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Nummen’s Riddle
Nummen had a riddle. Not a particularly good one, but nevertheless a riddle.
For as long as Nummen could remember (not very long, seen as Nummen had just
been born), he had been roaming the streets of Tamburin, the ancient capitol
of Hyab, in search of someone who could solve his riddle. Nummen was 87, but
his riddle was even younger.
Nummen’s riddle: “How can you live your life without a løhøk for Sparem and
at the same time call yourself a one-armed cat?”
Most people thought Nummen to be a fool, not very strange, seen as Nummen
was known to the majority of the population of Tamburin as “the fool”.
Nummen didn’t care. How could he? After all, he was but a fool. After
mourning a few yaers (twice as long as our “years”) for being treated as a
fool, Nummen kept on searching for THE ONE. He had to be out there, he just
had to be out there. The first “person” Nummen came across, was a midget.
“Hello, little leprechaun! May I ask you something?” “First of all, I’m not
a leprechaun.
I’m a gnome. What did you want to ask me?” Nummen was fairly excited: “How
can you live your life without a løhøk for Sparem and at the same time call
yourself a one-armed cat?” The midget frowned at Nummen, answering “That’s
easy! No one
can claim to be a one-armed cat, because cats do not have arms, but legs!”
Anger struck Nummen: “That’s the most foolish thing I’ve ever heard. Baaahhh....!”
The beautiful midget silently removed his head, and appeared before Nummen
as the reincarnation of an incredibly ugly angel. The incredibly ugly angel
spoke. “My dear Nummen, please don’t be upset. God created you a fool, and
that’s exactly why my explanation sounds foolish to you; because you’re a
fool, Nummen! The biggest fool on earth.” The next thing Nummen knew, the
angel was still as ugly as it had been the last time he looked at it. If not
uglier. Why did he not bother some old lady with his riddle? Why did he have
to pick the astonishingly
beautiful
midget? All of a sudden, Nummen came to think of something: “Hey, that’s
true what the beautiful midget, or was it the ugly angel, said: Cats do not
have arms...” These were the last words anyone heard Nummen utter, before
the gates of heaven closed behind him...
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