THE RIDDLE OF THE DUNGEON
Written By - Prabir Rai Chaudhuri.
Alex and his sister Linnea were spending a few days on vacation
with their grandmother in the countryside. She had allowed them to invite
one, her best friend, Ethan, and the other, her great friend, Celeste.
Alex and
Ethan often wear t-shirts and blue jeans or shorts. Ethan likes his brown
hair to be well groomed, while Alex prefers to keep his as far away from the
comb as possible.
Linnea and Celeste are very different. Celeste combs her long blond hair
with care every morning, taking her time. She chooses her dresses or her
skirts by harmonizing the colors. Linnea has dark brown, rather short
hair, and her favorite clothes are old jeans and her older brother's well-worn
t-shirts. However, they are very good friends.
The four
children therefore spent these few days of intense friendship very pleasantly.
One
morning, the grandmother suggested that they go and visit the castel of
Val-Fleuri.
"This castle will interest you," she said. You will see a period
portcullis, a walkway, a dungeon, loopholes, battlements. You will then
walk through the gardens that form a gigantic square around the
building. At each end of this square is a tower, one to the north, one to
the south, one to the east and one to the west. These four towers, on the
borders of the park, are themselves surrounded by old ditches and a river that
served as a moat.
The grandmother entrusted them with money to pay for the tickets.
Our
friends set off on bicycles. A twelve kilometer walk that would lead them
to the parking lot of the building. The cashier advised them to hurry to
join a group that was beginning the tour of the central building.
The four friends joined the other tourists. They listened attentively to
the guide who gave exciting explanations.
-The castle of Val-Fleuri, ladies and gentlemen, was occupied for almost nine
hundred years by the same family. This one knew characters of all kinds,
the best and the worst.
“The most dreadful, the most terrifying of them lived around the years of thirteen
hundred and fifty. He was called Messire Guillaume. He was
married. As much as his wife, Dame Johanne, was charming, gentle and
sensitive, fine and intelligent, he was brutal, violent, coarse, selfish,
clumsy.
“The surrounding peasants feared Messire Guillaume,” continued the
guide. All the inhabitants, men, women and children of the villages,
trembled as he passed. Everyone tried as much as possible to avoid meeting
him.
“One evening when he was seated with his wife in the room where we are, a servant
approached him.
- Master, someone is asking for you at the entrance to the castle.
"Let him wait," replied the boor. I'm eating.
- He insists.
- Then hang him.
- He gave his name.
- Well, tell me, what are you waiting for?
- This is a monk.
- What have I to do with monks?
-The monk Robert, Sir Guillaume.
-Monk Robert!
“There was a moment of silence,” said the guide.
Our friends, Alex, Ethan, Linnea and Celeste, like the other people, strained
their ears to listen even more attentively to the rest of the thrilling story.
- Monk Robert! Bring it up.
“Soon a rather tall, bald man in a long brown woolen robe and a black hooded
coat came into the dining room. His brown eyes, his piercing gaze,
testified to a keen intelligence.
- Dear friend! cried Messire Guillaume, rising. I thank you for
coming. Did you have a good trip ?
"An execrable journey," replied the monk Robert. In my country
in the Far North, over there, in Scandinavia, when it snows, it holds up, it's
beautiful and white. Where you are, the snow is melting. We wade
through mud and dirt all along the roads. These muddy paths disgust me.
-Excuse me. Did you eat ?
-No, I was waiting for you to invite me, answered the monk.
- So sit down, I'll serve you.
“And we saw, extraordinary thing, Messire Guillaume, the one who terrorized the
region, scouring the villages, the fields and the woods, serving the monk
Robert, at table, as a lackey serves his master.
“A little later, they both sat down in front of a large fireplace where a good fire
was blazing. Dame Johanne, the wife of Sir Guillaume, Dame Johanne, had
just retired to her apartment. The monk leaned towards the master of the
castle.
- Tell me, Guillaume, why are you calling me here?
- I'll explain, answered the squire. Accompany me. Let's go down to
the armory. Do you see this door?
“It was massive, black wood like many others in the castle.
- There is a dungeon on the other side of this door and I would like you to
make me a mirror like in the country you come from, the same as that of Björn
Lingström, the wealthy trader from Stockholm, among others, if you remember
him. He told me about it last summer when I met him.
