"Hiding Nuisances After Gods"

Freewriting topic of the week

"Hiding Nuisances After Gods"

The God-boon wasn't all that it was cracked up to be.

After all, the Great One had walked among the mortals and devout of the town. We had been promised boons.  Crops had been tithed, fatted calves sacrificed (and dark rumors of more... familial... sacrifices, as well).

What we were left with was awkward pregnancies, malformed livestock,and strange crops gibbering in the fields under the moonlight.

We paled when we learned that pilgrims were on their way to walk the countryside trod by the Great One, to see the blessings wrought upon us. A dull panic swept the town at the thought of the humiliation once we were exposed as the fools we were, thinking that we could receive a blessing from an ineffable power for the mere trinkets that we had to offer.


The 'blessed' ones could be shunted away. Livestock moved to distant pastures, or perhaps slaughtered (though none cared to partake of the meat).  The crops? Well, maybe an early harvest was in order. And perhaps the upcoming winter would be a mild one...

But the pilgrims were expecting miracles, proof that the Great One had visited.  The only proof we had was the twisted forms that He had left in His wake.

A pair of youths came forward, boys known throughout town as wags and culprits of petty misdeeds.  Perhaps, they offered, it would be useful to misdirect the visitors' attention, like a charlatan during a cheap coin trick. You know, to keep them from peeking into the barns or homes.

Desperate, the town fathers agreed, and the two lads darted off to the outskirts of town with planks, cordage, and something scribbled onto a smudged parchment.

And a few days later, when the first pilgrims entered town, full of curiosity and reverence, we greeted them warmly, and showed the spoor of the Great One.

For scattered through the fields were a god's "footprints" - arcane, indecipherable circles and arcs.

We shrugged and feigned ignorance at their meanings. After all, how could we, as mere mortals, begin to fathom the sigils left by the Great One?

Appropriately awed, the pilgrims eventually departed, murmuring among themselves theories and speculation.

The town sighed a collective sigh of relief and passed around a collection for our clever boys.

Word has it, the Great One has begun to pace and gambol through other fields in the kingdom. Our boys shrug at the news.

But we don't really have time to ponder much further, for we are kept busy milking the abominations and trying to cope with several precocious, fast-growing babes. All of whom are in the Great One's likeness.