There was a man who traveled the world by canoe. He saw many amazing sights and was able to experience wacky adventures that other people could only dream of. He traveled alone and nobody knew where he came from. He sometimes wondered if he was even capable of remembering where he came from.
One day he came upon a bottle floating in the river. Interested to find out more about his discovery, he took it and opened it. Inside he found a letter, a map, and three small tree nuts. The letter was written in a language he could not understand, and at the very end there was some sort of special symbol stamped onto the paper in red ink. He did not know what to do with the letter or the nuts, so he put them back into the bottle and took a closer look at the map. He found out approximately where on the map he was by using his surroundings, as he had seen a very unique statue of a woman with no hair and long, drooping ears a few hours before, and this statue was also marked on the map. After that, he saw that there was a small village on the map, and it was not too far from his current location. He decided he would go there in hopes that someone there could read the letter.
When he arrived at the village, he was immediately faced with a young boy in old, worn out clothes. The boy was playing some sort of percussion instrument, and had placed a small jar by his feet. There were a few coins piled at the bottom of it. He knew that the boy sought money, but money was something the traveler did not have, and even if he did, it would no doubt be in a currency this boy could not make use of. He felt slightly guilty about ignoring the poor boy, as he quite clearly did require money, but there was nothing he could do, and he moved on.
As he explored the village, he found that most people were giving him blank, sometimes questioning stares. He soon found a woman who, unlike most of the villagers, was very well-dressed, even to the point of meaningless decorations that the others could not afford to even consider. She was cleaning a velvet cloth with a floral pattern on it. He felt that she was the most likely to understand the letter he had found, so he approached her and showed it to her. She spoke some words he could not understand before at last moving her eyes to the letter he held out for her. She took a moment to read it, then snatched it out of his hands and, giving him an accusatory look, said more he could not understand. To demonstrate the language barrier to her, he said in his own language that he does not understand what she’s saying. After hearing him speak, the woman seemed to understand, and calmed down. He showed her the bottle he found it in, still holding the map and chestnuts. She took them from him, and pointed to the place marked with the statue on the map. She then picked up a small wooden chest, and made a large, sweeping motion with her arms, as if to say there was a large chest hidden there. Perhaps that’s what she was saying. He bowed to her, trying to show her respect despite the language barrier. He then held out his hands for her to return the letter, but she shook her head, held it to her chest, and turned to walk into her house. He still had the map and the chestnuts, however, so he decided he would explore the area around the statue more thoroughly.
He went back to it, and moved close to the statue. He had simply passed by before, so he had completely overlooked a narrow branch of the river that was hidden by overgrown plants. He turned into this path, and at the very end there was a small portion of land leading into a cave. He got out of his canoe and went into the cave. It was too dark to see, so he had to feel his way through. Maybe half way through, he saw a light somewhere in the distance. But he also found a path in the cave on the side he was feeling. Knowing he would lose his way as soon as he turned into the darkness, he emptied the bottle and placed it at the very edge of the wall. Surely he would hit it while walking and it would tip over, so he would know that this is where he had been before. He soon found what appeared to be a room, as he could find no more entrances or exits. He felt around in the dark, finding that there were stone shelves lining the walls. Most had nothing on them. However, one had a small box -- a chest, actually, as he learned when he felt the curved top. This was most likely what the woman was trying to tell him about. He made his way back, tripping on the bottle he left on the floor, but then knowing exactly where to return to his canoe.
When he returned to the village, he presented the woman from before with the chest, which, on his voyage back, he found was locked. The woman’s eyes widened in surprise when she saw it, then she took it and rushed into her house, then peeked out quickly and gestured him inside. He followed her to a back room, where a man lay on a bed, shivering and occasionally coughing. He was clearly very ill. The woman picked up a wooden carving of a person’s head that was on a table, and turned it upside-down to reveal that there was a hidden opening, that you could hide small objects inside of it. From it she took a small key, and used that key to open the chest. And inside the chest, there was a small bottle containing some sort of liquid. She took this liquid and quickly held it to the man’s lips, encouraging him to drink it. He suspected it must have been some form of medicine, as the man drank it eagerly and the woman was crying, tears that seemed to be out of happiness. After he had drank all of the liquid, the woman took from her pocket a leather wallet, decorated beautifully with an elephant. She opened the wallet, and emptied its contents into her hand, and then held the coins out to the traveler. He tried to tell her that he could not accept them, but of course she did not understand, and took his hand and put the coins into it herself. She smiled as he left, and once he returned to his canoe, he caught a glimpse of the little drummer boy again. He walked to the boy, and put all of the coins into his jar. The boy gave him a huge smile, and the traveler set off again.
He remembered that there had been a path in the cave he did not take. He supposed that was an adventure for another day.
No comments:
Post a Comment