N.K. Jemison included bits of local wisdom in The Killing Moon, Brandon Sanderson used this device to great effect in The Stormlight Archive, and I am having great fun with the same in The Cuttlefish.

My favorite, in Za'ala's first chapter, is:

Truth is a knife, sharp and light;
Beware the blade held in spite.
~The Wisdom of Uulza Tor’on

What better advice when dealing with a person magically compelled to tell only the truth, regardless of personal consequences? Only his sayings appear in the text, but I see the unknown Uulza Tor'on as a crumpled and salty old Scythalli, scratching out the folk sayings of his people from a tower where he has been imprisoned.

A second favorite begins the book (at least in its current draft) and is inspired by one of my childhood favorites, The Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall. My teacher, Mr. Meuller, read this out loud, and it was such a welcome respite from the rest of the heart-breaking fifth-grade fare. (Do they still do that to children? Old Yeller, Bridge to Terabithia, Where the Red Fern Grows, Sounder—how did any of us make it through that barrage? I mean, these are excellent books, but did we need ALL of them in succsession?) At any rate, I hope Carol won't mind my co-opting of those last three lines:

The Oracle’s pious
Or so it’s been said.
Feeding the poor
From stores of his bread. 

The Flower, for mercy,
Some people say.
He weeps for our sins
All night and all day. 

The Sword swings for justice,
It’s said oft’ enough.
I’d say it myself,
Believed I that stuff.
~Children’s Rhyme, Mamadi, Middle Period

I maybe had too much fun with the children's rhymes. Like ours, they are about more than the kids are likely to grasp:

Sing a song of cleft hooves,
A pocket full of tusk,
Four and forty maidens
A-swooning at the musk.

When the gods went walking
The maids began to laugh—
For how’s a goat to market go
When tripping on his staff?
~Children’s Rhyme, Altan Jilath, Middle Period

I'm guessing you'll easily spot the inspiration for that one!

Poor Emelee, the main character in The Cuttlefish, is plagued by a book of etiquette for women, and is constantly running afoul of its edicts:

On matters of speech
Never, when advancing an opinion, does a lady say, “this is so,” but rather seeks to gentle her words with phrases such as, “it occurs to me that,” or “such might be the case.”
A lady of good blood does not foul the air with words suitable for the fish market. Indeed, for a woman of genteel birth to let slip with a curse is to sully the air with a stench more pungent than the fish.
~Vasran Ladies’ Smallbook

And lastly, for the final chapter of the book, a tavern song:

Good King Biya Nal, he faced ten-thousand spears.
He chopped them down like kindling wood.
He drove them to Vaskyr.
He swept them from the sea.
He scoured them from the land.
But when he went to hold his wife,
He’d only half a hand.
~Tavern Song, Altan Jilath, refrain

Do you have a favorite example of made-up epigraphs from novels? If so, please let me know in the comments below.

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