1 00:00:07,666 --> 00:00:09,433 GrailHeart presents: 2 00:00:09,433 --> 00:00:12,066 “The Quirky Blacksmith” 3 00:00:20,433 --> 00:00:21,833 The village blacksmith 4 00:00:21,833 --> 00:00:24,600 was a man of steady heat and hand, 5 00:00:24,600 --> 00:00:28,733 with a few quirks no one quite understood. 6 00:00:28,733 --> 00:00:30,400 He spoke little, 7 00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:31,066 but often 8 00:00:31,066 --> 00:00:33,500 muttered to the coals, as if the forge 9 00:00:33,500 --> 00:00:37,233 were an old friend with a temper. 10 00:00:37,233 --> 00:00:40,033 Sometimes he sang to his hammer. 11 00:00:40,033 --> 00:00:43,000 Always the same five note tune, 12 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:47,266 fragile and a little sad: 13 00:01:03,633 --> 00:01:07,333 He wore one iron boot and one leather one. 14 00:01:07,333 --> 00:01:09,500 No one knew why. 15 00:01:09,500 --> 00:01:11,200 When asked, he'd 16 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:15,833 only say “Balance!” and go back to work. 17 00:01:15,833 --> 00:01:18,600 Crows followed him to the village. 18 00:01:18,600 --> 00:01:20,200 He never called them, 19 00:01:20,200 --> 00:01:23,033 but he left bits of bread on the windowsill 20 00:01:23,033 --> 00:01:25,966 and smiled when they took it. 21 00:01:25,966 --> 00:01:28,666 He refused to take silver coins. 22 00:01:28,666 --> 00:01:32,633 He said they made the scales lie. 23 00:01:32,633 --> 00:01:34,400 His name was Arren, 24 00:01:34,400 --> 00:01:37,133 and he had the kind of presence that made children 25 00:01:37,133 --> 00:01:41,366 curious and adults uncomfortable. 26 00:01:41,366 --> 00:01:43,966 To some, he was a local legend, 27 00:01:43,966 --> 00:01:47,266 a living charm against misfortune. 28 00:01:47,266 --> 00:01:51,200 To others, he was the village oddity. 29 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:53,066 Reliable, yes, 30 00:01:53,066 --> 00:01:57,733 but not to be invited to dinner. 31 00:01:57,733 --> 00:02:00,600 When asked a question, he answered it. 32 00:02:00,600 --> 00:02:02,066 When asked for help, 33 00:02:02,066 --> 00:02:05,266 he gave it, though never gently. 34 00:02:05,266 --> 00:02:10,300 He wasn't cruel, just unsanded. 35 00:02:10,300 --> 00:02:13,400 The weaver said he was touched in the head. 36 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:14,333 The merchant said 37 00:02:14,333 --> 00:02:16,866 he was touched in the hands. 38 00:02:16,866 --> 00:02:19,566 The healer said he was touched by something 39 00:02:19,566 --> 00:02:22,666 the bones remember. 40 00:02:22,666 --> 00:02:24,000 And yet, 41 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:25,500 when the bridge collapsed 42 00:02:25,500 --> 00:02:27,133 in the spring floods, 43 00:02:27,133 --> 00:02:28,000 it was Arren 44 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:31,000 who devised a curious brace for the beam 45 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:32,266 and fitted it beneath 46 00:02:32,266 --> 00:02:35,966 a dozen feet of icy water. 47 00:02:35,966 --> 00:02:38,700 When a child went missing in the mountains, 48 00:02:38,700 --> 00:02:40,700 Arren was the one who searched 49 00:02:40,700 --> 00:02:42,033 through the sleat 50 00:02:42,033 --> 00:02:44,100 through the night, in places 51 00:02:44,100 --> 00:02:45,633 no one else thought to look, 52 00:02:46,033 --> 00:02:47,300 until he found her 53 00:02:47,933 --> 00:02:51,800 half frostbitten beneath a pine tree. 54 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:54,600 And when the village well ran dry, 55 00:02:54,600 --> 00:02:56,600 Arren built a strange pulley 56 00:02:56,600 --> 00:02:59,033 rig from old iron and driftwood. 57 00:02:59,033 --> 00:03:01,200 And water flowed again. 58 00:03:01,200 --> 00:03:02,366 Though no one quite 59 00:03:02,366 --> 00:03:05,300 understood how it worked. 60 00:03:05,300 --> 00:03:07,666 He never asked for praise. 61 00:03:07,666 --> 00:03:10,766 He never explained the things he did. 62 00:03:10,766 --> 00:03:16,266 He never once tried to smooth his edges. 63 00:03:16,266 --> 00:03:19,166 People came and went in the village. 64 00:03:19,166 --> 00:03:20,866 Some admired him, 65 00:03:20,866 --> 00:03:23,566 some avoided him. Some, 66 00:03:23,566 --> 00:03:28,166 a few, loved him as he was. 67 00:03:28,166 --> 00:03:29,333 One evening, 68 00:03:29,333 --> 00:03:32,100 long after the forge had cooled, 69 00:03:32,100 --> 00:03:34,133 an old friend sat beside him 70 00:03:34,133 --> 00:03:38,533 by the fire and asked, Doesn't it bother you 71 00:03:38,533 --> 00:03:41,866 that half the town thinks you're too much? 72 00:03:41,866 --> 00:03:45,800 And the other half thinks you're not enough? 73 00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:47,766 Arren shrugged. 74 00:03:47,766 --> 00:03:50,100 They're not wrong, he said. 75 00:03:50,100 --> 00:03:53,066 But they're not right either. 76 00:03:53,066 --> 00:03:54,566 He fed a scrap of bread 77 00:03:54,566 --> 00:03:56,066 to a crow that had landed 78 00:03:56,066 --> 00:03:58,300 on the edge of the bench. 79 00:03:58,300 --> 00:04:01,233 I'm not here to please the village. 80 00:04:01,233 --> 00:04:04,433 I'm here to hold the shape I was given 81 00:04:04,433 --> 00:04:07,700 until it's time to return it. 82 00:04:08,866 --> 00:04:10,866 The fire crackled. 83 00:04:10,866 --> 00:04:13,033 The sky grew soft. 84 00:04:13,033 --> 00:04:16,100 The anvil dreamed in silence. 85 00:04:16,100 --> 00:04:19,666 And in the village a child fell asleep, 86 00:04:19,666 --> 00:04:21,566 feeling safe, 87 00:04:21,566 --> 00:04:24,500 not knowing why.