A Tour of Melor: The Library

“Plethora,” is a good word to describe the number of books at the library of Melor. “A lot,” or “alot,” are also both good ways to describe them. “Alot” is a grammatically incorrect term, but libraries do not care about grammar nearly as much as the people that inhabit them, and only certain authors writing about libraries care about grammar. Although I, personally, prefer to have proper grammar most of the time, I would not classify incorrect grammar such as “alot” bad. So, while I wouldn’t use one of them, “A lot” and “alot” are also good ways to describe the number of books. 

“Plethora” is not only a good word to describe the number of books in the Library of Melor, it is also a good word in general. It is three syllables, meaning it can easily be integrated into a haiku, but is still long enough to take up quite a bit of the line. Its accents, PLEthorA, also make it easy to use in iambic pentameter, a style of writing which I would be employing, were I less lazy. The middle syllable is “Thor,” a very good Norse God, and an almost as good Marvel Superhero. The people of Melor do not know of Thor’s existence, as they have yet to run into the Vikings, and Marvel has yet to exist. 

However, the word “plethora” is only good, and certainly not perfect, when trying to describe the number of books in the Library of Melor. In order to find a more accurate word, let us examine a book. This book is titled “780 statistics you ought to know.” Within the book the following passage is presented.

“Statistic #307:

Were you to choose a book at random from the Library of Melor, you would have a 1 in 1,001,200 chance of finding this book.”

“780 statistics you ought to know” was published in the year 304. There were four copies of it in the Library of Melor in the year 304. This means that the most accurate word, as of the year 304, to describe the number of books in the Library of Melor is “4,004,800.” However, the most accurate word is not always the best. The best word to describe the number of books in the Library of Melor would ideally lie somewhere in the middle of “plethora” and “4,004,800.”

As of the year 304, there was a 1 in 4,004,800 chance, if a book was chosen from the Library of Melor at random, that the book “Secret Codes” would be chosen. Perhaps that’s why, for years, there has been a slip of paper between pages 23 and 24 of this specific book. Even if it were to be found, no one would be able to decipher it. No one would be able to figure out how it got there any more than I can, although I’ve tried hard. It is not a secret code. The reason the people of Melor cannot decipher it is because it was written in a language they don’t understand. I, however, understand the language, and you probably do too. In perfect English, yet imperfect handwriting, on a slip of paper, from the year 304, “Happy Birthday, Tara” is written. 

There is something special about every book in the Library of Melor. Each copy of “780 statistics you ought to know” has its own little quirks that I could talk about. However, I shall only talk about my favorites, because I eventually want to have time to tell you about the rest of the wonderful city of Melor. How much fun will this be?

A plethora. 

This is Jon Deregen, archeologist, signing out. Tune in for Part 2 of the Library in the Tour of Melor