Dalyan’s Tale

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There once was a shepherd, and his name was Dalyan. He got lost searching for his sheep and was gone for a long time. His family mourned him, his friends all but forgot him. And then he returned, a wreath of flowers in his hair, a sack heavy with all sorts of delicacies slung across his back. ‘Where were you all this time?’, people asked. ‘What happened to you?’ And Dalyan told them he’d stumbled upon a land flowing with milk and honey, where men lacked for nothing and lived in great comfort from birth right until their deaths. All these wonders were granted by some Goddess, so radiant with love that whoever saw her cried tears of joy. This wondrous place, claimed Dalyan, was called the Eternal Pass, and it was open to all. Eager to see it for themselves, his kin and friends begged Dalyan to show them how to get there. But though the noble shepherd looked and looked, he couldn’t find his way back…