With tea: Mehnet speaks, Of headless dragons. —Anonymous Gwotian poem written in response to Mehnet’s Entu, as recognized in the Library of Haiga With Vultures. * Entu (noun): 1. A written-thing such as a poem or subjective historical narrative. Most entus are written when an author encounters something momentous in life, but are particularly valued when the author dies. Unabridged entus are never read aloud until the author has died. They are then revered as an author’s afterlife. 2. Any piece of written text in which chapters or sections contain named headings that, when read independently of the larger body of text, serve as a poem. Haiga’ii entus adhere to a single-subject theme, whereas the entus of Gwot are known as “two-times stories.” Mehnet’s Entu is the only example of contemporary Haiga’ii entu literature to exist in the Gwotian “two-times story” mode. Haiga’ii critics recognize Mehnet’s Entu as a masterwork of post-war memoir/confession, while Gwotian critics recognize the chapter headings as emotionally-complex epic poetry. [**See Also: 1: Mehnet’s Entu 2: Two-times story 3: Literature: Gwot 4: Literature: Haiga.] * He is a vulture, says Mayfly. Who? I ask. Mehnet ul Oyen, says Mayfly. Why do you say this? I ask. Mayfly smiles I’ll tell you tomorrow, she says. —A critique of Mehnet’s Entu, recited by Braids-His-Beard. * *Editor’s Note: Braids-His-Beard is the most respected story teller, folklorist, poet, and literary critic in the town of Standing River. I asked him, in casual conversation, what he thought of Mehnet’s Entu. The above poem was his response. It isn’t uncommon for Gwotian art critics to recite puns that capture the essence of a particular subject, and Braids-His-Beard offered a rich and heady triple-pun in response to my question. Vultures are revered in Haiga societies, and the Gwotian people find this amusing. In a literal sense, Mehnet ul Oyen is a vulture in terms of cultural identity, as he was born in the city of Haiga With Vultures. Dragons are depicted in Haiga’ii art as vultures with reptilian attributes. The dragon marks the ensign of the Haiga’ii military, and so—on two levels—Mehnet ul Oyan is a vulture. In some sense or another. In Gwotian culture, the Mayfly dominates the metaphorical landscape. The third element of Braids-His-Beard’s pun depends on this. As the adult mayfly lives for only one day, the mayfly declaring “I’ll tell you tomorrow,” is heard among Gwotians as “eh, forget it.” Or some such phrase. * Braids-His-Beard refuses to write his own entu. He says that he hates typing. * As always, thank you for viewing, reading, and commenting, and I hope you’re all having a great, fun, not-entirely-frozen week. For those who are interested, this post is directly related to 2 posts preceding it. Indeed, it's something of a direct sequel to the story I'd posted, previously, in the Writer's Gallery, and I'm sure that there is a lot more of this tale to come. This post is also something of a recursive joke, as the opening poem is composed of the section headings of the story I posted yesterday. I guess that makes it a "two-times" story. Hmm...what would Gwotian or Haiga'ii critics have to say of that little quirk? I suspect Gwotian critics might say something full of puns. The...um...non-vultures in this shot are a cloud of Chicago pigeons, I took last summer.