- Ah! replied the monk Robert, you want me to install a one-way mirror
instead of these boards?
- What is a one-way mirror? William asked.
- Well, that's what you're asking me. On one side, we see ourselves in a
mirror, on the other side, we see as if through glass.
"Exactly," replied the boor. Exactly. And I would like the
mirror to be in this room. I plan to make it my dining room. And I
want whoever will be locked up in the dungeon to see, as through glass,
everything that will happen here.
- No problem, answered the monk Robert. It will cost two bags of gold.
- Do you want them right away?
- No. One bag of gold now and the other when I leave.
- In
addition, added Guillaume, I would like that in the dungeon we hear all the
conversations that will be said in the dining room. But no matter how much
we shout and howl in the cell, drum against the glass, no sound, no vibration
should cross the door which separates this prison from the dining room.
-I can arrange that for you, said the monk Robert, for an extra bag of gold.
-And finally, resumed the host with a bad smile, I would like the door to open
very easily from the room where we are, but very difficult from the
dungeon. For example, I would like you to install a mechanism that
responds only to a password for opening the door on the prison side.
"Okay," replied the monk. But it will cost you an extra bag of
gold.
-You will have it, concludes Guillaume. I'm having your apartment ready
next to mine.
“The monk spent the whole winter at the castle, ladies and gentlemen.
“One spring evening, the monk Robert invited his guest to discover the door and
try it. Dame Johanne had already gone up to bed.
- Here, explained the monk. From this side, you can observe the
mirror. Opening the door is easy. Clap your hands three times, then
twice, then once.
“Guillaume complied and the door opened slowly towards the interior of the
dungeon, and gave access to it.
- If you want to bother to come in, dear friend…
- With you, Robert, said Guillaume smiling.
They both entered the prison room. The mirror door closed slowly behind
them. Once confined in the dungeon, they could notice that we could see
perfectly well in the dining room, as through a window. We could also hear
the slightest noise, even the crackling of the logs in the fireplace. But
getting out was another matter.
- You can shout, bang on the door, it won't open and no one will hear you
scream from the dungeon, specified the monk.
- And how do we get out of here? William wondered.
- Using a password, as you asked.
- What is this password?
-Look, I engraved the statement of three riddles on the three sides of the
door. The answer to these three riddles consists of one word, one word,
three times the same. On the left it is inscribed: The dead eat me . Top: I
am greater than God . On the right, going down, finished the monk
Robert: if the living eat me, they die .
No
matter how hard the boor scratched his brains, he couldn't find the answer.
” Monk Robert whispered the word in his ear.
” The squire said it in a loud voice and the door opened.
You who read this story, do you know how to discover the word?
"I am delighted," cried Messire Guillaume. Robert, here are the
promised bags of gold.
The monk loaded them onto a cart and left the next day at dawn.
A few days later, Messire Guillaume invited his wife to come and visit the
dungeon. A little naive perhaps, too gullible certainly, she entered the
dark room and the door closed behind her. She never discovered the
password to the terrible riddle. She couldn't get out of the
dungeon. She died there.
“During this time, this monster traveled the countryside and chose there some
shepherdesses that he liked and that he took to the castle. He amused
himself every evening feasting happily, drinking and eating at the table set up
in front of the mirror, in the company of these people, while on the other side
of the door Dame Johanne suffered a thousand deaths, seeing everything, hearing
everything, and slowly starving.
The guide fell silent. All remained silent after this terrifying tale.
- If you want to follow me, ladies and gentlemen, you will be able to enter the
famous dungeon.
She knocked three times, then twice, then once on her hands and the door to the
mirror opened, giving access to the terrible prison. The guide blocked the
door with a heavy stone.
She
explained that the answer to the famous riddle had been lost over the
centuries. It was therefore necessary to take precautions and block the
mechanism before entering.
Alex, Ethan,
Linnea, Celeste and a few others passed through the sinister room.
Our
friends deciphered the three mysterious proposals, but even Ethan saw no
solution.
The
dead eat me . I
am greater than God . If the living eat me, they die .
Do
you have an idea now? dear reader.
When everyone had emerged from the dungeon, the guide removed the stone and the
door closed.
