he Second Stone

1. Rearing horses in a whirlpool
2. A man morphing into a devilfish
3. A slant-eyed warlock wearing a tortoise shell
4. A walnut staff
5. A cauldron of thick tar, heavy vapors floating above

The Atlantians were the greatest horsemen the world has ever known. Many of the stones contain pictograms of fine horses. Great honor was paid to skilled riders, and every year a thousand gold nobles went to the winner of the King's Run. Both horse and rider were cruelly taxed each day by the natural barriers of fen, stone, and water. But, the course tested the horseman more rigorously than the horse. Only superb riders lasted past the second day.

Now a certain man was furious to find his most expensive stallion too lame to attempt the course one year. So he went to a slant eyed warlock. This warlock wore nothing but a tortoise shell. He had a heavy jaw that stuck out half a foot. It was strong enough to crush walnut shells between his teeth. This day the warlock was stirring a vat of tar with a curiously carved walnut staff. He was crunching unshelled walnuts between his teeth.

Yes, a horse worthy of the King's Run was certainly no trouble. But the price of such an animal could certainly become so. The warlock insisted that since it was his horse, he would keep the prize money, and the man could keep the honor. The man couldn't budge the warlock. So what if the rider did most of the work? If the man was skilled enough to win the prize, he was skilled enough to win it walking, for all the warlock cared. If he rode the warlock's horse, then it was the warlock's money. Finally the man agreed to pay for the horse, and to turn over any prize it won, in exchange for a ''satisfactory'' horse.

The warlock spat shells into the tar, stirred, and stirred it, until the figure of a fine white horse appeared. The beautiful animal stepped out of the vat and into The King's heart. It had seemed to float over the stony mountain path like a pale phantom. The King offered the man an enormous sum to secure the animal in The King's stables.

That night, the man told the warlock the horse was ''untrustworthy''. He had driven it into the woods in disgust. The white had been so sluggish, it was a wonder he finished the course. He neglected to tell the warlock the horse had finished second. The man had to have a better horse.

So, the warlock muttered and spat some more shells into the tar. He stirred and stirred until a fiery copper-colored horse stepped out of the vat.

The copper horse also enchanted the King. It had seemed to pirouette over the stickiest bogs. The other horses had mired up to their croppers, while it had floated across like the drifting cottonwood down. The man was offered an even greater sum for the copper-colored horse.

That night he told the warlock he had driven the second horse away. It had been so skitterish it was a wonder he still hadn't sunken to his neck in a bog. The warlock looked at him slantwise. But the man brazened it out. He angrily demanded that the warlock reduce his take by half. The warlock argued, and gesticulated, and beat on his tortoise shell for an hour. Then he finally agreed to give up a third.

This time, however, he did not spit walnut shells into the vat. He stirred, and stirred, the tar until a magnificent black horse stepped out of the vat. The last day's run cut through the ocean's tongue. The rider had to bring his mount across without the aid of saddle or reins. That black horse moved so swiftly his legs were a blur. The water stood up in sheets on either side of him.

The King offered twice the amount of the other horses combined to own this one horse. The man was agreeable. But when he tried to dismount, the man found he was stuck fast. Others, supposing him to be injured, ran to help. But it was no good.

The warlock was sent for. He came laughing so hard his shell rattled, and his jaws swung like a breadbox. He told the man it served him right. The man promised anything to be freed from the devil horse, that is, until the warlock demanded every penny The King had given him. The man balked at the unfairness of it. After all, it was his skill that had shown the horses to the best advantage.

Finally, growing angry at the man's stubborn greed the warlock cried, ''Take your choice. Pay me, then dismount - or I shall break the charm and free the beast to the natural elements!''

1. A reclining lion chewing at his claws
2. An eel shaped dragon nuzzling him
3. A phoenix stallion with mane and tail aflame

Our enemies boast of their foolish gods. Yet even a vain fool knows the worth of a horse. Artemis complained that her brother Helios had usurped her rule of the sky. Helios shook his burning hair, and replied that he was running as fast as he had a mind to. This was when the sun shone for six months at a time, and you never could tell when the moon would be.

