'But who needs mounted messengers now, Master Aplegatt?' young people would occasionally ask in astonishment.

However, when it's time to get back in the saddle after resting, it's as though your arse were shouting, 'Help! Murder!' For a man can bear a great deal, but a horse less. No, of course you don't sit in the saddle without respite sometimes you dismount and rest. When the moment comes for him to spend three days and nights in the saddle, riding a hundred or even two hundred miles along roads or sometimes, when necessary, trackless terrain, then it is needed. In order to memorise them and not make a mistake when they are recounted, one has to have a truly golden head.Īnd the benefits of an arse of iron, oh, every messenger will swiftly learn those for himself. Difficult to pronounce, let alone remember. Word for word and at times those words are far from simple. The really important, secret tidings–those on which a great deal depended–must be committed to memory by the messenger and only repeated to the intended recipient. When talking to youngsters entering the service, Aplegatt usually told them that in order to make their living as mounted messengers two things would be necessary: a head of gold and an arse of iron.Ī head of gold is essential, Aplegatt instructed the young messengers, since in the flat leather pouch strapped to his chest beneath his clothing the messenger only carries news of less vital importance, which could without fear be entrusted to treacherous paper or manuscript. Delannoy, Myths and Legends of the Nordlings).

are the heroes of numerous Nordling tales (cf. were said to have been the products of mutation or genetic engineering, has not found confirmation. fell into a trance, brought on, it is believed, by autohypnosis or intoxicating substances, and fought with pure energy, being utterly invulnerable to pain or even grave wounds, which reinforced the superstitions about their superhuman powers. were used by the rulers of the north in the tribal fighting they waged with each other.

In reality, since they were unparalleled in their ability to wield weapons, v. were said to fight evil spirits, monsters and all manner of dark forces.

In the folk consciousness, they are endowed with magical powers and superhuman abilities v. Vedymins, called witchers among the Nordlings (q.v.), a mysterious and elite caste of warrior-priests, probably an offshoot of the druids (q.v.).

The witcher time of contempt