Fraggle fic: The Minstrel's Path

[Slackbot]

Heh, it's kind of obscure. That's the saxophone-like thing that Junior played in Ring Around the Rock. The Fraggles didn't recognize it as an instrument because 1) it's so huge, and 2) it's metal, and Fraggle instruments are usually wood and other herbal ingredients.

Ma and Pa's singing is usually pretty slow and ponderous, but Junior can cut loose when he wants to. I can see him dancing around, wailin' on that sax Fraggle-style as Ma and Pa watch and wonder what'd gotten into him.

BTW, I turned on the captions while trying to figure out what Junior called the instrument (the royal sackabut?) and, well, most of them have no relation to what they are saying. Wow.

 

[The Count]

Heh, Junior did sort of cut loose, or at least he tried to during one of Ma and Pa's versions of These Are The Gifts I Give To Thee. But Pa pretty much quelled his improv session short.

So long as it's a sackabut and not a sackugurne that's okay.
(Sackugurne = pogostick/jackhammer hybrid riding weapon from Mega Man II for Game Boy, distinct from Mega Man 2).

 

[Slackbot]

There is an instrument called a sackbut, but it's a Renaissance/Baroque era trombone, and what Junior had looks and sounds like a variety of saxophone.

 

[mostlikemokey]

Nice chapter, Slackbot! Pa's lines are great. Since this thread seems to be bringing up a lot of talk about instruments, I thought I'd show you something I found on Youtube.
You may have seen it before, but I don't remember if you ever mentioned it. I came across it by accident- it's a song played on the instrument that Janken plays, the ocarina. It came from the Dark Crystal.

 

[Slackbot]

You can teach an old dog new tricks!​

​

*****​

The Minstrel's Path​

Part 28​

by Kim McFarland​

*****

It was a late morning after a long night. The Fraggles had held their Moon Greeting ceremony to celebrate the monthly appearance of the Fraggle Moon. The Minstrels had taken part in the ceremony before, but this time the Fraggle who had been named as this month's Moon Greeter had offered the role to Cantus. Cantus had, of course, accepted. It was short notice, but Cantus was at home with ceremonies, and welcomed the moon with a song that, by the end, drew everyone in. After all, it was everybody's moon, so it was only fitting that all should greet it.

Now he was feeling the aftermath of the night's activity. He moved a little stiffly, though otherwise he betrayed no sign of discomfort. He did not worry about everyday aches; they would pass.

Some Fraggles came to their camp, carrying fruit, quickbread, vegetables, and juice for the Minstrels' breakfast. Cantus thanked them. Boober asked Cantus, "Would you like some red tea?"

"That would be welcome."

Boober offered an earthenware cup. The tea inside was dark red, and smelled of honey and cinnamon. It was not too hot, so it could be drunk quickly. Which it often was, as it was made from drooptree bark, which mitigated pain. Boober kept a supply of it on hand at all times for headaches and minor injuries. He made a mental note to prepare a packet of the shredded bark to give to Cantus for use on his travels.

Cantus drank the tea. The honey and cinnamon masked a bitter taste. Cantus paid that no more attention than he did to his stiffness. They were simple facts of life.

*

Later that day Cantus was wandering about, quietly watching and listening. He had left the Magic Pipe in their camp. The other Minstrels were off doing whatever they felt like doing. Last he saw, Brio was swimming in the Great Hall. Murray would likely be fishing somewhere.

There were Fraggles here he had seen grow up, like the children that had been born to the tight-knit group of Gobo, Wembley, Red, Mokey, and Boober. He had been visiting this colony since before their oldest, Janken, was born. Now he and his younger sister Sage were adults, and the youngest, Poncle, was heading there as fast as she could. Children grew up so very quickly, he thought, especially when you did not see them for many, many days at a time. You remember them as they were, and when you come back they had grown and changed. He could remember every one of the children he had sired as infants; now many had children of their own.

He strolled into the Great Hall. Fraggles were playing and running around and generally having a good time. Balsam and Reed were playing music with a few Fraggles, improvising a meandering, jazzy tune. They glanced over and saw him. He smiled and nodded.

Gobo and Janken, wearing backpacks, entered through a nearby tunnel. Janken said, "Oh, hi, Cantus!"

"Hark," Cantus said. "What brings the day?"

