This was heavily inspired by this version of the folktale The Smith and the Devil. As for Cenere, his name means "ash" in Italian, and his character is a rather unsubtle reference to a certain ancient Greek philosopher.
I kinda like this Cenere character. He was really interesting. The tale here was extremely well written, and was really engaging despite its length. I like the mixture of the two, almost three different parts of the story that mixed really well together (Cenere, the relationship of smithy, son, and the painting, and the last part.), flowing seamlessly into one cohesive piece.
So yeah, this was a really good one, prolly my favorite of the Fabulist so far. Easy upvote~
This was… considerably longer than the rest in the Fabulist series, which isn't a bad thing at all but I do think it could have benefitted from some trimming here and there, snipping extraneous bits that didn't contribute as much. I struggle to point out specific examples in terms of plot threads but there are many paragraphs that are basically the Fabulist (or whoever our narrator is) being florid about…. nothing in particular. It's definitely part of the unique charm - these weird asides they take in otherwise straightforward, if Wonky fairy-folk-tales. I just think you may have gone a little too hard on it.
Aside from that, though, good fun. I think the pacing suffered a little from the length, but like I said it wasn't article-ruining or anything. An enjoyable pivot to an in-between of the more fantastic tone and the more subdued tone of some of its fellow entries. Nice!
This was very well written. The language is impressively folktale-like, and I especially enjoyed how the story didn't go in a tragic direction for the sake of the ending moral/lesson. I admit, the opening was confusing and did not hook me at all, but once I powered through it, I found myself enjoying this piece a whole lot.