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Elibor the Insane

Not as crazy as one might have imagined.

In the village of Yalka in Terle there dwelled an artist of some note known as Elibor the Insane. He lived in a cave on the outskirts of town about which little was known. He brought his wild artwork into town, which were assumed to be the ravings of a talented lunatic. It was unclear the inspiration for the paintings because Elibor was apparently a mute. Despite his wild gesticulations, which lead those who had not already assumed he was crazy be his demeanor, dress, and artwork, to generally agree that he was probably a few Jacks short of a Fumblaroo Deck.

For 10 years he appeared on the first Aplatzday of each Tropinary for the village art show, always selling all of his works, which although thought to be the visual rantings of a lunatic, were considered to be quite good.

It was not until the 11th year when he did not appear that a party was sent to search for him. In his cave it was found that he had hung himself. Deeper in the cave were found ancient cave paintings very similar to those of the tortured artist. And if any of the explorers of the cave were to have gone deeper, they would have found, in the very depths of the cave, a nest of Unspeakable Rodents, gnawing and swarming silently in their own filth.

Notes

One of Elibor's paintings was the cover art of the first printing of Book 8. This edition is extremely rare.

There exists a controversial theory that the story of Elibor the Insane was an allegory of Tycho Brahe's off-again on-again love affair with his former eleventh-grade history teacher, as alluded to in his March 8, 1999 interview in the London Review of Books. The original formulation of this theory sparked a flame war in r.a.e which lasted for months.