Earlier a question like this would have puzzled them. What brought the day? The day came by itself. By now, however, they understood his way of speaking. Gobo said, "We’ve been out in the Winding Rill caverns. There was a flood there, so we went to update our maps."

"And we found some of these." Janken worked his arms out of his backpack's straps, set it down on the cave floor, and opened it up. He took out a milky, pinkish gray stone that was so polished it still looked wet. "Here, I want you to have the first one."

The palm-sized, flat stone was smooth and cool in Cantus's hand. He said, "Thank you."

Gobo said, "And we're gonna go see Doc. He likes it when we bring him rocks like this." He showed Cantus a stone that looked like a strange, segmented bug was stuck in it.

"Hey, why don't you come with us?" Janken asked.

Cantus looked at him, surprised. Janken said, "Doc is the Silly Creature who lives just outside Fraggle Rock. Gobo used to sneak into his workroom to get the postcards that his Uncle Matt sent. When I got stuck in Outer Space, Doc helped me tell my family what happened so they wouldn't worry."

Gobo, seeing a hint of interest in Cantus's eyes, said, "Remember when you told me to touch the Silly Creature and let him touch me? That was Doc. He gave me the swoopfoomer for The Honk of Honks. We've been friends ever since."

Cantus's hesitated for a moment. Outer Space was for explorers like Gobo and Janken; Cantus's place was within the rock—no. That was just nerves speaking. Cantus had explored far and wide, and had met many different kinds of people. He had even sung with Gorgs. He said, "I will come."

Janken's eyes widened. "Really? Awesome!"

Gobo said, "We just need to put our backpacks up."

"I will meet you at the entrance to Outer Space," Cantus told them.

Gobo and Janken went to Gobo's room. Cantus returned to his camp and picked up the Magic Pipe. We've traveled far, and we shall travel farther, he thought. Sometimes he thought of the Magic Pipe as a living thing. It often felt as if Cantus was collaborating with it rather than simply using it as a tool to make music. It was undeniably magical; who was to say that it was not alive in some way?

Cantus thought as he walked up the passage to Outer Space, the other Minstrels would not be pleased that he had gone to Outer Space by himself. He imagined Murray calling him selfish for keeping the adventure to himself. Such words masked their concern for him. A concern that, he admitted, was not always unfounded. Sometimes he needed their practicality. However, he was confident that this would be safe. As he looked around the beautiful tunnel, alive with plants and blooming flowers, he could feel that it was as magical as his pipe. How could this tunnel have opened if not to lead to something good?

Janken and Gobo were already there. Gobo said, "Janken and I'll go in first, to make sure that Doc's home."

Janken said, "Doc lives with a dog, Sprocket. He looks like a big, hairy, scary monster, but he's safe. He's never hurt any of us, and he sometimes comes down to Fraggle Rock to play. If he runs at you, making a sound like this—" Janken imitated a dog barking— "don't be afraid. He just gets excited when people visit."

Gobo, standing at the tunnel's exit, beckoned. "C'mon, Jan."

"Yeah. We'll just be a minute!" Janken said. He and Gobo went through the tunnel.

*

Janken and Gobo looked out into Doc's home. Janken called, "Doc? You here?"

Sprocket, who had been napping in his basket, raised his head. He barked, then said, "Ro-ro!"

Gobo laughed. "Yeah, it's me. Is Doc home? There's someone we'd like him to meet."

Sprocket arfed an affirmative, then jumped out of his basket and scampered down a short hallway on the other side of the work table. The Fraggles did not have to wait long; Doc could tell by Sprocket's vocal, tail-wagging excitement that the Fraggles were here. Doc smiled when he saw his two most frequent visitors. He lowered himself with a little effort onto a pillow on the floor and said, ""Hello, Gobo, Janken. How are you?"

Sprocket noticed a scent he did not recognize, and went over to the hole in the wall. He stuck his head in and sniffed curiously, then barked a greeting.

Janken hopped up. "Sprocket! Don't do that. He's never met you before. You might scare him."

Sprocket pulled his head out and made an interrogatory sound at Janken. Janken scratched him behind the ears with both hands—Sprocket loved that—and said, "I know, you're not really scary. I just don't want any misunderstandings."

Gobo held up a stone. "I found this in the caves. It was washed up on a rock pile after a flood. I thought you'd like it."

Doc took the fossil. "This is amazing! A perfect record of prehistoric life! Thank you, Gobo."

"You're welcome. Say, remember when we first met? You were upset about your friend moving away, and I felt bad for you. I touched your hand, and then you were able to see me."

