Feirefiz's Quest of Knowledge

The Cunga-Mali myth of the foundation of their civilization.

Summary

The Journey

Feirefiz is king of a great kingdom and his great people. But while it is great, mighty it is not: every corner of what will become a great city is beset by armies of barbarians, who seek to plunder its great riches and enslave the masses of people. Feirefiz would not have this: he would stop the savages from destroying what he's built before he's even built it.
This, however, highlighted an issue no one, not even Feirefiz, had not considered seriously until that moment: not only were his people were severely outnumbered, none of them had any knowledge of how to build a city or manage a kingdom (concepts they didn't even have words for). Feirefiz decided to do something about it: he had heard of strange creatures to the north with metal, scaled skin, and great knowledge and decided to travel across the sea to learn their ways.
Leaving the people in the hands of his best, most loyal advisors, Feirefiz set sail for the northern lands, with a decent-sized vessel full of gifts to trade and animals to carry them. The winds were rough, and a few of the crew had gone overboard as the vessel was not built for the sea, but eventually, they made it ashore and packed up to head inland.
They did not have to go far before they found someone, and he was odd. He was just as different they had expected, but also normal at the same time: he had pale, ghostly skin, dirty blonde hair, and blue eyes, but he was just a man, not the strange creature they had expected. The man, equally guffawed by the dark-skinned men with loaded pack animals, held out his sword and demanded to know what they were doing there. Feirefiz, awed by the craftsmanship of the blade, tells him they have come to learn their ways.
The man, named Akilaion, reluctantly agrees to take him to his lord in Arkados, the city he ruled over. Feirefiz and company are in a constant state of awe as they follow Akilaion deeper into the city, with its massive solid stone walls and homes, its gigantic marketplace and square, and the great marble statues that dot throughout it. Everything about the city is fantastic as if the gods themselves had built it for these people. When they arrived at the palace, Akilaion had to shake Feirefiz "like a filthy rug" to snap him out of his dumbfounded state, as he stared in wonder at the marble fortress. Once inside, Akilaion takes the dark-skinned men, who were and had been attracting many strange looks since they had entered the city, to the ruler, King Ephostipholes, who was, of course, confused. Akilaion told him why the men came and that they had gifts to exchange, which the king agreed to examine.
When he looked upon their gifts, he was disinterested in the vegetables and appalled by the tools, which while effective were much lower quality than his own, but was pleased by the jewels and fabrics in tow, so much so he saw the potential for a great civilization. However, unbeknownst to the foreign men, a snake had stowed away with the cargo, and when Ephostipholes looked in that cart, the serpent lunged out to bite him.
He was, of course, fine, but now looked as though the men were assassins and he ordered them imprisoned for their crimes. Feirefiz, while simultaneously protecting his men, fought off the guards, but struggled against their armor, which he now understood was their "metal skin" he'd heard of. He defeats each of them though, although it was harder than he expected. This display actually impresses Ephostipholes and, believing Feirefiz perfectly capable of storming the palace single-handedly if we were there to kill him, agrees to teach give him his knowledge if Feirefiz defeats him in a contest of riddles, the logic being to test whether he'll actually retain the information.

The Training

Ephostipholes conscripted his greatest poets and philosophers to construct a series of riddles for Feirefiz and they set to work immediately to construct the most difficult riddles they could fathom.

Historical Basis

Despite its fantastic atmosphere of it, the myth is heavily grounded in history, something obvious to those of the Cunga-Mali, but is hidden under symbolism. Feirifez's studies under the northern people are meant to represent centuries of cultural diffusion between the Cunga-Mali with these people, who are not so subtly made out to be ancient Archianthians, made obvious by the name of the city: Arkados, which was an ancient Archianthian city-state whose ruins can still be found today. Ancient Archiantian trade records also prove this, as there are accounts of trade with dark-skinned people across the sea: the details of one such record a transaction with a "Phairaphus," likely a translation of the name "Feirefiz" which is not an uncommon name among high-class individuals.