A Dream of Fortune
Popular with: Akathia, Tarsikka, Free City of the Hulder, Athral Isle
Unpopular with: Principalitites
Less known by: Oresund, Gaunt
Archtypes, if any: Trickster
Variations, if any: There is a version common to the Hulder where Takar is known as Takros (TAH KROSH), set in Ancient Tharicia. It is considered in somewhat poor taste by the Redwood Throne, due to the emphasis on dreams and oracles.
In the days of the Gem Cities, it was said that Takar had become a very wealthy man, but the price of his reputation cost him and soon he was left wanting. One night, he lay down to sleep, dejected and sick at heart, and saw in a dream one who said to him, ‘Thy fortune is at Temel; go thither and seek it.’ So he set out for Temel. By the time he arrived there, night had overtaken him and he lay down to sleep in a common house.
Presently, as fate would have it, a different company of thieves entered the common house and made their way from thence into an adjoining private residence. The people of the house, being aroused by the noise, awoke and cried out, whereupon the chief of the police came to their aid with his officers. The robbers escaped, but the police entered the common house and finding Takar asleep there, took him for one of their number and beat him till he was well-nigh dead. Then they cast him into prison, where he abided three days. After this time. the chief of the police sent for him and said to him,
"From whence art thou?"
"From Kanat," answered he.
"And what brought thee to Temel?" asked the magistrate. Takar, for once, decided that the truth may set him free, so he told the chief, "I saw in a dream one who said to me, 'Thy fortune is at Temel; go thither to it.' But when I came hither, the fortune that was promised me proved to be the beating."
The chief of the police laughed, showing his jaw-teeth, and said,
"O man of little wit, thrice have I seen in a dream one who said to me, 'There is in Kanat a house of such a fashion and situated such-a-place, in the garden whereof is a fountain and there under a great sum of money buried. Go thither and take it.' Yet I went not; but thou hast foolishly journeyed from place to place, on the faith of a dream, which was but an illusion of sleep.’ Then he gave Takar money, saying, "This is to help thee back to thy native land."
Now, the house he had described was known to Takar, for he had visited the house before; so the latter returned thither, and digging underneath the fountain in the garden, discovered a great treasure, and more importantly, a map that was also a puzzle, which figures large in many of his further adventures, of which you will have doubtless heard.
But from this hour until the end of his life, Takar put much faith in dreams and oracles, and never more had cause to repent of it.