After the Lord of the Dead left him, he coughed up his horn and held it between his teeth, so he could use his magic to call for help. With a spell, he made the air vibrate with the sound of his voice, even though he had no tongue.
First he called to Dragon, and Dragon came. "Dragon, the Lord of the Dead has cut me in half. I need another half or I will die. Give me your lower half, with your two legs, and I will break two rules for you. I will break the rule of fire and the living, allowing you to be immune to fire and to breathe it out at your prey. And I will break the rule of stone and the living, allowing you to eat crystalline stone and draw strength from it."
"I will not take that deal, god of breaking rules," Dragon said. "Those are attractive things, but not worth losing my entire lower body for. I will give you only my lower body, no legs, if you give me a means to grow quickly so I can restore myself."
"I need at least one leg," the god of breaking rules said. "I will have to give my gifts to another creature if you cannot give me your lower body and at least one leg."
Now Dragon is fierce, and dragons do not live in harmony with each other. Dragon considered, for he wanted the god's gifts very much. So he flew to his home and said to his mate, "My wife, I have been offered a deal by the god of breaking rules. We will have the ability to breathe fire, and eat gemstones, and quickly grow. I need only give him my lower body and one of your legs."
"I do not think those gifts are worth one of my legs," his wife said.
"Well, I do, and I am bigger than you." So saying, Dragon tore his wife's leg off and flew back to the god of breaking rules.
"God of breaking rules, I will give you a dragon leg and a dragon's lower body. The dragon's lower body will be mine; the leg is my wife's. Give me your gifts."
So the god of breaking rules took the dragon's long, powerful tail and the lower part of the dragon's body, and the leg torn from the wife of Dragon, and gave Dragon his three gifts. "To grow back your body or to turn to great size, only go to your hoard that you have saved and sleep on it," the god of breaking rules said. "Greed will give you strength and growth. Your wounds will heal and you will become even larger than you are."
"Thank you, god of breaking rules," Dragon said, and returned home to share the news with his wife.
Now the god of breaking rules had a full body, at least, so he was no longer bleeding. But he was very, very cold from all the blood he had lost, so he called to Bear. “Bear, you are so hungry in the wintertime, when the fruits and berries you love to eat are gone and the fish you delight in hide under the ice. I can give you a gift to help with that.”
Bear remembered how her belly growled all winter long, as loud as her own fierce growl. “I am interested,” she said.
The god of breaking rules conjured for her a bag of sleeping powder. “Sprinkle this powder on yourself, and it will break the rule of sleep. Instead of merely sleeping in the day or the night, it will give you the power to sleep all winter long, so you will feel no hunger. When you wake in the spring, the berries and fish will have returned, and you can eat your fill. I only ask that you give me your coat, for I am very cold.”
“I cannot give you all of my coat, for I would be cold myself,” Bear said. “But I will give you half, to wrap around your upper body, in exchange for the gift of winter sleep.”
“That’s acceptable,” the god said. So Bear gave him part of her coat to wrap around his upper body, and he gave her the sleeping powder. But Bear, as we know, is somewhat clumsy in her great size, and in her eagerness to return to her den and share her gift with her cubs, she tripped and scattered the powder throughout the forest. And that is why so many animals sleep during the winter.
Next the god of breaking rules called to Goat. "Goat, you are so small, ponies take all your food and crowd you off their land. I can give you a gift to help you with that."
"I would love such a gift," Goat said, "for it is true. I am small, and ponies take all my food, and push me off their lands."
"Then I will break the rule of hooved creatures for you. You will not need to live on flat, even lands as ponies and cows and deer do; you will be able to live on the roughest, most dangerous mountains. And you will be able to feed on any type of food at all, even foods that ponies consider spoiled, foul-tasting or poisonous. All I ask in return is that you give me your leg and one horn."
"That sounds like a good deal," Goat said, and gave the god of breaking rules his leg and one horn. And that is why goats live in the mountains where ponies cannot easily walk, and eat foods no pony is willing to taste.
Next the god of breaking rules called to Eagle. "Eagle, you fly so high, it is hard for you to see your prey down on the land below."
"It is true," Eagle said, "but I am too strong and proud to fly lower."
"I will break the rule of eyesight for you. I will give you unnatural eyes that can see the prey on the land at any distance, no matter how high you fly. All I ask from you is a wing and a talon."
Eagle was hungry, but too proud to change her behavior, so the god's gift appealed to her. She agreed, and that is why eagles can see from so far away in the sky, farther than any pegasus can see.
Next the god of breaking rules called to Lion. "Lion, your cubs go hungry, for the other cats are quicker to take your prey than you. You are not stealthy like panther, or powerful like tiger, or fast like cheetah. But I can give you an advantage."
Lion was sad, because she could not feed her cubs as well as she would like, and they mewled with hunger all the time. "I will take any advantage," Lion said. "What will you give me?"
