The Slough of Beyond

The BK, carrying careful said Box of Sadness, came, after some troubles unnamed, to the Slough of Beyond.

Consisting in the main of an endless, or seemingly endless, it couldn’t literally be endless because that would mean that it covered the entire globe, so, seemingly endless plain, extending in every direction, well not in every direction, as the BK had just arrived at the edge, so, extending in every direction except the one which the BK had come.

Anyway, it was all wet, which gave it the name Slough. Which is a sort of swamp or situation characterized by a lack of progress or activity. In this case the swamp meaning was more relevant although the second meaning had some traction.

The BK put on his waterproofs. When he stepped in the water, he soon sank in the slough stuff up to about the ankle place or height, he took one more step before becoming complete stuck and despondent.

After a week stuck in the mud, a Passing asked why he was standing still. I am stuck in Slough of Beyond, said the BK, as this Box of Sadness, that is my burden, has crushed me in the watery slough.

Throw your burden in the air between steps and you’ll be fine, said the Passing.

And so it passed and the Passing passed. The BK threw the Box into the air and was able to make some progress before catching again, and in this way made his way across the Slough of Beyond.

The Blue Knight looked up to see the stars wheeling their trolleys around the sky and the milky band playing its milky tune. What are you doing down there? you idiots, called the stars, you won’t last much longer if you keep this up. I know, said the BK, believe me I know.

Soon the Chasm of Repair crossed his path, and he must cross.

What then is the secret of this place? Should it have one of course and not just be a simple chasm with an unusual name.

It might just be a chasm in need of repair, or it might, in some way unspecified, facilitate the repair of objects in need of said repair. Alternatively, it could mean that it re pairs two things that constitute a pair that have somehow been separated, but this is a bit of a stretch.

I shall go with my first thought and assume that this chasm is need of repair. How then does one repair a chasm, fill it in? Build a bridge?

I cannot fill it in, so I shall build a bridge.

The BK searched the area and discovered no build it yourself bridge kit was lurking in that place. I shall have to weave a structure of my Hopes and Dreams, as this is all I have.

He plaited a long cable from his Hopes and another from his Dreams and threw them across the Chasm of Repair with grappling hooks made of Wishes, which caught into the rocks on the far side. Next, he hewed some planks made there of Aspiration and caught them in webs of Expectation such that they slung down from the cables. Now he was ready to cross.

Testing the flimsy structure first with one mailed foot and then, when it seemed to hold, both feet. Now he now began the perilous crossing on his flimsy structure. The Aspirations began to creak and complain, small parts splintered away and floated down into the unknowable depths of the chasm. The cables of Hope and Dreams stretched tight and pulled taut as the BK reached the center of the chasm.

Suddenly the cable of Dreams gave way and the planks of Aspiration clattered down into the dark, leaving the BK clinging by one gauntlet to Hope. He swung on the cable for a moment before it too snapped in two. But The BK did not let go of his Hopes and swung down till he crashed into the far wall of the chasm with a thump. Very painful.

The BK clambered hand over hand up the cable of Hopes, up over the edge and flopping on the far side of the chasm and lay there, exhaust.

That was a little too exciting, thought the BK.