Better he who loved and lost than he who fled from love, only to find himself in woe.

Our people spew words of wisdom like one tossing seeds out of the mouth. Some say it is like eating ground nuts, the pleasure is in eating them one by one, and saying things that seem wise in between breaths.

Oh, but they never let the sun go to bed without speaking of Almasi.

The first son of the Lake. Oh, he was as precious as his name, and no one knew women like Almasi. His pleasure was abound for he went through them like one turning the pages of a book.

There was talk of the only woman he loved but even then no one knew much about her, because Almasi was one to drink like the fish that resided in the lake. His mates would stagger home but he would walk by the lake shore, take a deep dive and swim towards the places he had cast his nest.

It was on such a night that he went out and as he was walking towards the lake, it kept singing out his name, the sound of his name mingled with the breeze of the night wind, and with each step his heart felt lighter.

However, as his feet touched the water, he saw what the lake was offering him and right there by the shore…lay a maiden, fair…and in that moment, Almasi knew two things; the gods were testing him and he could either accept the challenge or run away from it.