"Around the year one thousand six hundred," resumed the guide,
"another castellan, Messire Jean, a descendant of the dreadful Messire
Guillaume, made some alterations to the dungeon, in order to ensure a way
out. Indeed, a few days before, two children of this nice lord, who were
playing hide and seek one evening, had entered there, but could not come
out. They were found forty-eight hours later starving and
terrified. After this incident, the castellan had a spiral staircase dug,
known as “spiral”. It leads to a tunnel that once connected the castle to
the South Tower, by the river.
At the end of the visit, the guide gave permission to those who wanted to, of
course, to visit the gardens, then to go to the four towers that surround
them. Finally, if they weren't afraid, on the night of the full moon, that
is to say in forty-eight hours, amateurs could return to the South Tower.
-It is claimed that on certain summer nights, one can still hear crying in this
South Tower, the ghost of Dame Johanne, the wife of Sir Guillaume.
The guide clarified that she had never heard it.
- But for those who are interested, I point out that this tower remains open
night and day to the public.
- Exciting, exciting, declared Alex returning to the bikes. What an
awesome puzzle! Ah, I would like to understand it.
- Me, too, answered Linnea.
- I don't have the slightest idea about the word, declared Ethan.
- How is it again? asked Veronique.
- The dead eat me… I am greater than God… If the living eat me, they
die…, murmured Ethan.
So,
dear reader, this word, do you find it? No? Search again before
reading any further.
-Who
accompanies me one night to listen to the ghost? Linnea suggested.
The four friends returned to the grandmother by bicycle. Thinking about
it, they decided to return to visit the South Tower, the night of Friday to the
following Saturday, under the full moon, in order to hear the ghost of Lady
Johanne cry.
The four
of them thought they might just be a legend. But why not try, added Linnea.
And
then, the walk would be beautiful and the experience a little thrilling.
Time to convince the grandmother and the following Friday, after supper, our
friends got on their bikes and left for the South Tower.
They
made the last hundred meters on foot because we skirted the impassable ditches
of the old moats. They stopped at the famous tower. She stood up all
black, sinister, threatening, in the starry night.
The building itself was of no interest.
We
accessed through a wide open door to this totally empty construction, invaded
by dust and slightly disturbing cobwebs. A stone staircase ran along the
wall and led to the first floor. There we guessed an old fireplace with
worn sculptures.
A wooden
staircase led to the second. On this floor, you had to climb a ladder to
reach a terrace which allowed you to observe the woods, the fields, the lights
of the villages on the horizon and behind you, the impressive and black mass of
the castle, a few hundred meters away. distance.
While our friends admired the landscape under the moon which had just risen
behind the trees, Linnea noticed a crack between two stones of the wall on
which she was leaning. A small piece of paper was sticking
out. Curious as usual, she pulled it out, unrolled it, and thanks to the
flashlight brought by her brother Alex, they read a little handwritten
sentence.
"If you want to hear the ghost of the wife of Messire Guillaume cry, go
to the stone bridge two hundred meters to the left, the one by which we once
accessed the castle and which spans the river. It is today abandonned."
Our friends looked at each other.
-Why not? suggested Philip.
"Shut up," whispered Celeste. Look over there on the
right. I see beams of flashlights. People are coming. Save us.
"We're not doing anything wrong," remarked Alex.
Linnea
folded the message and put it back in its place.
Our four friends quickly descended the ladder and the stairs of the tower and
left. They moved away following the river, walking towards the old bridge.
Turning
around, they thought they saw a group of children, perhaps a round of elves or
a pack of wolf cubs at camp, or even a summer camp. They were heading
towards the South Tower.
After a brisk little walk in the tall grass alongside the river, the four of
them came to the old bridge: a large stone arch, overgrown with grass and
plants.
No matter how quiet they were and listened, all that was heard was the cry of
an owl nearby, or over there, far away in the woods, the yelp of some
fox. But no lady was crying, ghost or not.
Aiming the flashlight beam along the edge of the bridge, they observed again,
in a crack, a small piece of paper protruding. They quickly extracted it
and unfolded it.
"To hear the ghost of Messire Guillaume's wife cry, go down under the
arch of the bridge. Go through the gates and follow the old underground if you
are not afraid".
