Stood the once menacing ginger bearded pirate, ændre.
He had been searching for twenty years of his life,
All in a bid to find the dark deep dwelling serpent,
That in his youth,
Had taken his good right leg.
It was not one sided,
For ændre had taken something of the beasts,
As he stood upon the bow of the ship,
He clutched in his left hand,
The largest unicorn horn that had ever been seen.
He had tried to sell the trophy that he took,
From the face of the beast,
But none would have it.
Every sage and wise one from the coast to the heart,
Refused to take it,
Each claiming in their own way,
That it was cursed.
For this reason, ændre had been searching for the creature,
To end the curse once and for all.
On a stormy, icy cold night,
His crew spotted off the far side,
A large serpent swimming,
Waving in and out of the surface water.
The old pirate spied the creature,
And he knew in his soul that he had found,
The one that had taken his foot,
The one he had taken the horn from.
The boat picked up speed.
Lifting the horn up like a large harpoon,
The pirate ændre prepared to launch,
And hurl the spiral horn out,
At the creature.
With one swing,
It flew like a javelin,
And made it’s way to the beast.
It did not strike it,
Instead it fell short,
Landing in front of the serpent.
The creature stopped,
Staring at the horn,
And then turned back to look,
From which direction it had come.
There, ændre waved his hand,
For it had been his intention not to kill,
But to return the horn,
And make peace with his demon.
The creature took the horn underwater,
Diving deep,
And when it resurfaced,
The horn was once again attached.
Wading in the water,
The serpent made it’s way towards the boat,
Every man panicked,
All except ændre.
The beast spat out a large clump of water and silt,
Out from its belly.
The muck landed on the boat,
And there amongst the dead fish,
Amongst the mud and sea salt,
Rested the old pirate's lost foot.
He reached down towards it,
And picked the foot up.
Diving,
He fell into the ocean,
And swam underneath.
Not one of his men could see him.
Seconds passed,
And he resurfaced,
With all his men reaching out to grab him.
Once on board,
All were stunned to see,
His foot was reattached.
The pirate ændre told all on board that day,
That the curse of war can only be broken,
Peace can only be achieved,
When all our equal once more.