"The compass was made many ages ago by a woman who was the first to appear
in what has become Arcadia. She was the only one here until she made it.
At first, the Foundress called on people to come to her. It was as if a mad
wanderlust came over them as they packed their belongings and whichever
loved ones chose to attend them. They went down to the docks and found
surprisingly sympathetic ship's captains. From far and wide they came-
farmers with bags of seeds, shepherds and ranchers with breeding livestock,
merchants with all sorts of goods, smiths, masons, tinkers and coopers, all
setting sail for parts unknown. Not all made the journey to the final port.
Not that there was much of a port here at that time."
*************************
Duncan pulled the coffeepot off the rack over the embers and poured a mug
full for each of them. He then poured some in a bowl and set it in front of
Julian. Jennifer gave the porridge a final stir and plopped a couple of
globs into two wooden bowls and brought them to the table. "There be a bag o
' nuts under the counter there. Mayhap the bird'll be liken' them." Jennifer
pulled out the burlap bag and untied the twine closing it. "Hey, Julian!
Pecans!" "Joy and rapture", deadpanned the toucan. "I'll stick with coffee
for now."

After Duncan had a few spoons full of the porridge, he took up the story
again.
"After a time, she no longer needed to call to the people; they just started
coming of their own accord. Looking for something they could not explain.
When it all came to pass, the Foundress had the making's to establish and
maintain a nice, prosperous village here that came to be known as Arcadia."
"So, why is it such a mudhole now?" Julian asked.
Duncan almost did a spit take. Chuckling, he answered, "Aye, bird. 'Tis not
much to look at now. T'was several generations ago that we incurred the
wrath of the Foundress. She was very old at the time. Some said hundreds of
years old, many, many generations after the first settlers had passed on. It
happened that there were some young folk, not yet adults, no longer
children. As is the way of these younglings, they were more interested in
pranks than chores. They took it upon themselves to have sport with the
Foundress whom they thought as nothing more than a doddering old woman.
There were two things she held sacred above all else. The Compass and her
sword and those foolish young ones made off with both one night as the
Foundress was helping with a difficult birth.
"The Compass was found the next day, buried 'neath the muck of a pig pen
but, the sword never was found. The young ones said they had buried the
sword outside the village a ways up on a hill. The top of the hill was
flattened from all the digging that went on searching for the sword.
"In her anger, the Foundress left Arcadia in the same manner as she arrived
after cursing it for the ingratitude of the young ones. There would be no
prosperity until the family lines of the offenders died out and she would
not return until that time had come."
"How long ago was that?" asked Jennifer.
Duncan scraped the last of his porridge from his bowl and washed it down
with the dregs of his coffee. "My great grand sire's grand sire was one of
the offenders. I'm the last in the line of offenders and the curse ends at
my death."
Julian broke in, "Unless you have a kid."
"I've vowed that will never happen."
"A vow like that don't work unless you keep it in a sock."
"JULIAN!" Jennifer was horrified.
Duncan was turning twelve shades of red.
Julian was nodding his head up and down.
"Oh. My. God! He IS a virgin!"
"JOOO-LIAN!!!"
Jennifer jumped up, grabbed the bird, opened the door and threw him out.
When she turned from closing the door, Duncan was collecting the breakfast
dishes. "I am SO sorry."
"That is one amazing bird you've got there, Lass," Duncan's outright
laughter became a soft chuckle, "Ah, well, there are those in the village
who also think me daft for my stand."
Jennifer walked over to the Compass. "Why is it under your bed?"
"In the short run, to remind me of my vow. In the long run, it fell to the
offenders to keep it safe for the return of the Foundress."

Jennifer, Closet Extrovert
Art without commitment is just beige.
-Tim Earls