My Journey in Writing, Ranting, and Woodworking

The creek wound through the valley, which lay between two wise old mountains.  The water, teaming with life, made its way towards the sea, moving at a lazy pace.  If one listened carefully, the gentle breeze and babbling brook seemed to sing in harmony.  A deep breath would fill the lungs with energy and the spirit with optimism.  The man with the wooden staff was called Stone, or Mr. Stone, or sometimes Stoney.  The boy with the flash in his eyes went by Seth.

Stoney and Seth would set out each morning and walk through the vast valley.  Sometimes they would head up stream, other days they would follow the paths up one side of the mountain or the other.  There were ancient caves to explore, and long abandoned keeps to conquer.  Seth found these adventures delightful and he would listen as Stoney told his stores of their history.  The stories always had a maiden or treasure, and the good guys usually won.  Sometimes they lost.  Seth didn’t like those stories as much.

Stoney would see his forlorn look, after a story had taken a turn for the worse, and he would remind Seth, “Life is not always treasure and triumph, sometimes it is defeat and total loss.”  Seth usually changed the subject after such a depressing comment.

On this day, Stoney was telling the tale of the battle of two warring clans, which had taken place a long time ago, in a place near to where they stood.  He described their numbers, their battle dress, their weapons and how the hatred had begun some three generations ago.  They had been fighting, killing, breeding and living this way for almost 80 years.  Neither side could get the upper hand and so the living and dying went on without much change.

After one especially fierce battle, where many had died, a young warrior from the clan to the north got lost on the mountain.  The chaos had prevented anyone from noticing that he was missing.  A young woman from the clan to the south had wondered off too, grief stricken over the loss of her brother in battle.  The clan from the south realized she was missing and had set out to find her.

The evening was cool and when the sun set, it became quite chilly.  The young warrior was clever and used his flint to start a fire.  He was a fine archer and easily rounded up some dinner.  The rabbits, turning on the spit, gave off a heavenly smell and soon the cold and tired woman saw his camp.  She was frightened, but she was also really hungry.  She stepped out of the darkness and startled the young warrior.  He grabbed his sword, but quickly lowered it, when he saw her flowing red hair and beautiful face.

He invited her to join him.  She accepted and sat down next to him.  They talked and ate, and were having a lovely time.  Suddenly the southern clan appeared all around them.  They too had smelled the game cooking and moved in to save the young woman.  She told them to stop, and they did.  She explained that he had been a complete gentleman and though he was from the north, had shared his food.  The warriors lowered their weapons and the young man heaved a sigh of relief.  When he turned toward the leader of his hated enemy, the young woman took his sword and drove it through his back and heart.  He died instantly.  Everyone cheered.

When the southern clan returned to their home, they found that the northern clan had taken their live stock, burned the houses and grain stores, and left the few who had remained burning in a pile.  The rest of the group from the south, including the woman, died a slow and horrible death from hunger and cold.  And so ended the 80 year war.

Seth did not like this story, and told Stoney so.  Stoney laughed at him and then hit him with his stick and made Seth fish them some lunch.  The morning walk had been mostly pleasant, aside from the ending to the story, the lunch which Seth had caught tasted great, and they returned home in the early afternoon.

This story does a really poor job of illustrating the type of day I had.  In fact, there aren’t really any similarities at all.  Last night I had some computer problems and it forced me from my home.  I went to my parents house, so I could have access to a computer while mine gets worked on.  I can’t live without a computer.  So the next few days posts may not have much to do with woodworking, because my shop is far away.

I was supposed to help my friend Lisa with her photography, but alas, my photoshop is on the computer which is under the weather.  Sorry Lisa.