Krafft's Anomaly Notes

Chapter 339 Welcome to take Folklore

"Actually, I think it's not impossible to consider using some more extreme but more convenient methods to solve the problem."

After two days of rummaging through the humus of books, Kraft successfully proved that there was really no talent for archaeology and history in the Wood family's genes.

It's normal to think about it. Old Wood and Professor Anderson have studied paranormal studies for most of their lives, but they haven't collected even a single relic that has a touch of supernatural power. Facts speak louder than words, and this is enough to explain the problem.

It has nothing to do with memory or learning ability. Just because a professor in medical school can accurately clamp the stump of an artery that is retracting and spasming in a bloody mess doesn't mean he can find useful information from a pile of paper that can be considered for recycling.

Brother Raymond, Coop, and Yvonne were successively recruited into this massive project to help clean up a corner of the sea of ​​books.

The actual effect is quite limited. All the texts that can be saved are seriously damaged, with a beginning but no end, an end but no beginning, or even only half of it. The rest are in a contradictory state where you can't see the full content if you don't peel it open, but peeling it open will directly damage the paper.

There should be people who like this game who love difficult puzzles, but unfortunately most people here have some kind of post-traumatic stress disorder related to puzzle solving.

The previous initial guess was correct. The main component was contributed by the monastery library, highlighting a large and comprehensive range of information. In addition to the religious academic documents that accounted for the majority, it also included practical reference books such as regional hydrological and geographical records and crop planting.

Kraft even found a book on herbal medicine in it. It was not a general textbook, but a book about how to use local products to simply treat some common and frequently occurring diseases.

It is probably a practical guide compiled by early pioneering monks. It takes a wild approach and has a distinct personal style. It contains some ingredients that are not mentioned in conventional pharmacopoeias. Unfortunately, it is severely damaged and can only be collected as an antique.

"Keep this for me." After the suspicion is eliminated, I might be able to send it back to Dunling and give it to Dr. David. I believe he will be interested.

The few remaining books were probably personal property, but for some reason they were also gathered together in a very unified manner.

These books usually do not have titles on the covers, and the contents are varied, with almost anything being found, such as personal notes, diaries, income and expenditure accounts, miscellaneous items such as hobbies, which have no literary value and lack practical significance, and also mean a lack of identifiable characteristics.

From this, we can get a glimpse into the life of the monastery. Under the restrained and conservative rules and regulations, almost everyone maintains a repressive and regular life, which is a bit like some kind of endless closed management school.

Even his hobbies are "formal" such as calligraphy, plant medicine, hymn music, and historical and literary research. He has to write them down in notes in a very formal manner. It is difficult to judge whether he really has a hobby or is just trying to convince himself that he has a hobby.

If this continues for a long time, it is normal to develop some mental illness.

These records are the only personal expressions. Objectively speaking, they are more interesting than those long-winded theological classics.

So Kraft left the task of referring to large books to professionals without any burden, and began to read these selected niche texts himself.

At first he was still thinking of finding something, but as he read more deeply, perhaps because he hadn't read any leisure books for a long time, he did resonate with some subtle pleasure from them.

The lower-level monks are often the group that interacts the most with the local people. Through their records, we can see how the church has walked step by step into the fragmented mountainous areas and ruled its spiritual world territory visibly and invisibly.

First, a few inconspicuous missionaries arrived. They did not reject the unfamiliar local culture and original and unique belief system, but rather had normal contact with it, and even took the initiative to participate in it, observing, understanding, and recording it.

After just flipping through a few books, I discovered several natural spirits and ancestor worship. The recorder tried to describe these things with words or hand-drawn pictures. Due to the mountainous terrain, the natural totems were mainly wild beasts in the mountains, especially birds that could cross the mountains and guide water sources.

Burial customs and ancestor worship are also often related to mountains, with people worshipping high places where they can get long hours of sunlight, and further developing more intuitive imaginations such as ascending from mountains to heaven and entering clouds. After understanding the customs and taboos, missionaries began to spread their doctrines in a localized way, focusing on universal values, persuading people to do good and obtain happiness after death, and attracting small groups willing to listen and accept.

When the church reaches a certain size and gradually gains resources, it will build a church or monastery. The main purpose is not to gather people for prayer, but to carry out social services based on this.

The missionaries provide residents with nearly free comfort medical care, valuable basic education, shelter when necessary, and small amounts of food and clean water distributed every Sunday.

With their long-developed and mature social service capabilities, local primitive beliefs simply cannot compete with them, and in terms of scripture debates they are even more defeated by monks who have received relevant education.

Generally speaking, within two generations, mainstream doctrines will be completely localized and replaced. For a few pagans who are really capable and want to resist, the church does not mind letting them see its traditional teaching methods from more than a hundred years ago.

The various superstitions scattered in the small settlements gradually became written specimens, quietly rotting in these notes. Then the study of these primitive beliefs became a science and a hobby.

Some remnants of the past can still be found in the local adaptation of the people and the church, and the monks are also happy to record the relevant content collected during their field trips.

In folklore, those who went up the mountain and failed to return or find their bodies were often believed to have been taken away by some huge flying creature, which is why they disappeared without a trace.

Similar rumors mentioned repeatedly are the source of most early worship, namely the fear of the natural unknown.

The unreachable mountains and unfathomable clouds provide too much space for imagination to grow, giving various elements that bring fear, such as fangs, bat wings, claws, and scales, and the elements continue to pile up as rumors continue.

Some monks speculate that this description may be related to the evolution of some classic monster images in traditional stories, or at least served as a reference.

The enduring worship of mysticism has ensured that mountains, clouds and monsters always have a special place in the hearts of the locals, which in turn has influenced foreign lords and churches. The former gained inspiration for family emblems from them, while the latter moved many churches and monasteries to high and dangerous places.

"Very interesting." Brother Raymond was still sorting the mountains of religious texts, and Kraft had already finished reading more than a dozen essays.

He will definitely not be willing to be forced to learn historical and religious knowledge, but it will be a different story if you treat it as a reading material for interest.

With his memory, it was actually not much different from reciting it. The texts from various sources piled up like grains of sand and gravel, forming a half-old and half-new sand table, presenting the concrete image of this land.

"I have an idea. How about adding folklore as an elective in the future?"

"As long as you are willing to hire someone or write the textbook yourself, I have no objection." Raymond straightened up from the waist-high pile of books, a little worried about the future workload. "Why do you bring this up suddenly?"

"I don't know if you realize that Dunling's story has brought me a lot of inspiration. Some things are not actually taken away by time. They have never left and are always with us, but they exist in other forms that we are accustomed to."

“For example, some inexplicable habitual tendencies and familiar stories, you can’t feel them because they have become a part of us.”

"Say less, Mr. Kraft. It's a bit creepy." Coop wrapped his clothes tightly, feeling that there was something colder than early autumn wandering around.

He didn't know whether there was any problem with the monastery, but Kraft really made him feel that something was not right recently. It was time to find a chance to talk privately.