Daranog of the Lake

I’d ne’er ’ave thought it possible ’ad I not seen it wi’ me own eyes. I’m a swine’erd, a good job. I takes care o’ the baron’s stock; a good big ’erd it be, an’ I takes pride that every animal is ’ale and ’arty. Enough o’ me.

One night I was down by the lake near Pedwar wi’ a dozen or so sows I was takin’ to Zerhun. It was Yaelah. I’d penned ’em up and wander’d into the Lock n’ Lantern fer a bite an’ a mug or two. Not that I were sozzled or anythin’ like that - after all, I ’ad the baron’s property in my care. So I was walkin’ along the beach, enjoyin’ the breeze off the lake, when I ’eard some funny noises. Were the sound of cattle in panic. Then I noticed cows an’ stuff running around a field like they was craz’d. One I seen was foamin’ at the mouth, and it’s eyes were so red they might’ a been bleedin’.

I thought to meself, now that’s odd. What could’ a made such a ruckus. So I wander’d on a bit ’till I saw funny marks on the road. Dark they were, an’ they mighta’ been red, like blood. Seemed somethin’ d been dragged across toward the lake. Younger I was then, p’raps a bit less clever, so I boldly followed the trail down t’ the water. Weren’t far to the lake an’ as I got near the lake, I saw an enormous creature, musta been sixty feet long, an’ cover’d with slimy scales it was. There was a half butcher’d cow, an’ the creature was draggin’ it into the water, stoppin’ to take a bite now an’ then. I don’ know ’ow long I stood watchin’ the thing, but it couldn’t ’ave been long, er it vanished below the water.

I ran back to the inn an’ told ’em all about it, but they sorta rolled their eyes and muttered. No one wanted to go out that night to check it though. Was then I realized I’d seen the Daranog an’ was due a nasty run o’ bad luck. Sure enough, I lost me job, one o’ me kids were killed in a fall, an’ me wife left me. I took t’ scrounging drinks for me story, an’ I’ve gone down’ill from there.

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