"NOW YOU NEED TO PAY ATTENTION," declared Gee Tee, startling Peter out of his thoughts. "This is another of the important bits. What you see before you," he said, waving his right wing theatrically, "are three identical tunnels. It's more than a little important that we choose wisely the passageway we enter, for two reasons. Only one takes us to the vault... the reason why we're here. The other two tunnels... well..." ventured the old dragon thoughtfully, "the other two in fact lead to a rather unfortunate and untimely demise."
That got Peter's attention.
"You see two of the three tunnels are in fact unending, self replicating labyrinths that once you enter, would be impossible to escape from."
Gulping, a foul tasting mouthful of bile trickled back down Peter's throat.
"The trick," stated Gee Tee, holding up one of his fingers like the show dragon he could be at times, "is to choose the right one." With that, he squeezed his huge bulk past his young charge, and stepped up to the friendlier looking dragon of the two. What happened next nearly blew Peter's mind. Putting the tip of his finger on the dragon statue's nose, the master mantra maker then, unbelievably, spun it around. Low and behold, a new and very different nose appeared in the old one's place.
'What on earth is going on?' thought the young dragon, astonished.
Carrying on, the old dragon spun the noses around so many times that eventually they came back to the one that was there originally. In all, there were seven different noses. To add to the mystery, every time one of the noses moved round, both the dragon's arms and its tail moved, changing direction ever so slightly.
"Now," put in Gee Tee, turning to face the perplexed young dragon. "I'm only going to say this once, and with your eidetic memory, that should be more than enough. This is the key to choosing which tunnel leads to the vault. Melted, Twisted, Withered, Tiny, Flat, Scrawny, Splattered," offered up the old dragon. "You should be able to work out the rest on your own," he urged, a little smile creeping across the ancient features of his face.
More so when there was any expectation or pressure involved, Peter hated puzzles. Recalling the words, he thought carefully about each and every one of them, the number of letters each contained, their meaning, if they had any relation to any well known dragons. NOTHING! He had NOTHING!
'DAMN!' he thought, all the time being watched by the sly old shopkeeper. Then it hit him like Isaac Newton's apple. Seven noses, seven words... what else had seven? The days of the week of course. And each word started with the same letter as a corresponding day of the week.
'GOTCHA!' he thought, smiling back at the master mantra maker.
"So you've worked it out?"
"Of course," answered the young dragon confidently, going on to explain his thoughts and reasoning.
"Good," said Gee Tee, nodding his large scaly head. "So which tunnel leads us to the vault, and not a slow, withering, unpleasant death?"
"Switch the nose to the one that looks melted... since today's Monday," ordered Peter, knowing full well that he'd have to either change forms or climb up the statue to do it himself. Gee Tee did as he ordered. Ever so slightly, the friendly dragon's arm and tail changed position, with the tail pointing to the middle of the three tunnels, and the arm pointing to the one on the right. Scratching the stubble on his chin, he was sure, well... pretty sure anyway, that the old shopkeeper wouldn't let him send them down either of the wrong tunnels... still, he wanted to work it out and find the right one. More than anything, he wanted to prove his worth, something he felt he'd come up short on, on a number of occasions. It had to be the one on the right, the one where the dragon's arm was pointing. It just had to be! But judging from the smirk that still lurked across the best part of the master mantra maker's face, he was convinced there was more to it than that. Turning his head and sighing, all the time scratching the two days' worth of stubble that he found himself attached to, he caught sight of the other dragon statue, beyond the pole running down the centre of the alcove. Thinking about it for a few seconds... just to make sure you understand... he came to a conclusion. It had to be the same for both of them... didn't it?
"Perhaps you'd do the same to the rather unpleasant dragon on the other side now?" he asked.
Gee Tee slid past with all the speed of a fifty year old (dragon), skirted around the metal pole and rolled the nose on the fearsome dragon to the same position. Again the arms and the spiked tail moved ever so slightly. One hand with what looked like blood dripping down it pointed to the right tunnel, with the evil looking end of the tail pointing directly down the centre of the left passageway.
Logic, Peter thought, dictated that it should be the right tunnel as that was where both arms were pointing, while a tail each pointed down both of the other tunnels. Looking again at both of the dragon statues, he could think of no other course of action. It was a long winded process, and if you didn't know about the noses and the days of the week, you would of course only be guessing. So he piped up.
"It's the right tunnel as that's the direction that both of them are pointing in."
"Are you sure little one?" asked the old dragon, hesitantly. "Sure enough to bet our lives on it?"
Of course there was no way he could be sure, and he was most certainly not willing to bet their lives on his... best guess.
"Not entirely," he coughed up.
"Good!" exclaimed the master mantra maker. Leaning down, he whispered gently in Peter's right ear. "The eyes my boy. It's all in the eyes."
Instantly he checked the dragon statue's eyes. Both of them were looking towards the left tunnel.
'But weren't they doing that before?' he thought. As if reading his mind, the old dragon moved the nose once again through a series of rotations, and unbelievably, the eyes of the dragon did shift, almost imperceptibly. The movement was so subtle, and of course on a couple of occasions they didn't move at all, but sometimes they did and that was all he needed to know. So with the correct nose in position, Peter turned and announced,
"So it's the left tunnel we need to take?"
With a tiny nod of his head, the shopkeeper answered,
"That's correct."