The Arrowshot WomanAnonymousèÒ) øóùýTheýArrowshotýWomanùöý I heard this story on good authority from a good andhonest friend, whose friend was witness to the incident. I dotruly believe it happened, as fantastical as it may seem. My friend's friend, Terron, was visiting the Elsweyrcitystate of Riverhold during a very hot summer and went tothe marketplace there. If you have never been to Riverhold,the marketplace is very crowded, much more than incomparably sized city states. People from the countrysideflock to the marketplace daily in their wagons and carriages. Terron was passing one such carriage, and noticed thatthe sole occupant was a woman, seated with her eyes closed and her hands behind her head. An odd sight, to besure, but he assumed she must be sleeping. Terron continuedon. A little while later, after Terron had finished shoppingin the marketplace, he passed the same carriage. The samewoman was sitting in it. Her eyes were open now, but her handswere still behind her head.ö "Are you all right, my lady?" he asked. "An arrow shot me in my head and I'm holding my brainsin," came the woman's reply. Terron did not know what to do. He ran into themarketplace and literally bumped into a healer and hisknight companion. They were good people and agreed tohelp. The carriage door had to be torn off its hinges, as thelady had locked it and feared to move to unlock it. What theyfound when they finally could get into the carriage was this:the woman was holding barley dough on the back of her headwith her hands. Apparently, in the heat of the day, a jar of barley doughhad exploded with the thwang of an arrowshot and struck thewoman in the back of her head. When she reached back to feelwhat had hit her, she felt the dough and reasoned that she wasfeeling her brains. ö