From: braley@binkley.cs.mcgill.ca  (The Didi-Sprite)
Subject: Song of Sixpence - Part Eight
Originator: braley@binkley.cs.mcgill.ca
Organization: SOCS - Mcgill University, Montreal, Canada
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 19:43:29 GMT



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	Rachel hugs Liralen and drags down the meadow, looking for...
"Aha!" she says exultantly. "These blueberry bushes are exactly like
the ones in my grandmother's backyard in Savannah, GA- no sandspurs or
poisonous snakes, though!"She picks a blueberry and holds it up so everyone
can see that it is larger than most such berries- larger than some grapes.
"This is the problem with living in New England," she sighs. "Up here
they think blueberries are the size of a baby's fingernail." She takes
out a picnic basket from behind one of the bushes and produces:

Large blueberry muffins
blueberry crisp
fruit salad (with blueberries, of course!)

	"There's enough for everyone... and I think there might be
whipped cream and ice cream lurking somewhere..."

	The little green fire lizard cocks her head and chirps a
warning.

	"But Soora," Rachel says innocently, "aren't parties _supposed_
to be sugar-fests? (apologies to diabetics and confirmed carnivores)
But before dessert- wasn't someone supposed to bring potstickers? (aka
Chinese dumplings aka Peking ravioli, for those who don't know). Mmmm..."

	She hugs Liralen again. "Have a very happy birthday!"

                                                 --- Rachel ---

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Alfvaen walks onto the meadow.  He's no longer completely dressed in black,
but instead is wearing a jean jacket with something on the back that is
obscured by his ubiquitous Black Backpack.  It most definitely has grey and
brown diamond patterns on the shoulders, which look quite fuzzy(and are, if
one touched them).

He spots Liralen and the growing pile of food, and takes off his Backpack in
one smooth motion, setting it down on the ground.  Thusly is revealed the back
of his jacket, which sports an eagle in the same fuzzy material as on the
shoulders.  He unzips the backpack and lifts out first a pair of oven mitts,
and then a pie, steaming hot.  "Brought a little dessert," he says.

"Liralen says you're fond of blueberries.  Well, so am I.  But I was wondering
if you've ever indulged much in saskatoons.  (For those unaware, saskatoons are
wild berries common in Alberta, at least, that are similar to blueberries
except that they're smaller and tarter.)  So, anyway, Nicole accidentally
forgot to cut her pie-shell recipe in half, and we've been eating lots of
pie the past week or two.  So we thought we'd give you a pie.  Nicole baked
it--all I did was provide the VR saskatoons(alas, we don't have any RL).  So
if you haven't tried it and would like to, go right ahead.  But then, perhaps
in Washington you still have saskatoons...?"

Then he noticed the gazes still fastened(covetously?)to the back of his jacket.
"It's one my mother-in-law made for me.  Nicole's mother is a champion quilter,
and a couple of years back took a course on recycling old jeans by making
jackets out of them.  So Nicole, her brother and sister, and I all got jackets.
Mine is the best, I think--Nicole's is all pockets, and--well, the eagle is
just the best.  Anyway, it's become my fall jacket, and it's most definitely
fall around here.  (Although Edmonton, in typical perversity, has almost been
too warm the past few days to need a jean jacket during the day...

"Anyway..." he sets the pie down and gives Liralen a big hug(and Blammor and
Phee, if they're available).  "Happy Birthday, Liralen.  >Maybe< next summer
we'll find the time to come down to Seattle--it will depend on job and money
and stuff like that, and whether I can convince Nicole to do it."

Then he looks longingly at the steaming pie.  "So, are you going to have a
piece or not?  Some people would love to have the second.  I'm an expert at
serving the first piece of anything without ruining it, so I'll gladly do it
for you..."