Flashlight beams were slowly approaching. Linnea folded up the paper and
replaced it in the hollow where she had seen it. Then they went down to
the edge of the water.
They
soon found themselves in the middle of tall grass and reeds. A few
brambles scratched his ankles here and there, and above all the ground was
gradually turning into mud.
The four friends took off their shoes and slipped barefoot into the small
river. The water came up to their knees, then to their stomachs. It
was hardly warm at night. The soaked clothes, overalls or jeans and
t-shirt, were heavy and stuck to the skin. They shivered.
They
reached under the arch of the bridge and discovered an old gate there. It
was not closed. From one side hung a chain, ending in a padlock. Of
course, our friends didn't have the key, but it was open.
They went through the tunnel and turned on their flashlights to observe the
tunnel that plunged under the gardens of the castle towards the main building,
five hundred meters away. The further they advanced, the shallower the
water was because the ground rose a little. Soon they were only up to
their knees.
At that
moment the underground split in two. Should you go left or right?
The four
friends were silent for a moment. In the oppressive silence of the night,
in the total darkness that reigned in these places, because they had just
turned off their flashlight, they heard on the left, a voice which was crying,
which was tearing miserably.
Impressed,
but also surprised by the arrival of the group of children who entered in turn
inside the tunnel, Alex, Ethan, Linnea and Celeste chose the tunnel on the
right.
They
progressed there boldly, without turning on their torches, so as not to be
spotted. Quickly, they came to a place where the ceiling had
collapsed. Impossible to go further. They waited a moment in
silence. What was going to happen?
Gradually, they noticed the beams of flashlights approaching. They could
also hear the splashing of dirty water being stirred up by the
group. Luckily for them, someone shouted, "No, turn left, not right,
and shut up." When the silence was total, the tears reappeared.
The children who had just arrived at the crossroads of the two tunnels began to
cry out in terror, frightened by the moans, probably believing they were
dealing with the ghost at that moment. However, they went further into the
underground passage on the left. And suddenly there were howls, cries of
terror at the sight of a ghost no doubt. Then bursts of laughter.
- We recognized you! We knew it was you… said one.
He was showing off a little.
-Cheer! You do it very well, you cry very well, I really believed it for a
moment, launched another.
- Me too, I really believed it, continued a third. But I wasn't afraid.
"Liar,"
said a fourth. You were shaking.
Then the group of children went back and left the underground. Soon our
friends returned to the heavy silence to which this place was accustomed.
Alex, Linnea, Ethan and Celeste, wading through the water, came back to the
place where the sinister gut split. They moved to the left this time.
No
matter how slowly they progressed, stopping every now and then, turning off the
flashlights and listening intently, no ghost cried. They understood that
the group of children on vacation were participating in a night game and that
one of the leaders, probably disguised as a ghost, and hidden in the
underground, had pretended to cry in order to create a sinister atmosphere
which had elsewhere perfectly successful.
After walking for a long time on dry feet in the dark corridor, they arrived at
the bottom of a spiral staircase. Switching on their flashlights, they
climbed it carefully and thus arrived in the dungeon of the castle, behind the
door with the two-way mirror.
From the place they occupied, they could perfectly observe the dining room lit
by the glow of the full moon. They made out the tables, the chairs, the
large fireplace, the paintings on the walls, the bronzes, the chandeliers,
unlit of course. Next to them, on the dungeon side, there was no mirror,
just a simple pane of glass.
It was nearly eleven o'clock at night. The main castle building was
locked. No visitors were there. The janitor slept in the guardhouse
building, at the entrance, quite a distance away. Our friends would have
liked to enter the castle and visit it at night. But for that it was
necessary to solve the famous password.
No matter how hard they read and reread the strange riddle, even Ethan found no
answer.
"The
dead eat me...I am greater than God...If the living eat me, they die..."
And
you, do you have an idea now?
Discovering no solution and therefore unable to open the door to the one-way
mirror, they descended the spiral staircase, followed the long tunnel again and
came very close to the stone arch, under the bridge over the river. There,
an unpleasant surprise awaited them. The gates were closed. The chain
was firmly on and the padlock also tightened.
