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the scarecrow
Offerings.
She said with a diviner’s
tongue: “The pains of
heroes are the calamity of
hypochondriacs.”
“And the sympathy of
noblemen is the calamity of
heroes.”
“I thought that the sympathy
of the nobles was always a
balsam.”
“A balsam for the masses
and for foreigners but a fatal
blow to the hearts of the elite
men commoners refer to as
heroes.”
“Are you sure about this or do
you merely suspect it?”
“Actually, this is the normal
course of events, my lady.
We have typically grown
accustomed to finding people
gloating whenever calamities
strike our homes.”
“Enemies’ gloating for the
judicious man today is a
treasure that will help him on
the morrow.”
“The matter would be easy,
my lady, if this gloating was
that of enemies. The gloating
of boon companions, my
lady, leaves an aftertaste
in the throat bitterer than
colocynth.”
“But this is also the Law of
things.”
“You’re right, but I don’t
know why we acknowledge
all the laws, accepting even
the harshest of them, and yet
disparage the Law that makes
yesterday’s boon companion
the first to deliver a blow
when calamity strikes.”
“This is the wisdom of the
Spirit World.”
“But this is a cruel wisdom,
my lady; it is a wisdom crueler