The Legend of the Ragged Man

Chuff chuff through the rows of corn

Reaper moon slung low ‘til morn

On raven wing just out of sight

The Ragged Man chuffs through the night.

The legend of the “Ragged Man” has been told for ages, and although most believe it to be a tale used only to frighten the young, there are few who hear the legend and do not shiver upon seeing a scarecrow.  The story tells of a simple farming community whose lands became enshrouded by a mysterious perpetual mist.  Ravens and crows would emerge from the mist and terrorize the people of this area.  Unnatural in size, these monstrous birds would swoop from the sky, shattering the still air with shrill cries as their expansive wings darkened the light of the setting sun.

Desperate, the community sought help from a traveling caravan of gypsies.  Amongst the vandi was a magician, and he promised that for a price, his magic would end this plague of terror.  To ward against these frightening abominations, the magician enchanted the scarecrows of the local farms with powerful gypsy spells to scare off the vile carrion birds.

Unknown to the simple people of the farming community, the magician was nothing but a huckster, however, and his spells of protection were merely cheap parlor tricks.  Lulled into a false sense of security, one particular family on the lands found tragedy with the next appearance of the terrible birds.  Helplessly one twilight in the fall, the farmer watched as his two children were snatched up into the terrible talons of the giant ravens and carried off into the swirling mist.

Enraged to discover that he had been duped by the vandi trickster, the farmer tore the scarecrows from the stakes upon his lands and donned their ragged attire.  The mist and fog worked as his accomplice, enshrouding him as he slid through the rows of corn, his body and soul lost slipping over the black precipice of vengeance. Entering the vandi camp under cover of the dark, the Ragged Man killed every last person.  Their bodies were found the next morning in the outlying fields mounted on stakes, their mouths filled with straw, heads covered in burlap for the ravens and crows to feast upon.

It is told that the Ragged Man still wanders the lands in search of his children and still driven by an insatiable thirst for retribution against the vandi.  Always preceded by mist, fog, and the ominous presence of ravens and crows the Ragged Man is a nightmare abomination that has now been claimed by the evil powers of the Twilight Kingdom.  Unknowingly, his vengeance serves their secret desires.

-T

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