Chapter Twenty-One
Now one day shortly after The Dove had become ill he was sitting on the balcony, taking the afternoon sun, when he heard the tinkling sound of many tiny bells. The noise grew louder and louder.
2 He arose, looked down the street, and saw an old friend approaching; Gray Serpent, the leader of The Black Death, with many of his followers.
3 The Dove took his staff, went down and reached the front steps of The Speaker's House just before the marchers arrived. 4 "Gray Serpent!" he cried. "Many days I have thought of you, and many times prayed to The Lords that you are wel1! How is your health? And how came you to be here with such a great party?"
5 "My health, Lord," the other answered, "thanks to the prayers of my good friends, is greatly improved. I have not had an outbreak in over ten seasons. The Healers say this is a favorable sign."
6 "I am pleased," The Dove told him, "pleased, indeed! But why are you here? What brings you from your city?"
7 The Warlock came forward. "Lord," he explained, "you know on previous visits I have discussed with you the problems of my people, how hard it is for them to stay in their houses of seclusion in their own villages, so close to the ones they love but unable to touch them, with so little to do and oftentimes no ways to make a living, that they must depend on the charity of their loved ones."
8 "I know," answered The Dove, "I, too, have tried to think of a solution for this problem, but no answer has come to me."
9 "Lord," continued Gray Serpent, "I have the answer. It came to me over ten seasons ago, and since then I have been working with my brothers and sisters and our friends to make our plan a reality.
10 Lord, what we need is a city of our own. A place of seclusion, where we can walk freely in the streets, carry out our own business, grow our own food.
11 It should have several hospitals and an industry by which my people could earn their own living. Lord, we are ready. After ten years I have gathered all that is necessary.
12 We have the plans, we have the land, we have the promise of material and help from every other city. All we need now is The First Speaker's approval."
13 "Where shall you build this city?" asked The Dove.
14 "On the northern bend of the upper Western River," Gray Serpent told him, "in the foothills. Our first source of income will be from a copper mine recently discovered.
15 We will mine and smelt the copper. My people will work on one end of the smeltery, clean workers on the other. The Healers assure us that as long as we do not handle the ingots, they will be safe for uninfected people to handle."
16 "It sounds good," praised The Dove. "Do you have plans?"
17 "Here is our engineer, Tall Fox," Gray Serpent told The First Speaker. "He has all the plans and surveys."
18 A young man, obviously of Giant ancestry, stepped from the crowd of clean persons with Gray Serpent. He carried a large board on which many parchments were fastened. He flipped open the cover and showed The First Speaker detailed maps of the area.
19 The city was in the shape of several rectangles, growing larger as they went out.
20 In the center of the city would be a large park.
21 Below it, would be a smaller village where the clean would live, and where the ox carts for the transporting of ingots and supplies would be kept.
22 The smeltry iteself, and mine would be slightly to the north.
23 "I take it your banks and accountants will be in the clean village?" The Dove inquired.
24 "Of course, Lord," Gray Serpent told him, "in the city itself, we will use only show coins made of tin. All our real money will be kept in the clean village."
25 "I think it is an excellent idea!" announced The Dove. "It has my approval! Though my daughter is handling the approval of such projects, I'm sure she also would agree. Have the people of Northern donated? I have heard of no such collection." 26 "The people of Northern have not yet been asked,"Gray Serpent answered, "the letters of promise we have are from merchants. No cities have been asked to contribute."
27 "Then I will start the donations for Northern," announced The Dove, "with one-hundred gold from my personal funds! And I ask every citizen, every church to donate funds, material, and labor to this worthy project!"
28 "Lord, I am well pleased!" Gray Serpent thanked him.
29 So it was The City of The Black Death, as it came to be called, was built. The Dove's generosity was matched by his city, and by every city and village in the land.
30 Even The Giants sent material and engineers.
31 Within five years the city was finished, and at first only copper ingots came from it. But then, other fine metalwork, and fine china was made there. The city was self sufficient and prosperous all its days.
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