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Neopedia : Trickster Llugh and the Legend of Gadgadsbogen



All over Mystery Island natives and tourists join together to commemorate the annual festival of Gadgadsbogen. Literally translated to mean "good good day," Gadgadsbogen celebrates a phenomenon in which, each year during the month of Running, a number of new fruits mysteriously emerge from the soil to replace some of island's older fruits. During the festival, investors have been known to storm the shops of Mystery Island in hopes of buying the last of the fruits that have been discontinued. The festival comes from a story the Mystery Island people tell about a young Mynci hero named Llugh and the race he ran against the sun. The season also gains its name from Llugh's famous race. You see, a long time ago, Llugh the Mynci and his friend Mizuko the Aisha were dozing under a tree on Mystery Island, enjoying the sunset. "It goes so fast across the sky," Llugh said, stretching his arms high over his head. Mizuko nodded, her eyes slowly slipping to sleep. "Nobody moves faster than the sun," she said. Llugh's eyes lit up. "I think I could," he said. Mizuko shook her sleepy head. "No way," she said. Llugh grinned. "I bet I could start at one end of Mystery Island at sunrise and run all the way to the other end before the sun set." Mizuko sat up, now interested having heard the word "bet." "You think you can?" she said. "I bet I can," Llugh smiled, saying the word again. Mizuko laughed. "You're on!" she said, knowing there was no way Llugh could make it all the way across Mystery Island in one day. The next day, Llugh made all the preparations for his race against the sun. He filled his backpack with fruits and vegetables. "I'll need all the strength I can get," he said. Then, he went to bed early to get a good night's sleep. He'd need it; he had to get up as early as the sun and run all day long. The next morning, when the sun was up, so was Llugh, ready to start racing. As soon as the first fingers of sunlight touched the sky, he was off, winking a quick goodbye to Mizuko as he went. He ran across the fields, swam across the lakes, climbed over the hills, and swung through the trees, going as fast as he could. But, as quick as he was, the sun was always just a little bit ahead of him. He stopped to rest for lunch, but found a hole in the bottom of his pack. "Almost all of my food is gone!" he shouted. "All I have left are three little juppies!" So, he decided he'd eat just one juppie now, one at supper time, and one near the end of the race, in case he needed a last bit of energy to beat out the sun. When supper came, the sun was far ahead of him. He wiped his brow, gasping for breath. "Maybe I can't catch the sun," he thought to himself. Then, he shook his head. "No! I'll catch up! I know I will!" That was when Llugh ran like he'd never run before. His legs ached and felt like he was carrying twenty more Myncis on his back, but he didn't give up. He didn't look up to the sky to see where the sun was, he just ran and ran and ran. Finally, the last rays of the sun were creeping down the horizon and Llugh saw he had caught up! He took out his last juppie. "I could win!" he said. "I could! With a little boost from my yellow juppie, I could make it!" Just then, an old voice spoke to him. "Little Mynci," the voice said. Llugh turned and saw a cloaked figure shivering on the road. "I see you have a juppie there," the voice said. "I haven't eaten anything for days. Could you spare me that juppie?" Llugh looked at the figure in the cloak, its shoulders shivering from the cold of the oncoming night, hearing its voice, so hungry. Llugh looked at his juppie. Looked at the sun, still sinking, not waiting for him to make a decision at all. "Please?" the cloaked figure said. "Please?" Llugh placed the juppie in the cloaked figure's shivering hands. "Here you are," he said. "You need this much more than I do." Just then, the figure threw away her cloak, and Llugh saw Tyleine, one of the Earth Faeries, her emerald eyes shining in the light of the sunset. "Run, little Mynci," she said. "Run. And for your kindness, know the spirit of the Earth is with you." Llugh did not hesitate. He ran down the road, his legs no longer aching, his shoulders no longer carrying the weight of exhaustion. He looked up, saw the pier, the edge of Mystery Island. The last rays of the sun were sinking into the horizon as he ran along the pier, jumped high into the air and splashed into the cool waters. When his head came up over the waves, he saw the dark night sky above him. Time to go home. On his way back, he saw the Earth Faerie, and she was still holding the juppie. "I kept this for you," she said. "In case you were hungry." "I am!" Llugh said. "Take it then, and spread the seeds with every step. And everywhere you throw a seed, something new will grow." Llugh did what he was told. He ate the juppie all the way home, spreading seeds as he went, and to this day, everywhere he spread the seeds, different fruits and vegetables grow, a new one each year. Did he win or lose the bet? What happened when he got back and told Mizuko? That's a different story...

