Tales that were meant to frighten the young children into obedient complacency. Wicked horrors meant to bring willful boys back home before dark. Lullabies meant to soothe babes and veiled wisdom meant to keep them all toeing at a line that demarcated proper behaviour from lecherous activity. The stories that they found hidden between leather bindings and dried on old parchment were better. The stories that they told one another late at night with a bottle of stolen wine in an effort to frighten and outlast their peers were