VI Thus the Nine Ancients ( of which there were always nine, for as soon as one began to grow near to the time of its Passing , one of their number would always become pregnant and give birth on the very Day that the dying One passed away ) would Guard the White One with their very Lives , forming a combined Defense of their Nine bodies into a spheroid shaped phalanx of tentacles and body parts which would astound the most seasoned strategist in games of cunning such as football or chess, their Tentacles being used to Paralyze enemies with an electrochemical Shock the closest analogue in today's Nature being the electrical attack of certain Eels combined with the chemical secretion from the tops of certain south american Toads, which Exited from the tips of their Tentacles into the surrounding water and directly into the Bodies of their enemies . . . This electrochemical Shock would paralyze even the most dangerous of predators, the gigantic Aeschulinian Eel ( nearly thirteen Egyptian royal Cubits in length, and with a ferocious Jaw similar to the mandible of a Guatemalan wild boar merged with a hyena ) although most often the Nine Ancients would encircle the Aeschulinian Eel and attack first directly between its Eyes followed by the other eight Ancients sending shocks from all sides to stun this great Eel for several minutes -- Thus the Nine Ancients protected the White One with their very Lives , although so coordinated were they in their communication with the other eight Ancients in any attack, that if films existed of how the Ancients parried and thwarted their Enemies and would-be Predators, these would be watched and studied by the most discerning Secret Service and Royal Guard as an Indispensable Lesson in operating as one Organism the many becoming the Whole the Individual becoming Absorbed in the Cause of the All without Anger , without Vainglory --- with a calmness which can be likened only to a few Samurai Warriors from the North of Japan in the early 1300s . . . . |