Seeing Edgar

Seeing Edgar was a blind, oversized Duck Billed Platypus. He was old like stars. He had seen the dinosaurs come and he had seen them go; permanently. Seeing Edgar used to find employment as an oracle in Asian cities before the Greeks had put up their first temple.
Seeing Edgar was the kind of Duck Billed Platypus that didn’t need to be asleep to be dreaming, and had such a vivid imagination that some thought him insane. He was born during what some people call Dream Time. In his imagination he wasn’t blind and this spilled over into his everyday existence. He walked around without a cane or seeing-eye-dog and almost never ran into anything.
It was because of these things that he became the leader of his people way back then, when Duck Billed Platypuses ruled the earth and migrated in huge herds from Australia to Siberia twice a year.
“This is silly,” Seeing Edgar said. “All this migrating. Let’s just pick a spot and stay there.”
They put it up to a vote and the Southern Hemisphere won on a count of the stars you can see there.
Seeing Edgar was hoping for Indonesia or at least Asia Minor but the herd had spoken. He knew this would bode ill for Duck Billed Platypus supremacy, not to mention their numbers in general but due to their political structure he could not overrule them.
So he abdicated.
That was a long time ago, and somehow Seeing Edgar has survived. It’s probably due to his vivid imagination and clean living and getting all 96 vitamins and minerals on a daily basis.
He knocked around doing the oracle wild thing and the wise-dude-in-the-temple-basement wild thing then wrote a couple of books. These written back when he still used a last name--Ching. Some people still consult them, the books written by Seeing Edgar Ching or ‘The E. Ching’ for short. Over the years and translations the spelling has changed but it’s the same guy.
“I”, “E”...whatever.
Seeing Edgar prefers Seeing Edgar and hasn’t been called by his last name for centuries. He was going to write an updated version called ‘Divination By Coin’ when the royalties finally ran out.
He still hasn’t gotten around to it.
Mostly he gives uncannily accurate advice and predictions for the fun of it, drinks exotic teas, writes vague, obtuse poetry and travels.
Next time you run into a large blind Duck Billed Platypus you’ll know who he is and you’ll have a question ready.