The Gnome's Engine

Is contained in

Original title

The Gnome's Engine

Original publication date

1991-08

People/Characters

Count Azimet; Jamaica Barebones; Don Balthazar; Caleb Braun; Jedidiah Braun (Jed); Hermes Budge (show all 18); Siegfried Herring; Euripides P. Hooke; Sammuel Digby Jonas; Thomas Kelly; Mistress Sancreedi; Francis Skelbrooke; Jarl Skogsrå; Skullgrimm (King of the Trolls, the Troll King); Theophilus von Eichstätt; Elsie Vorder (Elisabett Winter); Seremarias Vorder (Sera Thorn); Marella Carleon, the Duchess of Zar-Wildungen

Important places

Lootie's Bay; Hobb's Church; Zammarco; Mothgreen Academy

Epigraph

Of the Stone Seramarias

There is a Stone called Seramarias which does not occur in nature. Its properties are Marvelous, for it neutralizes Poisons, attracts other Gem-stones as a Lodestone attracts Iron, and Gifts the... (show all) One who wears it with the power of Prophecy.

Many other Applications, equally Remarkable, have been ascribed.

When Soaked in one dram Water and two drams Wine for a period of Seven days - that it may thus Communicate its own Sovereign Virtue - the Stone yields up the Elixir, which if an Honest Man should drink but a Sip each day, his Life shall be Prolonged past its Natural Span. Further Pseudopholus Benedictus hath written: "In the hands of the Philosopher, Seramarias cures all Ills, cools all Wicked Passions, and Elevates the Mind."

Yet it is also True that for a Greedy Love of the Fire and Lustre of the Stone, men seek Seramarias and thereby lose their Peace.
- from Catalana's Book of Silences: being the Memoirs and Reflections of the Sage, Don Gaspar Eirenius Catalana, translated from the Spanglish by Dr. Thos. Scotus Kelly, Fr. Mezz., M.S.O.

First words

Even by moonlight, it was evident the crumbling Zar-Wildungen mansion had seen better days.

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"Please believe me, my Lord, when I tell you," said Sera, "I have never been happier in my life."

Original language

English