No
matter how hard our friends shook the chains, tried to open the portcullis,
lift it, pull it, push it, they only succeeded in hurting themselves. They
screamed, they screamed, but no one was around to answer their
calls. Those from the colony had gone a long way. The guard had probably
asked the chief monitor to close the underground gate when he came out with the
children. As our four friends had kept quiet during their visit, no one
suspected their presence.
The bars
were big and tight. Impossible to sneak between them.
Worried, they redo five times, ten times, the route from the gate to the
dungeon, searching every corner of the underground, stamping the ground with
their feet, probing the walls, observing the door, reflecting on the enigma,
feeling each of the bricks of the dungeon. in order to try to discover a
passage, a secret door, what do I know. They returned to the right part,
the collapsed part of the underground, but they saw no other way out, except
this closed gate on one side, and this frightful and incomprehensible enigma on
the other.
When the flashlight began to dim, for the battery was running out, the four of
them went back up to the dungeon and they sat down on the ground.
-We're off to spend the night here, said Linnea.
"It's not funny," sighed Celeste.
- We find ourselves in the same situation as Dame Johanne in the past.
-Fortunately, we won't hear the ghost, said Ethan. Unless of course, when
we are very tired and dozing, he comes gently to frighten us.
- Stop it, begged Celeste.
-Tomorrow morning, Alex thinks aloud, the first visitors will arrive around
nine o'clock and the guide will show them the dungeon. She will open the
door and we will be delivered.
Our four friends chatted a little, sitting close to each other, then as the
hours passed, fatigue winning over their minds, all four of them ended up
falling asleep. No ghost came to disturb them.
When they opened their eyes, a ray of sunlight lit up the dining
room. Nobody had arrived yet. Around nine o'clock, the first visitors
would come with the guide, and she would open the dungeon for them. Our
friends could finally get out of their prison.
Shortly before nine o'clock, several people, wearing black ties and white
jackets, entered the dining room. Our friends heard them talking very
distinctly while these people heard no calls or cries, or the drumming of
children against the window. They did not see them, I remind you, moreover
not.
-Where will the bride be installed?
-At this table, near the mirror.
- This will not disturb the visitors?
"No,
there won't be any visitors today or tomorrow," replied the maitre
d'. No tourists will be admitted before Monday morning. The bride and
groom have rented the chateau for the entire weekend.
-Oh no! exclaimed Linnea.
-Please! Please! Veronique yelled.
-I think we're going to be locked up here for two days. We won't be freed
until Monday morning, Ethan supposed.
-We're
going to starve in here until Monday, you mean. It's appalling, said Alex
indignantly.
-Ethan, implored Celeste, turning to our friend, please, you always find the
solutions to the most difficult problems, you really don't understand this
riddle?
The four friends read it again.
“The dead eat me… I am greater than God… If the living eat me, they die…”
- But then, said Ethan suddenly, what would you do without me?
- We would try to do without you, said Alex.
- Thank you, answered the boy, a little annoyed. That's nice to hear at
least. Count on the loyalty of friends.
- You understood the riddle, said Alex, observing his friend's mischievous
smile.
- Yes, I have just found, finally I believe.
- You discovered the password! cried the two girls at the same time.
- Yes, and really, it's obvious. Think. I read the three
propositions: “ The dead eat me. You leave that aside, explained
Ethan. “ I am greater than God” . You have to start
there. What is greater than God? in your opinion.
"I don't see," answered Linnea. Nothing is greater than God.
- Here is the answer! Nothing is greater than God. The word used is
“NOTHING”! Apply it to the other two riddles. "The dead eat
me ," continued Ethan. The dead don't eat anything! “If
the living eat me they die”. If the living eat nothing, they die.
-Ethan, you are brilliant, exclaimed Linnea.
"I congratulate you," added Alex.
The four
of them hugging each other and holding hands, they pronounced in a loud and
strong voice the word “NOTHING”.
The
one-way door opened.
The newlyweds had just entered, along with their families to make the final
preparations for the afternoon reception. They were astonished to see four
children come out of this dungeon.
Quickly,
we telephoned the grandmother, no doubt worried about the absence of the four
friends, to reassure her and invite her to the party. Then the groom and
the bride shared an excellent breakfast with all.
The adventure ended in joy and laughter, because, apart from a long sleepless
night and a few solid fears, everyone was safe and sound.
© All Copyright Reserved By Prabir Rai Chaudhuri- 2023
