Every New Year a beautifully-colored Wing glides and flutters across the sky. Ask an adult what it is and they'll say something about a "spacio-temporal discontinuity." This is a fancy way to say, "I don't know." But listen, and I'll tell you the real story about the Wing of Ganelon the Griffin.
From the time he was hatched Ganelon knew he was different. Any griffin can read the thoughts of any other griffin. Griffins can also talk mind-to-mind with their companion. But Ganelon was a complete telepath. He could talk with anybody. You didn't have to be his companion to talk to him.
As Ganelon grew up he was aware of all living things around him. Every time someone was hurt, he knew it. He could know when people were happy as well. But Ganelon lived in a time of violence and cruelty. There were few happy thoughts. He sensed misery all this time, so he was very sad.
No one else could see why Ganelon was sad. Everyone thought that listening to thoughts was a good thing. The other griffins were jealous because Ganelon could talk to anyone and learn from them. The other griffins needed a companion to learn for them.
It was a time of war. Soldiers heard about Ganelon's power. They saw that he was a way to talk between distant armies. They wanted to capture him and use him. To them, Ganlon was just another weapon.
Ganelon did not want to be a weapon. He hid so he wouldn't be captured. He flew high in the air, where his light-colored belly was hard to see against the blue sky. He landed only on bare ground, where his brown wings kept him hidden. He would have loved to roam through a forest or soar across a lake like other griffins. But that was too dangerous.
He could escape from most people that way, but he could not escape from a pride of mean, jealous griffins. The jealous pride caught him and stained his wings with bright colors. Then they let him go. The leader of the pride said, "Now you have no reason to be sad, Ganelon. See how pretty your wings are?" She said this to hurt him, because she knew Ganelon could not hide anymore. He could now be seen in the air and on the ground.
He was caught again. This time he was caught by fairie soldiers. They wanted to use him in a war between elves and dwarves. They imprisoned him by cruelly binding his wings to his sides. He couldn't fly away. The fairies offered to sell Ganelon to the army that paid the most, either the elves or the dwarves. The fairies said Ganelon could read the minds of the enemy army and reveal their plans.
Ganelon did not want to be sold and used. He waited until the fairies weren't watching him. Then he strained his wings as hard as he could until he broke his ropes. He got away, but he had hurt his wings and couldn't fly. He thought he would be caught again, because he couldn't run faster than the fairies could fly. As soon as the fairies saw he was gone they would come after him.
Running made him tired. He stopped to rest in a schoolyard. He was found there by a group of children. They were of many races: human, elf, dwarf, fairie, and ogre. They were too young to know that they were supposed to hate each other. They didn't know about wars or soldiers. To them, Ganelon was someone hurt and in trouble, not a weapon to be sold.
The children hid Ganelon in their schoolhouse. When fairie soldiers came looking for Ganelon, the children said nothing to the soldiers. The children kept Ganelon hidden from soldiers and teachers until his wings were healed. Ganelon was grateful to his new friends. He promised that he would always help them when they were in trouble.
Ganelon went to the mountains. He hid in an abandoned dragon's nest he discovered. There was almost no food there, but every week the children walked part-way into the mountains and left baskets of food. During the night Ganelon flew from his mountain-top and took the food. In gratitude, Ganelon made certain he never forgot his promise. He used his powers to watch over the children.
It was good that he kept his promise. A battle in the war he had escaped came close to the schoolhouse. The children might have been hurt, but Ganelon prevented it. He mentally sent false cries of surrender to both sides. Both the elves and dwarves stopped fighting. This saved the children, and it ended the war. But though the war was over, Ganelon did not stop hiding. He was afraid that if another war started he would be hunted again.
Ganelon spent the rest of his life in the mountains. He flew only at night so no one would see him. He kept watch on the children with his powers. When they grew up, he looked after their children, and their children's children. He warned them mentally when they were about to get into trouble. Sometimes the youngsters left food and gifts in the mountains for Ganelon. He flew down from the mountains at night to leave gifts for the children in return.
Even today, when a little voice reminds children that what they're doing is wrong, it's the voice of Ganelon giving advice. Of course, sometimes children don't listen to Ganelon and get into trouble anyway. Some adults never listen to Ganelon, and we all know what happens to them.
During the New Year's celebration, the boys and girls used to hike up into the hills. They left gifts they had made for Ganelon. This stopped during the time of the Chaos War. Now the gifts are left outside the front door. When the children wake up next morning, they find that Ganelon has left a nice present in return.
The proof that this story is true is the brightly-colored Wing that you see almost every New Year, which swoops through the sky as Ganelon goes to deliver his gifts. And now you know more about the Wing than any adult.
Unfortunately, this story has a tragic ending. When your parents tell you the facts of life, they also tell you that Ganelon the griffin really doesn't exist. The gifts you gave to Ganelon were in fact given to the poor who could not afford presents for New Year's. This can be such a shock that you might waste your life and become an adventurer.