The King who Crawls

This is a tale told to children in many parts of Aegrora, to encourage them to behave. Depending on where it is told, a nearby cave, valley or forest is substituted for the origin of the King. In Larger cities, a Sewer may also be cited as where he emerges.
When I was your age, there was this kid I knew. Not a friend, you see. No. I mean, we all had times when we misbehaved or did something we shouldn't, but this boy... well, he seemed to always be doing something bad. He would steal, sneak out after dark, neglect his chores and his apprenticeship. Why he even gambled away some of his parent's money once. Luckily they were able to get the money back or they would have been in trouble that year. There were a few times that he was caught killin' rats and strays in ways I don' wanna describe too. That boy, he was something different. I knew him, but he was no friend.
Anyway, have you noticed how all of my other stories about people I grew up with, I tell you where they are now? Most of 'em even still live in town here. Well this boy, he doesn't live around here, and in a way, I didn't grow up with 'im. He was taken... by The King who Crawls.
That's right. One day, he got in a fight, a big one. Way bigger than normal, though he wasn't a stranger to a scrap. But this time, this time he was fighting Kels. Yeah, Kels with the one hand, you know him. Well, before that, he wasn't kels with the one hand. The boy brought a hatchet to the fight. Stole it from 'is pa, brought it to the fight to be a big shot, then he chopped Kel's hand off. He was in trouble then. No matter what 'is pa and ma said, the town guard insisted he be locked up the night while they figured it out.
Course, 'e escaped. But 'e never made it home. On the way back to his homestead, he had to pass by the ol' graveyard. The big one with the underground catacombs. but the King was waiting for him. Layin' there on the ground, right in the door of the catacombs, The King who Crawls reached out his mangled arm and grabbed 'im clear off of the ground. Alls they found of 'im was his hand.

Footnote: Though scholars disagree, some say that these tales are an evolution of the legends surrounding the diety Zarrocke