the mother of crocodiles

re-read, re-view: [OPEN SEASON] recaps the first four chapters of El Fili, showing us the waters where crocs move about; [crocs across, beyond pages] follows, pulling us perhaps to and fro our arkham asylums; [GROUNDS FOR SPORT] opens the table for competition among stories, story tellers and the involved hocus-pcos (this entry was posted while the ritual, wherein people cast their blessings to democracy, takes place; reptilian fvckers olympics, w the usual 'every vote counts' as punchline; their game, their rules; we are but mere spectators so the democratic practice maintains whatever legitimacy it claims to have, w the assumed mandate blessed by the populace; indeed, "The larger the crocodile, the greater the glory of St. Nicholas."); [WORD MAGICKS] probes into the probable sources of power of fr. salvi: story and stone, hence the inquiry: "What are the implications of turning the devil itself into stone?" story and stone. let me hit my head w the latter.

obliterate something of value, and you make a name for, even a legend of, yourself, the hero. titles, like "dragonslayer," for instance. now, once you own something of value, that is another, well, story. more of an honorific than a title, "mother of dragons,"  imho, has a better ring to it than "dragonslayer." to obliterate or to own a crocodile is the question. fr. salvi opted for both, as expounded in WORD MAGICKS; but let me focus on owning:

fr. salvi didn't totally annihilate the crocodile into nonexistence. the beast is his claim to fame--like fangs or body parts heroes slash off or mutilate from select draconian monstrosities. claims to fame are proofs of might. trophies. even hostages, captives that may be brandished in times of need. unresponsive, that petrified devil can never discredit the cleric who shows off implying, Crocs are defeated not by mortals alone but w divine help. the demise of the devil, i.e. the crocodile, is preserved in concrete, fragments of stones, for all the other devils to see. besides serving as a warning to evil, demonic ilk to behave else run for their lives, "the stones along the river" that "resemble the broken pieces of the devil-made-manifest," as dennis puts it, is also an assurance that anyone who believes in the one true god will be spared from the wrath of both that one true god (needless to say, the storyteller's) and the devils, which may or may not be mutually exclusive.

why petrify the devil instead of condemning, sending it back to the pits of hell? better to humiliate than annihilate. so the act goes on without having to create another villain, without having to reveal who or what runs the show, without having to explicitly say, This is what happens when you don't do what we tell you, motherfvcker. i think this manifests w the results and conducts of the election--the phenomenon that triggered these reptilian inquiries. nevermind the fvcked up machines and all the fraudulence, else scumbag sixto cries into resignation. solution social media came up w? you humiliate rather than annihilate, lapidate one rather than eradicate all, to maintain the status quo. case in point? the self-proclaimed mother of the Senate.

(p.s. image is based on sobek. unlike the previous entries, i'd rather not expound on my process and focus more on the text, its implications, my speculations, etc.)