Will Ye page 14
"Wait!" he yelled. "Just one moment! There are no trinkets made of gold or other valuable metals, and there never were. And none of that was even mentioned in the note you sent me. So I began to understand that there was one and only one thing in that cave that could be considered a treasure -- and that was you! It is you who are the treasure of Mount Doom."
"Yes!" shouted Smilerina. "I am free of it!"
She came up to Sourjack, and kissed him boldly on the mouth -- but stepped back again before he could respond in kind.
Sourjack gave her a puzzled expression.
Just then, the sun began to rise -- yes, there really was one! -- but apparently it could only be seen from this ledge up high on Mount Doom.
Though it took his eyes what seemed like an eternity to adjust to all of that light, after a while he could see that those strange looking leaves of those plants -- which probably weren’t really leaves now that he could see them more clearly -- came in every color; both imaginable and unimaginable.
And there were hummingbirds fluttering about all around them!
Having previously realized that hummingbirds were not a portent of bad omens, since nothing bad had happened to him during his search for the treasure, he was no longer filed with anxiety and dread upon seeing them.
So that’s where they come from, thought Sourjack excitedly.
"Welcome to my former prison," she said, then continued with a further explanation.
"More than five hundred years ago, a magic star had fallen, so I made a wish -- to be available to the bravest of all men and to no one else. Thereafter, I found myself trapped on Mount Doom, with only the hummingbirds and the weredragons for companionship. Even they would not have anything to do with me, at first, but with gentle coaxing I was able to befriend them. Still, I was very lonely, so I began sending out notes -- but the weredragons would always pursuit those who tried to make it to the cave. Oh, some made it that far, to be sure -- since the world is not bereft of brave men -- but I found that I could only say my name and the phrase ‘Will ye mortals never learn!’ It was quite frustrating, as you well know, and many of them gave up or were consumed by the weredragons as if by their own passions! And I began to realize that one ought to be careful of what one wished for, since it might come true in an unexpected and dreadful manner."
