i cannot believe, either!
(found on the door of the ornithology room on campus)
If I had a dollar for every dead bird I’ve found taped to my door without a note of provenance, I would have seven dollars.
“What’s happening now?” whispered Vimes.
“There’s no precedent for anything like this,” muttered Cheery. “You’re supposed to be an assassin, but you’ve come back to see the king and you’ve got the Scone–”
“No precedent?” said Sybil. “Yes there bloody well is, pardon my Klatchian…”
She took a deep breath, and began to sing.
“Oh,” said Cheery, shocked.
“What?” said Vimes.
The dwarfs were staring at Lady Sybil as she changed up through the gears into full, operatic voice. For an amateur soprano she had an impressive delivery and range, a touch too wobbly for the professional stage but exactly the kind of high coloratura to impress the dwarfs.
Snow slid off roofs. Icicles vibrated. Good grief, thought Vimes, impressed, with a spiky corset and a hat with wings on it she could be ferrying dead warriors off a battlefield…
“It’s Ironhammer’s ‘Ransom’ song,” said Cheery. “Every dwarf knows it! Er, it doesn’t translate well, but… ‘I come now to ransom my love, I bring a gift of great wealth, none but the king can have power over me now, standing in my way is against all the laws of the world, the value of truth is greater than gold’… er there’s always been some debate about that last line, sir, but generally considered acceptable if it’s a really big truth–”
Vimes looked at the dwarfs. They were fascinated, and one or two of them were mouthing along to the words.
“Is it going to work?” he whispered.
“It’s hard to think of a bigger precedent than this, sir. I mean… it’s the song of songs! The ultimate appeal! It’s built into dwarf law, almost! They can’t refuse. It’d be… not being a dwarf, sir!”
– Ironhammer’s ‘Ransom’ song |
Terry Pratchett, The Fifth Elephant
deepintheshadyglen
