"Fairy tale?"
"Yes, the ancient fairy tale 'Water of Wisdom.' My writer friend mentioned it to me."
Shade nodded, turned to raise the Kerosene Lamp in his hand again and illuminate the stone slab, then cleared his throat and translated:
"The king, the Warrior, and the scholar found the wise man by the lake, hoping to obtain a solution to their problems. The reclusive wise man drew water from the lake with a bottle and claimed that it was Water of Wisdom, capable of giving them answers. But each person had to pose their own question, and only the most difficult problems were worthy of this treasure."
Shade paused, and the Kerosene Lamp in his hand slowly lowered.
"The king raised the problem of governing his kingdom, the Warrior raised the problem of slaying the Evil Dragon, and the scholar raised the problem of unlocking an ancient puzzle box. To obtain the Water of Wisdom, the king dispatched an army to slay the Evil Dragon, the Warrior shattered the puzzle box with his sword, and the scholar proposed a method for governing the kingdom. Each gained wisdom, and so the wise man poured that water back into the lake."
He reached out to touch the stone slab, confirming that it was not a relic, then read the final sentence:
Knowledge is Power. Extraordinary wisdom is the most precious wealth.
The final line was written in ornate ancient letters. Fairy Tales usually used such a method at the end to summarize the ideas conveyed by the story or elevate its theme—Dorothy believed it was meant to make stories seem more profound than their writers had intended.
"Nun, that is all the content above. Of course, some of the letters are truly blurred, so I had to infer their meanings through guesswork.