                                         --- Alfvaen ---

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	Smoke comes across the meadow in his buckskins, feathers 
in his hair.  There is a rifle slung across his back, and he carries
a haunch of venison.  He approaches the table where the others are 
celebrating the fall and Laurilen's {Didi, please correct that, I don't
have it in front of me} birthday.
	"I am here."
	He waits until the hostess looks up.  "So you are."
	Smoke presents the haunch of venison.  "When I was a boy, the men 
would go hunting in the fall.  they would bring back deer, turkeys, what
ever they could get.  They would dress it and put it in the smoke house
so that we would have food during the winter.  Then, we would sit arround
the fire, and the old men would tell stories."
	Didi smiles in deligght.   "Tell us a story, Smoke!"
	Smoke thinks, then nods.  "I will tell you how the deer got his 
horns.  This is what the old men told me when I was a little boy.  at the
start, the deer had no horns.  His head was smooth, like the doe's.  Now,
the Deer was aa great runner, and rabbit was a great jumper  - both were
said to be the fastest of the animals.  As you know, there can not be two
who are both the fastest, so the animals agreed to have a race.  A nice
pair of antlers were made as a prize for the winner.  They were to start 
together from one side of a thicket, and go through, then turn and come back.
The one who emerged first would be the winner, and would receive the antlers.
	On the day that had been agreed on, all the animals gathered at
the thicket.  While every one admired the horns, which had been placed on
the ground, Rabbit said, "I do not know this part of the country; I 
want to take a look through the bushes where I am to run."  Everyone
agreed that this was only resonable,  so the Rabbit ran into the thicket,
but he was gone for so long, the other animals began to suspect he must be
up to a trick.  They sent a messenger to look for him, and down in the
middle of the thicket, the messenger spotted Rabbit gnawing down the
bushes and pulling them away until he had a road to the other side.
	The messenger hurried back to the other animals, and told them
what was happening.  When Rabbit came back, they accused him of cheating,
but of course he denied it.  The animals all went into the thicket, and
found the cleared road.  They agreed that a cheeter should not even be
allowed to enter the race, and gave the horns to Deer, who has been
admited the fastest, and has worn those horns ever since.  To the Rabbit
they said, "Since you are so fond of cutting down bushes, you may do that
for a living." To this day, he does."
	Smoke sets his rifle down  and joins the others in the feast.

                                                  --- Smoke ---

Didi, Ramda, Phee, SEA, Koally, and others, find places as close as 
possible to Smoke ... hoping that he will tell some more stories!

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	Bear walks out onto the field from one of the tents striding 
through knee deep piles of leaves with 10 1L stiens in true Ocktoberfest 
tradition.  Half are filled with a rich dark beer and the other half with 
hot spiced cider.  He hands them out and then lifts his own.  

      "To Liralen, Alles Gute Zum Deine Geburtstag!  Happy Birthday."  
      
       HE takes a hefty swig and then starts singing "Happy Birthday"  
with everyone swinging ther mugs in unision to the beat and downing 
a gulp during the rests.  When the finally line come out He dives down 
and land on his knees in a small pile of leaves. and in wavering tones 
an dunshure pitch he utters "and many more!"  <Crash!>

                                                --- Bear ---

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		The dark elf comes back to Callahan's after a bit of an 
	absence, in time for the Oktoberfest party ("Cool.")  
	
	After he discovers a note on the bar telling where everyone has
	gone, he follows the lane until he reaches the festive field
	where he gets a cup of hot cider ("Good for what ails ya, 
	don'tcha know."), he works his way toward Liralen.

		After reverencing (brings one leg back, bends it a little
	while keeping the front one straight, then straightens up again),
	he says, "I was forewarned by people that today is a very special 
	day for you.  So, I asked around some friends for a decent gift, 
	and they managed to put together these."  From an inner pocket in 
	his coat, he pulls out a pair of potholders.  "If you look closely, 
	you'll see they're silk, and, depending on what angle you look at 
	them, you can see various types of foods woven into the patterns."

		"Also..."  He holds out his hand, palm up, and from his
	sleeve scurries out a spider, of the cute and cuddly variety.
	"He's not really a gift, but he was really interested in finding
	out about human spinners' guilds, so he volunteered to apprenetice
	himself to you.  Oh, and here's a copy of Sorcerer's Son by Phyllis
	Eisenstein to give you an idea of how spiders and humans can work
	together."

		And so, with a big hug and another reverence, the elf goes
	to get a cider for Liralen (and another for himself).  "With or
	without cinammon stick?"

		Happy Birthday.

	Michael, the Chaotic

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The Polymath arrives bearing stacks of pizza boxes with "Numero Uno" labels
and smelling of pineapple.

"Happy birthday, Liralen, and best wishes for many more.  *HUG*"

					     --- Polymath ---


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The Didi-Sprite
Montreal * Canada

braley@binkley.cs.mcgill.ca