Zeus appealed to wise Athena. She answered that since Helios couldn't be expected to clip along every day for the rest of eternity on foot, he should ride in the swiftest chariot that Vulcan could make. Helios spoke a few small words aside to Vulcan. And soon the Gods agreed that Vulcan had made the ''bravest'' chariot ever seen.

The swiftest of all beasts were presented to draw the sun chariot. The people, who neither write nor measure, claim a good many of them can still be seen scattered across the sky. Three proved fast enough to run the course in a single day, the dragon, the lion, and the horse. More arguments broke out. Everyone proclaimed his favorite the most worthy. Athena declared that Helios should make a trial of each before he made his choice. The dragon, which always gallops sideways, was chosen the first day.

Now a dragon's eyes are set on top of its head. It couldn't see the wonders of the heaven so well from the corner of its eyes. So it ignored the straight path, galloping left and right. The chariot was nearly torn to pieces by the gigantic pressures. They hadn't made the journey halfway before it became hopelessly entangled in the harness. It writhed on its belly when it was cut from the traces. Draco still lies on his belly in the sky.

Poseidon guffawed ''How did you like the dragon?''

''Not good enough by half.'' Helios answered.

''Well, at least a cat lands on his feet.'' Athena said.

It did indeed. The lion left the track entirely any number of times to take the easier footing, and avoid wetting his feet. It limped in miserably late, sucking its paws.

''How did you find the cat, Helios?''

''I found the cat too particular!'' Helios snorted in vexation ''I've run across the heavens before the earth was, but not one beast believes I know the track!''

''You haven't tried the horse.'' Poseidon said. He glanced at olive wreath Helios wore. The Earthshaker has never forgotten the enemy preferred Athena's tree to his horses. Poseidon knew the excellency of the horse. He also knew the horse follows his nose.

Before Helios started the next day, Poseidon put a bit in their mouths, and tied straps to his horses' noses. He gave the ends to Helios and told him that they would run without fear wherever their noses were turned.

Now, when the horse was tried, he threw his head to the sky and surged onward. No terror of the dark, or roughness of the way made him shy back. He was grace; he was speed; he was power. In his mouth the tiny bit turned his head with the lightest touch. Their driver braced his knees and let them fly. His hair cracked like a whip behind him.

In the evening Poseidon saw his burning eyes and shaking hands. ''Well, my boy, how do you find the horse?''

Helios cast down his olive wreath forever. He fought to catch his breath.

1. A limping fox
2. Underground burrows held up by three roots
3. A well of fitted stones
4. A small chest with a carved lid
5. A dagger thrust through a scroll
6. A bat hanging from the burrow roof

There was an Atlantian noble who made a terrible bargain. He agreed to exchange the soul of his only child for the power he needed to seize the Atlantin throne. The pledge was recorded in his own blood. A dagger was thrust through the page to seal the pact.

Not long after the child was herding the household swans with a stick. She came upon a fox in a farmer's trap. The swans set up an unbelievable hissing. The fox put on a brave show. He took a bad pounding and pecking. His leg would never be straight again. And to make matters worse, the farmer would soon come and make an end of him. The child took pity on the creature. She drove off the angry birds. With the help of a square stone, she soon had the trap open.

The instant he was free, the fox snapped up a small cob and was gone as fast as three legs could carry him.

The noble did become king, and died as horribly as he deserved.

The evil power came to claim the girl's soul, but it found her too well guarded by her nurses to take her soul all at once. So it turned into a bat.

Every night it took a piece of her soul, bit by bit. The bat was too agile to be captured in the dark. Moving the girl from place to place did not help. The bat soon reappeared and took another piece of her soul. But no one suspected what the bat was doing.

The girl gradually lost all feeling in her legs. She fell down often, because she couldn't feel where she was placing her feet. Her skin was a bad color. Though the servants were very vigilant, she often had large bruises, or swelling, or bleeding. Her eyes grew dull.

The bat would fly in and take another little piece of her soul. People would shake their heads and look solemn when they spoke of her.

Things changed when a limping fox appeared. He couldn't be driven away. When the bat came he leaped at it with grinning jaws. After a while the servants let him alone. He didn't hurt the girl, and he frightened away the bat. The girl liked seeing her fox peeping out under the roses.

