She had always known that he was a Mynci as well, but she hadn't expected him to be such a well colored one. She had always associated the elders with dull colors, but he had an island feel to his colors, and they were far from dull. His wrinkles made him look even nicer than he did already; he looked like a grandfather who would happily tell all sorts of children stories while they sat in a circle around him. He was wearing a gold colored robe, and he was holding a wooden staff.

      "Have you heard the story of Trickster Llugh?" he asked, looking from the clouds to her. She nodded instantly; she and her siblings talked of the story every year around this time. He nodded, smiling more. "Well, have you heard the legend of the Faeries and Gadgadsbogen?"

      "I only know about the earth faerie who helped Llugh," Lorna admitted in awe, shocked that there was a chance that more than one faerie had something to do with the sprouting of numerous new fruits. She was actually shocked that faeries had anything to do with it at all. She had always wondered why an Earth faerie was out in the middle of nowhere.

      Lorna's mind was already buzzing before the story even began, and upon noticing that, she forced her thoughts to calm. She wouldn't make the story up before she even heard the real thing, because then she would probably hear it wrong and spread something totally unrelated to what the elder would tell her.

      Nodding, Cinto Pango looked up again. His eyes clouded over slightly as he obviously went into deep thought.

      "There's another tale to the celebration of Gadgadsbogen, though it's not as widely spoken of. As everyone knows, there are many faeries in the world of Neopia. The same can be said for faeries in Mystery Island. Just as dark faeries and light faeries don't get along elsewhere, the same can be said for here. But.. one year, they banded together. Every faerie of Mystery Island."

      "But why?" Lorna interrupted excitedly, leaning forward in her chair as if that'd get her question answered faster. The elder looked at her with an amused glint in his eyes, a wider smile forming on his face.

      "There is no heroic tale of why the faeries banded together, young one. In fact, the fruit sprouting was a mistake on their part. You see, they had intended to lay out seeds that would grow out of the ground nowhere. The seeds weren't supposed to grow until April first; it was going to be an April Fool's joke on the inhabitants. That year, the natives had been asking for help from the faeries so much that all of them grew exasperated and tired. They thought they would give the natives something to wonder about, if I remember correctly.

      They gave the natives something to wonder about, that's for certain. On the first day of March, all of a sudden fruit began to sprout everywhere. I was just a child myself at the time, but I can still remember how shocked everyone seemed. At this point, there was no holiday celebrated during the month of March--"

      "Why did the faeries have to band together to do that, sir?" Lorna interrupted again, nearly falling off of the bench now. Elder Cinto Pango smiled patiently, understanding the eager child; he had seen many of them during his life. He knew a whole lot about curiosity himself.

      "The dark faeries knew how to ward away darkness from the crops. The light faeries knew how to make just enough light shine onto the fruits. The fire faeries knew exactly how warm the plants needed to be. The earth faeries knew the spells to make the soil just right. Then the water faeries were able to make it rain the perfect amount for the seeds to grow."

      "What makes them sprout up all of the sudden, then?"

      "That, my child, was in the hands of Jhuidah. At the time she was nothing but a young sprout herself, not watching over the island cooking pot, but out being mischievous. She put a permanent spell on the ground to where the fruit would pop up suddenly. Though, due to her being a child, she didn't do it right and made them begin to sprout a month early - and on top of that, caused them to sprout all month long. You see, all of the spells were permanent, which is why they occur every year."

      "Why do the people of Mystery Island celebrate it, when it was only a joke meant to be played on us?" Lorna inquired quietly once he had finished his sentence.

      "Because, even if it was a joke, it helped the island out to gain new fruit. In fact, the fruit seems to get more delicious every year that goes by. After all, Gadgadsbogen has been celebrated for many, many years."

      "How many years?" she piped up happily, earning another smile from the elder. He stood up slowly, as if he had all of the time in the world to do so; which, who knows, perhaps he did.

      "That, my child, is of no importance," he murmured, patting the top of her head before turning to walk back to the road.

      "Is this what really happened? Is this how the fruit began to grow?" she asked quickly while running after him. Toby had realized by now that his owner was running in the other direction, and was soon right beneath her feet, following.

      "Another thing of no importance!" he said happily while turning to look at her over his shoulder. "All that is important is that the fruit continues to grow, not how it began."

      Suddenly Toby began to bark again, except this time at Lorna. She turned to look at her puppyblew, wondering what was wrong with him all of a sudden. She looked back in the direction that the elder had been moments before, to find that he was gone. She turned around in a full circle, but he was nowhere to be found.

      That, friends, is the untold legend of where the fruits came from, where Gadgadsbogen originated from. And who knows, perhaps the elder Cinto Pango will tell you the legend himself, some day...

The End