"I remember that very well," Doc replied softly.

"Well, I did it because Cantus the Minstrel told me to. He said that we had to touch each other so you could see me. I think that he meant that we had to become real to each other."

"I think that's right."

Janken chimed in, "And it's because of him I live in Outer Space. He invited me to travel with his Minstrels so I could see other people in the Rock. Then I got trapped on the outside by a rockslide, and the rest is history. If it wasn't for him, I'd still be in the Rock, wondering what to do with my life!"

*

Cantus waited as they talked about him. It was good to see that they had truly understood his lessons from many, many, many days ago. However, when they started talking about his wisdom, as if to impress Doc, he raised his pipe. The proper way to introduce a Minstrel was not with words.

*

At the sound of the music Gobo and Janken both looked back at the hole. Janken grinned sheepishly. Shut up and let me make my own entrance!

As Doc watched, a Fraggle he had never seen before walked out of the hole, playing what looked like two pipes, one wrapped like a vine around the other. He was taller than most Fraggles by about six inches, and he was furry all over and wore a robe. His fur was orange, shading to yellow on his hands and snout. Comical tufts of magenta hair framed his face. His snout was long and narrow, giving him an almost birdlike appearance. And, Doc realized, he had lines around his eyes and deep creases on his cheeks. Despite his bright coloration, this Fraggle was old. He knew that older Fraggles existed, but this was the first one he had seen besides Traveling Matt. It was somehow comforting in its ordinariness.

The music of the pipe sounded at first like a pair of oboes playing the same music. Then the Fraggle began playing them in harmony. When the tune began to slow, one sang the melody and the other played a drone.

When Cantus finished, he raised a hand and said, "Hail, Silly Creature. I am Cantus the Minstrel."

Doc, smiling, raised his hand as Cantus had and said, "Welcome, Cantus. I'm Doc Crystal. I've heard so much about you."

"So I heard."

Sprocket had restrained his curiosity for long enough. He remembered not to run or bark because that scared Fraggles. So, tail wagging, he trotted up to Cantus and began sniffing him.

Cantus was surprised, but only for a moment. He did the only thing he could, which was to stand still and let Sprocket carry out his inspection. When the dog was satisfied he gave Cantus a friendly lick that covered half his face.

Janken covered his mouth, trying to hide his laughter at Cantus's startled expression. Gobo said, "Sorry, I should have warned you, that's how Sprocket tells you he likes you."

"I see. You'll forgive me if I don't return the favor."

"This is what he likes." Janken got up and started scratching the back of Sprocket's head. The dog leaned into his hands, his tail thumping the ground happily.

Doc grinned as Cantus, on the other side, scratched Sprocket's head, his fingers sinking knuckle deep into gray fur. Sprocket looked beside himself with pleasure. His tail was wagging hard enough to take his hindquarters along with it.

Doc said, "Cantus. Singing. What an appropriate name for a minstrel."

"My name has meaning in your language?" Cantus asked, still scratching Sprocket.

"Well, actually, it's Latin I'm thinking of. That's an ancient Silly Creature language."

And yet the word had the same meaning. Very interesting, possibly important. He would think more about that later. He said, "I would like to hear your music."

Doc said, "Well, I don't play anything myself. I tried the saxophone once." Sprocket shuddered with a sound of dismay. "I don't even sing in the shower because it makes Sprocket howl. We aren't as musical as Fraggles are."

"Is there no music at all in your life?" Cantus asked.

"Well, no, I like listening to music." He got up and went to a shelf where many flat things were stacked on their ends. He took one out. It was a very thin, square box. He took a black, round thing out of it. "This is a record. We store music on these, and put them in a machine to play them."

"Like the roller in a music box," Cantus mused.

Doc paused thoughtfully. "Well, yes. Much like that, actually."

"I would like to hear this."

"All right. Hmm—" he looked through the records, wondering what a Fraggle musician would want to hear. Fraggles seemed to like all kinds of music. He picked one out—an album of big band music—and decided that that would be as good as anything, plus he wouldn't mind listening to it either. He slipped the record out of its sleeve, lifted the cover of his record player, and put the disc on the turntable.

Cantus watched as he positioned the disc, which began spinning, then carefully set something that looked like a lever on top of it. He heard a click, then a soft hissing. Then music came from different sides of the room. After a glance he saw that the sources of the sound were a pair of black boxes with fabric on the front.