The poor girl didn't do any better, but then, she didn't get any worse.

Finally, one night the bat ran out of tricks. The fox's bright fangs ripped across his wings. Badly crippled the bat flew for home. The fox bounced after it as if they were tied together on a kite string.

Suddenly the bat flew into a swarm of a thousand bats, circling, weaving, and boiling in the air. But the eyes of a fox can single out one crippled bat in a mob of thousands. Nor did the fox lose sight of it when it dropped stealthily into an old stone well. Anyone but a fox would have followed the bat down that well, and never come up again.

The fox searched the cracks and fissures until he found one that slipped down beneath the well. He flowed like a shadow until he came safely into a strange cavern. Small lead bones and bits of evil looking metal hung from the walls. The bat hung from the ceiling dripping poison from his wound. In the center of the floor was the scroll with the dagger driven through its pages, and a small lead box. The bat warily furled its scored wings.

Closer, closer, paw-by-paw the fox crept. Suddenly he snapped up the box like a fat chicken, and he bolted. The bat raged down after the box, right into the fox's jaws. He bit it in two then spat it out beside the scroll.

The box, he took between his jaws again. He didn't let go until he dropped it in the girl's lap. When she listlessly pushed it open her skin flushed delicate tints. Her eyes became rich. Then she cried piteously because the bruises on her legs hurt.

1. Three brothers sinking beneath the foam
2. A Merman carrying a hammer
3. A black horse in the sign of a dancer
4. And the ocean waves were driving them all between a cleft on a sheer cliff.

A certain Atlantin king wished to be marryied. So he sent across the sea to an island king, requiring his daughter be sent for consideration. This girl was renowned thru the islands for her beauty. And, unfortunately for her, the lords who were sent to fetch her were villainous rascals. But they were unrivaled for their navigation and sea craft.

Her father didn't like it, but didn't dare refuse these three brothers, for the Atlantian King was rich and very powerful. He put his trust in her beauty and her wits, kissed her, and then sent her off with a few servants.

They hadn't set sail for two days before these three brothers had ravished her in turn. After taking their pleasure with the poor girl, they decided this secret could not be kept from The King. They deafened their ears to the wretches' pleas and threw everyone overboard whose loyalty they were unsure of. They all agreed to tell The King that the girl had died at sea, which was true, and let him assume that her death had followed an illness, which was a wicked lie, but they wouldn't do anything to discourage that assumption.

Now the girl's poor wet ghost, as was customary with the tides in those days, was drawn immediately north into the halls of the Kraken. She danced for the Lord of the deep. He was pleased by her grace and beauty. He offered her a place in his household, and a seat by his own throne. She declined, but asked him to avenge her dishonor on the three brothers.

So, a merman with a hammer was sent in the form of a shark to hunt their ship down. When he found it he raised a terrible storm. But the merman was no match for the brothers' sailing abilities. They escaped into a bay on an island. Though the merman pounded the cliffs with his hammer until they smoked with heat, the three brothers were beyond the power of the sea.

The merman returned to the Kraken to report his failure. The Kraken shrugged his shoulders. But that night, the girl's ghost danced again. The Kraken swore she might have anything to the lightning swollen clouds. She could have had anything her heart desired, but she pled again for justice. Send her to the three brothers, and she would destroy them with the same beauty that had betrayed her.

When she arrived at the island, she changed herself into a magnificent black horse. No lost soul will ever see its equal! She led the brothers a merry chase for half a day, dancing just out of their reach.

Now she knew, oh how she knew, these brothers were scoundrels! They spent half the chase accusing the others of clumsiness, and the other half arguing about what share each would have from the sale of the lovely animal. She allowed herself to be caught when the argument became a battle. Revenge was swift. That night the youngest brother carefully poisoned his elder brothers' food. And the elder brothers celebrated their younger brother's slit throat with the poisoned meal.

1. A three faced witch standing on goat legs
2. A harp or shield
3. A snail
4. A white haired man sleeping under a woven blanket

An unimportant Atlantian prince married a witch. He died soon after, because he discovered she had goat legs. No one else knew. When she danced under a full moon, it was very, very, privately.

