Riddle of the Nymph

Beastmaster Episode Review

In which there are children.

What Happened

Dar and Tao spot a little girl running through the forest and go after her. They find a collection of very odd children playing around a fountain. They claim they haven't seen the girl (Muraki), so Dar and Tao wander away.

Muraki is being chased by a warrior and his flunky, who are after the nymph guarding a magical spring. The warrior kills his flunky and steals the nymph, just before Dar and Tao arrive. Tao drinks from the spring and is turned into a twelve-year-old boy.

While Dar goes after the nymph, Tao is captured by the children, who are all adults transformed into kids. Muraki tells Tao that if someone solves the riddle written in the nymph's cave, the spell will be broken. The other kids decide that it would be dangerous to them for Tao and Muraki to leave, so they'll kill them instead.

Dar rescues the nymph, then finds Tao and Muraki and saves them from the Firey Teeter-Totter of Doom. Just as the children attack, Tao solves the riddle and breaks the spell.

What We Learned

• Dar likes to get lost in the jungle.
• The Ancient One has it on the best authority that inside the cockatoo's head is virtually nothing.
• Respect must be earned.
• Humans are very difficult to manage when they feel they have been lied to.
• Kyra could never possibly appreciate Zad. To do so might require a more sophisticated palate.
• Elaborate deadly traps are never efficient enough.
• The answer is not life.
• Patience is for those who are not on fire.
• The answer is not love, either, for once.
• The answer is time.

What Did I Think?

The Sorceress/Ancient One/Zad part is more interesting than the catatonic nymph and the bratty little kids. I'm still fuzzy on how the leader of the pack was planning on ruling the world as a child.