General:The House of the Big Walker

Book Information
Source:	AFFresh Substack
Writer(s):	Douglas Goodall
Publication Date:	1 June 2023

The House of the Big Walker

As Told by Dro'Zhani, Carrier of the Mane, to Rodala of the Horse-Men, Circa 3E 30

A Khajiiti tale about the Halls of the Colossus

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This story, found as a palimpsest in a book of Allesian morality plays, is just one of many remarkably fascinating books, scrolls, and letters in the collection of the Lady Pasipha of Wayrest. The context of the story and family tradition suggest that it was written by one "Rodala of the Horse-Men," an ancestor of the Lady Pasipha from her mother's side. Unfortunately, Rodala translated the story from Ta'agra and into the eastern dialect of Bretonic at the time, and he was not fully literate in either language. I have done what I can to restore the original meaning and cadence.

Your Humble Translator,
Cassolar Drabo

*****

Dro'Zhani tells the horse-man about the House of the Big Walker.

When First Mane was born, Snake-Men came from the rainy lands. Khajiit greeted them as the sun greets the dunes, for Khajiit knew the Snake-Men fought with the Seizing Men. Khajiit feared the Seizing Men, for clan mothers saw far, when the tribes are scattered like sand and all Khajiit are poor slaves. So Khajiit gave Snake-Men sugar and meat. Khajiit gave Snake-Men sand and sky. The Snake-Men gave blood and breath and dust.

The moons rose and fell. The jungle was not too wet and the dunes were not too hot. Khajiit taught the Snake-Men the Way of the Sand, the Way of the Jungle, the Way of the Claw, and the Way of Face-Paint. Snake-Men taught Khajiit the Way of the Sword and the Way of Assembly. And Khajiit paid neither heed nor gold to the Seizing Men.

When the Seizing Men came, some Khajiit fought beside the Snake-Men to honor the gifts. Some thought the Snake-Men brought the Seizing Men and did not fight. The Seizing Men came to Drake Road, to Hugging River, to Elf Spire, to Stoop Low. Khajiit fought each other with words more than they fought the Seizing Men with claws. The Mane was a child and the tribes slipped between his small claws. So the Seizing Men stole the sands and the skies.

The Seizing Men learned the Way of Sugar and taught Khajiit the Way of the Whip. Then the Seizing Men made Khajiit build a House. Every day the House grew taller and fatter. And every day Khajiit asked, "Who will live in this House?" The Seizing Men would not say.

Dro'Zhani tells you these things for Dro'Zhani fought at Drake Road and lost his claws at Stoop Low and Dro'Zhani made many stones for the House. Yes, the stones were not stones. The Seizing Men made glow-stones out of dirt and fire and ash and salt. Dro'Zhani did not like these liar-stones, but Dro'Zhani feared the whip and the sugar.

One day when the House was taller than all the dunes and trees stacked upon each other, a chieftain of the Seizing Men came to the tall, fat House. Dro'Zhani heard the chieftain's words, heard that House was for Big Walker. Dro'Zhani knew all the names of Big Walker, for Dro'Zhani played many songs before Stoop Low, when Dro'Zhani could count two more.

When the House was done, carts came from the rainy lands, carrying pieces of Big Walker. The Seizing Men tried to wake Big Walker. The Seizing Men cast many spells, spoke many prayers, shook Big Walker's head and shouted at his feet. The sands became like water. The moons hid. Many clan mothers saw things that were not to be. Many Snake-Men grew sick.

The One Who Counts knew every tear, every sweat, of the workers, and he could not count for fear of drowning.

So Alkosh clawed at the House and stomped on the House and breathed fire upon the House, but Big Walker was asleep in his House and the House did not fall. And Alkosh could not enter the House.

So Alkosh made a child, Dalk Ra'Wal. This child grew strong and sneaky in the side place. Ra'Wal snuck between the cracks of liar-stone, but could not find his way to Big Walker. Ra'Wal sang the crumbling songs, and stones from the faraway mountains turned to sand, but the liar-stones only respond to lies. Ra'Wal took the Seizing Men's own tools and chipped at the stones slowly, singing all the while, but he did not live long enough, even in the side place, to carve the way. Big Walker was deaf in his House, and the House did not turn back to sand. And Alkosh could not enter the House.

So Alkosh unwound years that did not count. And Alkosh ate Alkosh, making an emptiness that could be filled only by a birth under the right moons. The blessed by birth walked with dragon toes, spoke with a dragon tongue, and wore the scales about his shoulders. But the sly one tricked Alkosh and used the years that did not count to make a new body. The Dragon-in-Flesh was not a Khajiit, but a Seizing Man who looked too long in the pool of the sly one.

So the Dragon-in-Flesh betrayed himself. Soon another cart came and inside was the heart of the buried one, the reflection of the Moons in the boiling sea. The Dragon-in-Flesh could enter the House of the Big Walker. When the heart beat in Big Walker, he was not at home in his House.

So Big Walker picked up his House and Walked. The House of the Big Walker no longer overlooked the sea. There was big trouble in Ne Quin-al and the Home of Thorns and the Ten Marshes and everywhere Big Walker went.

The Dragon-in-Flesh led Big Walker across the sea and there the House went also, but He was not at home in his House. The Snake-Men who stayed were full of sorry and became the Rim-Men. They lost their tail-sense and could not tell friend from foe, so they fought all the Khajiit as if we all betrayed them.

Alkosh tired of Big Walker making him lose count. So Alkosh captured the north wind in a bottle that was the same inside and out. And Alkosh froze the stars and swept them into a dustpan. And Alkosh set the Cat's Eye ablaze and trapped its shadows in a well. And Alkosh sucked the sea into his chest. And Alkosh made a gift of all to a Tooth Man who used them to speak a single word that blew Big Walker apart.

And the House was blown all the way back to the dawn where it became a home for the Dragon Who Refuses to Count. And the House was blown back again and again until it was ten claws of ten claws older than the moons and stars. And all this time the House remembered the songs of Dalk Ra'Wal in the side place. Every rain, every wind, a handful of the House becomes sand. The House fell to Ne Quin-al in the years of many storms and parts of Big Walker fell all over.

But the House is always here and there and who knows how old it is any now. Half the dunes are the House, whether liar-stones or song-dust. The House remembers Big Walker and sometimes walks about on its own. So even though the House of Big Walker is taller than all the trees stacked upon each other, the House is as hard to find as one grain of sand.