colonel forbin stared up at the mountain and wiped away the beads of sweat that glistened on his brow his tired feet were buried in the quagmire and his bloodshot eyes saw all that lay between him and fulfillment of his vow and he felt his fingers wrap around a knotted root and pulled his body upwards to a sea green mossy boulder and he dragged his weary carcass up the mountain and he climbed so slowly he climbed so slowly ahead ahead suddenly he heard the crack of thunder and the rocks began to crumble overhead and tumble down the mountain to the dismal swamp that lay beneath the jagged cliffs through which his path had led and the earth began to quake beneath his feet and the mighty mountain changed before his eyes and he stood amidst a sea of dust and rocks and stones cascading down the mountain and a thousand birds were headed for the sky oh the sacred creed will be yours and if you wait until tomorrow the sacred creed will be yours to devour yours to seize and to obey obey when the dust had cleared the colonel lifted up his head and was driven to his knees by a blazing beam of light and he saw the silhouette that stood before him and he bowed in reverence trembling in the shadow of the mighty legend s form icculus the prophet stood before his eyes looking down on colonel forbin where he shuddered in the puddles and the muck and he quietly addressed him and he spoke so slowly he spoke so slowly ahead he said  colonel forbin i know why you ve come here and i ll help you in your quest to gain the knowledge that you lack i ll call upon my faithful friend the mockingbird to fly and seize the helping book and bring it to your shack the tree of knowledge in your soul will grow and the helping friendly book will plant the seed but i warn you that all knowledge seeming innocent and pure becomes a deadly weapon in the hands of avarice and greed the sacred creed will be yours and if you wait until tomorrow the sacred creed will be yours to devour yours to seize and to obey and to obey famous mockingbird swooped down out of the sky and landed on icculus s shoulder and icculus whispered into the bird s ear and it flew off toward wilson s castle in the valley below 