That was only of momentary interest. The music that came from it was…well, it was like many things he had heard before. He could recognize wind instruments, including some that sounded much like the Magic Pipe, but others had bright, brassy voices. They were put together in a way that interested and puzzled him. The melody itself, on the other hand, needed no thought or explanation. It was music, a language he understood.

*

Cantus listened to the music, his eyes closed, the tip of his tail tapping in time. It was a strange sight for Gobo and Janken. For them, Cantus was the one who sang and played music. They had never seen him sit quietly and…"Listen," Janken thought, and grinned. Cantus practiced what he preached.

*

When that side of the disc was through Doc lifted the needle off. Cantus raised his pipe and began to play. The tune was in the style of the music they had just heard, although the melody was Cantus's own. Doc, Sprocket, Gobo, and Janken smiled, not only because they liked the music, but because Cantus was enjoying himself too. In particular, Gobo and Janken were used to seeing Cantus play magnificent, thrilling music; they had never before seen him toy with it, just pick up an instrument and mess around the way any Fraggle with an idle moment would. Of course, this being Cantus, even his musical doodling sounded wonderful.

When Cantus finished he said to Doc, "Thank you. I wish the rest of the Minstrels could have heard that."

Doc answered, "If they come up here, I'll be happy to play it for them. It's been a long time since I've had anyone to listen to these with me." Sprocket barked indignantly. "All right, almost anyone."

Cantus considered. "Perhaps they will come."

He raised the pipe again and began playing a Fraggle-style rendition of In the Mood.

*****

Fraggle Rock and all characters except Janken and Reed are copyright © The Jim Henson Company and are used without permission but with much respect and affection. Janken, Reed, and the overall story are copyright © Kim McFarland (negaduck9@aol.com). Permission is given by the author to copy it for personal use only.

 

[charlietheowl]

Another fun chapter! It is interesting that Cantus is able to put aside all the differences in how Silly Creatures listen to music and realize that the core of the tune, the melody, is still the same as things he's heard and played before. And his reaction to Sprocket's greeting is as dryly humorous as he'll ever be, lol. Thanks for sharing!

 

[The Count]

This chappy shows how all aspects of the Fraggleverse have progressed, coming together in its own age.

Question, shouldn't Gobo and Janken taken Cantus to the apartment out in the Arizona desert where Doc now lives instead of the original workshop?
And "Dog, Sprocket, Gobo, and Janken"?

Nice to see Cantus enjoying himself, I liked that aspect of the story. Thanks for continually posting good stuff.

 

[Slackbot]

Thanks guys! I'll be wrapping this fic up shortly.

I'm going to try to draw Sprocket's greeting. There's something about the wise, enigmatic, dignified Cantus getting a faceful of dog slobber, plastering his hair down on one side, that makes me giggle like a fool.

Count, they are in the apartment in The Desert. (They never specified which desert. In "A Wandering Heart" I placed it in California, so that's what I'm sticking with.) Doc told Sprocket that he could set it up with a table and everything just like his old workshop, so that's what he's done.

As long as Cantus has his music, he'll enjoy his life. And I could never take that away from him, so whatever else happens to him his hearing will remain sharp and his hands free from arthritis.

As for that typo, *edit edit* what typo?

Finally, if anyone would like to hear the first track of that record, which Cantus played at the end, here it is. Note the Fragglish silliness with the trombone tossing and synchronized sweating.

 

[The Count]

Huh, I always thought/remembered Doc saying they had to move to Arizona. *Shrugs, so long as it's set up as shown towards the end of Change of Address it's okay by me, I've come to trust you with FR as much as I trust RedPiggy with the other franchises like Dinosaurs and Labyrinth.

Looking forward to whatever you post next, we'll read it eagerly.

 

[Slackbot]

I'm pretty sure they were as ambiguous about where he moved to as they were about where he moved from so people could think he was in their country. I always assumed he was on the west coast somewhere; California or Washington. A Canadian watcher I spoke with recently was sure he was in a specific area in Canada. If either of us had heard a location that pointed to one country or the other, then that would have lessened its immediacy to one of us.

BTW, the tea Boober gives Cantus is willow bark tea. Willow bark contains salicin, a chemical that helps relieve pain and fever. Acetylsalicylic acid, better known as aspirin, is a derivative of salicin. "This has been another *THUD* Useless Fact."