Eoin Colfer

I LOVE this guy's books. Artemis Fowl, the Supernaturalists, Half-Moon. I love them! He writes about genii and the future. It's awesome! I can't wait until I can buy the 6th book of Artemis Fowl.

I read the first book of Artemis Fowl but it was a while back to what I can rember he had a good writing style.

I remember I managed to translate the fairy words at the bottom of the books. I figure out the code, it was like solving a cryptogram. It was hard, but eventually I did it xD. Then, later on I found out that it was all on the Internet.

What does it mean??

Something about a prophecy. It's different in each book. I'm too lazy to go find the paper I wrote my translation on, so I'm just going to copy & paste from Wikipedia:

The Prophecies of Ohm, phlegm pot cleaner to Frond, elven king. I am Ohm, phlegm pot cleaner to the king. But I am much more than that, for I see the future written in the phlegm. For centuries we pixies have read the phlegm, but I am the best there has ever been. My visions are generally of little importance. I foretell outbreaks of troll pox or gas spasms among elderly dwarves. But sometimes even a poor pot cleaner can see wondrous things. A vision came to me two moons ago when I was gazing deep into His Majesty's own phlegm pot. I was heating the pot over a flame when the sign appeared. This vision was more vivid and detailed than any I had previously seen. Because of its importance I decided to write it down for posterity. And so I can say I told you so. I saw an age when the People have been driven underground by the Mud Men. This is what the phlegm told me. In this time one shall come among us. Fowl by name and foul by nature. A Mud Man unlike any other. He shall learn our secrets and use them against us. I see him now as plain as day. His face is pale and he has dark eyes and raven hair. Yet it must be a mistake, for he seems a mere youth. Surely no Mud Boy could outwit the People. But now I see that the boy is not alone. He is aided by a formidable warrior scarred from a thousand battles. This Fowl shall hold the People to ransom for their most precious possession -- gold. And in spite of all our magic there is a chance that he will prevail. For he has discovered how to escape the time field. Unfortunately, how the story ends I cannot say. But there was more to see. There is another story to come. Someone will bring the people and Mud Men together. The worst of both races. This fairy's goal is to grind all the creatures of the earth beneath his boot. And who is this traitor it is not clear. But he shall start a war unlike anything the People have ever seen. Those who were enemies shall be united against him. And for the first time there will be Mud Men below ground. I have one clue to his identity: a riddle.

Goblins shall rise and Haven shall fall.
A villainous elf[1] is behind it all.
To find the one who so disappoints,
Look ye to where the finger points.
Instead of one face, this elf has two.
Both speak false and none speak true.
While publicly he lends a helping hand,
His true aim is to seize command.

I know, it's not very plain, is it? I don’t understand either. But perhaps in the future all will become clear. Look for a power-hungry elf who has a finger pointed at him during our tale. And so this is Ohm's legacy. A warning that may save the world from total destruction. There's not much to work with, I know. The details are a bit sketchy. My advice to you is to consult the phlegm. It may be that you are sensitive. I have buried this prophecy with my phlegm pot. If you are not fortunate enough to work as a pot cleaner then there is usually a supply of phlegm every time you have a cold. Here endeth the first prophecies of Ohm. But because of the importance of my visions I shall repeat the prophecies once more. If you have just begun to understand the text, then read on. If you have worked out the entire message then congratulations. Now go and save the world.

Woooooooow that is alot more words then what I thought.

And I translated them all. No help at all. I had no key nor a frame of reference. All I had was my brain, a pencil and some paper. It's the longest cryptogram I've ever solved.

I can imagin that is a lot of thinking and translating.

Actually, once you got most of the letters down, it's easy to translate the rest of it. I found it pretty fun. xD

How many hours it take you?

Well figuring out the key (Gnommish letter to English Letter) took about 45 minutes. Then, once I had that figured out, it took me about an hour to solve the rest of it. So, I'd say about 2 hours...

WOW, you have a lot of extra time on your hands.

That was then. This is now. xD

Ya all I do now is work, sleep, eat work out and read by the way I just fourth book of hitchhikers guide yesterday.