The King shrugged his shoulders and sent for her. He was a fool. His Captain General had more sense. He imprisoned her. The royal widow of a petty prince is not a safe item to have running loose around the tumultuous ruling house. After awhile The King set her free anyway. No potentially dangerous heir had appeared, and her petitions were very pretty. She was very pretty. The King was beginning to forgive his youngest for marrying against his orders, and dying so young.

The Captain General on the other hand never stopped cursing the dead prince. If it weren't for his caution, whatever that witch wanted - The King might give her. He knew a pretty face often hides an ugly heart.

A few years later a wonderful goat-hair coverlet was sent with the regular camp allotment. The aide saw only how soft, colorful, and miraculously woven it was. He put it right on the General's couch frame.

Fortunately, the General twitched his blankets to the floor as he started to suffocate in his sleep. He noticed a smell delicate as a pretty woman. Close examination revealed that the smell came from the coverlet. Experiment proved any one holding the rich stuff too close to his face gradually began to suffer for air.

The King would have executed the aide. His Captain General found out where the aide got the goat-hair coverlet. Since it arrived with The King's own portion, The General's staff urged him to flee that night, or The King's next attempt might succeed in killing him.

In answer, he pushed over a brazier full of live coals on top of the coverlet with his sword point. After a great deal of damage had been done, he shook the rest of the coals off.

''This is now a more deadly trap than it was before!'' he hissed.

His fellows looked amazed. But, they didn't ask questions.

The Captain General spent the next morning in the market. He asked all the vendors for a duplicate of the marvelous goat-hair coverlet. The merchants had nothing like it, but would gladly substitute any of their fine carpets. The General would never regret buying one. The General didn't doubt it. But, no, he was sorry. His heart was set on this specific type. Too bad his subordinates were so clumsy. The piece was beyond repair. It had been a gift from The King. He was going to inspect garrisons soon. This would have been just perfect for the tour. Too bad.

When the General attended the King it was with a rueful countenance, apologies, and a humble request to pay twice what The King had for the marvelous coverlet. If only it could be replaced before the inspection tour.

The King winked and sent for the goat-legged witch. She smiled at them. It had been no trouble for her to make. The General could have another in two days, and The King could have another a little later.

Never was a woman so closely watched behind secret panels, or so stealthily shadowed by so determined an enemy.

When the witch came to a very private place, she took off her skin. Such a horrible monster seldom walks on two legs. Not only did she have goat legs, she had three faces! one on her head, one on her chest, and one on her belly. She would pull the first one down her back and the second one rose up into position as if it were on a chain. Or she would tug even harder to pull the third head onto her shoulders. Or she would pull on her belly to roll the second or the first head over her back and up onto her neck. She briskly wagged her little goat tail.

She sang ''Rise, rise, rise up and sleep. Rise, rise up, and sleep.'' in three different voices.

All the snails beneath the moon began climbing an invisible wall of air and moonbeams, leaving their shining slime trails behind them. The witch danced back and forth and between the streaks. She tore clumps of goat hair off her legs and wove it with great dexterity throughout the slime trails.

Her observers (who hadn't fled for their lives) stole quietly away. They reported that a lot of hair had been torn off the witch. She wouldn't be weaving another deadly coverlet for The King for quite a while. The General replied that she would never weave another.

When The King presented the second coverlet, his Captain General unfurled it with exclamations of wonder.

He smiled at The King, and thanked him for his wedding girt. Yes, wedding gift. He was getting married, and he needed just such a gift for his bride.

Suddenly he threw the goat-hair coverlet over the witch's head. It shrouded her completely. In that instant she froze. In the next the General's powerful arms were around her. The goat-hair coverlet muffled every cry.

''Come, come, sweetheart,'' he purred. ''Don't struggle so hard since we've understood each other so well.'' The witch's struggles did become feebler.

The King finally did give his blessing to the match. It was such a waste growing angry with anyone as trustworthy as his Captain General. The General swung the witch up in his arms, and carried her, still wrapped in the coverlet, out of The King's presence. He left immediately on inspection.