The Tale of Tome the Drunk
Created | Updated Oct 18, 2007
Everyone knew Tome Robinson. He was always drunk and always mean. And he always told that one tale when he was particularly drunk. This night he was particularly drunk.
At the old bar at the edge of town the young boys hovered over him waiting to hear the tale they had heard countless times before. Some believed it, some thought it was a half-truth, but most thought it was rubbish — werewolves had always been around.
'You know, boys,' Tome started in a slurred speech, 'there used to be a time when people liked full moons, when people spent hours looking at them and no one cared, when it was just as safe on those nights, maybe even safer. When there weren't any werewolves. That all changed on one night in an old swamp not far from here over a hundred years ago.
'See, there was a rich man named Robin and he was courting a witch. And don't mind what anyone tells ya, not all witches are evil, and this one was definitely not ugly. He was using her as a bargaining tool. When people didn't give him what he wanted, he threatened to have her place a curse on them. Even back then everyone feared and despised them. How foolish were they,' Tome said, shaking his head.
'But there was another reason that he was courting her, another reason he wouldn't even admit to himself: he loved her. He loved her with all his heart, but if he let on to anyone that he actually had feelings for her, then he would be shunned by the rest of society. Do you think he should have showed that he loved her anyways?' he asked the crowd.
'YES,' they all yelled in unison, giggling with excitement.
'That he should have,' Tome said with a drunken nod, 'but he didn't, not even to himself. Well, one night he went to her shack to take her to a nice spot he had found not too far from her house. This was not to be, because when he got there, she was in a fit of rage. She had found what he had been using her for. "Evil rich pig," she yelled at him, "you have been using me for your own gain." He tried to explain to her that he really did love her, but she would have none of it. As the saying goes, 'Hell has no fury like a woman scorned', and when they feel scorned, no one is going to tell them otherwise.
' "I will curse you like you said I was going to curse all of those folk," she said as she raised her hands. "I will wrap you in that wolf pelt that you are so proud of." Instantly the pelt started to wrap around him and it grew until he looked like wolf. "Then I will make you look like the foul tyrant that you are." And his wolf body stood on two legs, growing sharper teeth and claws. "And I will make you weak to what you most desire, your precious silver." Instantly he howled in pain and ripped all of his jewelry off. "Lastly, I will make you show your evil, on the day the thing you admired so much is in its full glory. You said it looked like pure silver." At this he howled again, but this time in anger. She had realised that night was a full moon, and he steadied his eyes on her. Without a second thought for the one he loved, he killed her. Then he ran away into the darkness, to find more things to kill. And that's how werewolves came to be.'
'But how come he can make other people werewolves?' one of the boys asked.
'No one knows, but some think that is just her magic leaking out of him. But you notice that it is not everyone he attacks that changes, some die. Those same people also think that only people who are as evil or greedy as she thought he was turn into werewolves, the rest die. That’s why werewolves haven't overrun us by now.' And with that Tome got up and walked to his house. He had to go make sure his house was secure — tomorrow was a full moon.