"I will break the rule of cats for you. Cats are solitary hunters. I will give you harmony with your sisters. You will work together with them to hunt in packs, so you will be able to hunt bigger prey, faster prey, and more alert prey than you can do now. All I ask is that you give me your forelimb and the tuft of your tail."
"I will do that, for I would love to hunt in harmony with my sisters, and take more prey that way."
And so Lion gave the god of breaking rules her forelimb and the tuft of her tail, and became the only cat that hunts in packs.
Finally the god called to his own two creations, Bat and Snake. "Bat, my child, I need a favor. You were a creature of nighttime when I broke the rule of flying creatures and made you the first furred creature that can fly. But now it is hard for you to find your prey in the darkness that you love. Give me your wing, as once I gave it to you, and I will break the rule of eyesight and give you the ability to see with song."
"Father, I would give you my wing anyway, for I would not have it if not for you," Bat said. "But I accept your gift." And so Bat gave the god of breaking rules her wing, and gained the power to see with her song.
"Snake, I cannot speak without my horn, for the Lord of the Dead took my tongue. I broke the rule of creatures that move on the land for you, and gave you the power to move without legs. Give me now your tongue that I may speak."
"You gave Bat a present in exchange for her wing," Snake said. "What present will you give me?"
"Snake, I made you. You owe me."
"You made Bat but you still gave her a present. If you are going to play favorites I won't give you anything."
The god of breaking rules was angry at his ungrateful child, but he needed Snake's tongue so he did not say so. "Then I will ask of you two gifts. Give me your tongue and also a fang. And I will give to you a rattle for your tail."
"What good does a rattle for my tail do me?" Snake asked.
"When you shake it, it will terrify your prey into standing still, so you can more easily catch them."
"Well, all right, that sounds okay," Snake said, and took the god's gift, in exchange for his tongue and one fang. But the god had tricked Snake, for while sometimes prey freeze at the sound of Snake's rattle, other times prey startle and run away, so the rattle is sometimes a gift and sometimes a curse.
Now the god had everything he had lost: two wings, four limbs, a tongue, and a lower body with a tail. He also had an extra horn in case he needed it, and a fang just because it looked cool. He put his own horn back on his head and began to search for the second way to the land of the dead, the one where he would need to swim a river but would not need to go through the seven gates.
But while he was searching, Stag came to him. Stag was very proud and arrogant, and thought that if the other animals had received gifts from the god of breaking rules, why couldn't he? "God of breaking rules, I have come to ask for a gift!" Stag said.
"Do you know the way to the land of the dead?" the god asked.
"No, because I am not dead," Stag said.
"Well, then go away. You're of no use to me."
"I demand that you give me a gift!" Stag said. "You gave so many animals gifts, and I am so strong and proud with my fine antlers, I deserve a gift more than they do!"
"Don't those fine antlers give you a headache from carrying them around all the time?" the god of breaking rules said.
"Well, they do sometimes," Stag admitted.
"Then here's my gift," the god said, and Stag's antlers fell off.
"What have you done? You took my antlers!" Stag screamed.
"They'll grow back. Every spring you will lose your antlers and grow new ones. That way you won't have so many headaches. Now go away before I give you another gift."
Stag ran away in fear. The god picked up one of Stag's antlers. "You can never have enough horns," he said, and put it in his bag with all his other things.
As the god passed through the glade, he found a dying bird, who had been burned badly by a lightning strike. "Oh, bird, maybe this isn't the best time, but I need a dead creature to guide me to the land of the dead. My mortal love is dead and I am on a quest to go into the land of the dead and bring her back to life. Will you do that for me?"
The bird was a very kind bird who loved to help others, and who was sympathetic to the god's story of love. She also liked to break an occasional rule and play a prank from time to time herself, so she appreciated the god. "I will do that," she sang, though her voice was weak from the pain of her burns.
The god gave her the strength to fly even though she was all but dead. Because she was dying, she knew the way to the second entrance to the land of the dead, over a cliff shrouded in mist. "Fly down to the base of the cliff, and you will find the River Styx," the bird said. "The ferrymare will take you across, and then you will be in the land of the dead."
"Thank you, bird, you have helped me so much. I will break a rule for you."
Because the bird was not quite dead yet, the god of breaking rules did not have to break the rule of life and death to break the rule of fire and death. He changed the bird so that fire, rather than killing her, would cause her to be reborn at her full strength. And then he set her aflame, and she burst back into life as a glorious orange-winged phoenix.
"Thank you, god of breaking rules! I did not feel ready to die!" the bird sang, and flew away, overjoyed to be returned to health and life.
"You're welcome, bird!" the god called. "Come back when I have returned with my love, and I am sure she will want to meet you and make friends with you, you have helped us so much!"
Then the god of breaking rules flew down the cliff, to land on the bank of the river that bordered the land of the dead.