Cycle of Time

7.An even stranger fellow

"You wish for it and it's yours" the bearded man said.

Noah and his two followers had somehow ended up in this damp little hut. The walk had been long and tiring. The rain had got too hard to travel in. Although they walked fast, the water flowing beneath their feet was flowing even faster. Just when there seemed to be no escape and they were destined to suffer an uncertain fate in the rain, they had spotted this little hut, tucked behind a rather small boulder. In fact the boulder was one of the walls of the hut and protected it from the worst kind of rain and wind. This was a good thing, for the tiny one roomed hut could surely not take on the elements head on, and hope to survive. The rain was so hard now that the rain drops actually hurt; it was more of a hail storm. The hut seemed like an appealing option, that thoughts of possible danger were easily overcome. A hut in this isolated place could not be of a person who feared the forest and its creatures.

Noah literally banged on the door; it was so noisy outside at that moment that he didn't realise that it must be less noisy inside. The door opened almost immediately, and a white beard stared out. The old man was so tall and the beard so striking that it took a while for Noah's eyes to meet his. When they did meet, they indicated for them to come in, although he did not speak. While the three travellers never expected the door to open so quickly, once inside they quickly realised how strong the hut really was. The wines that had grown from inside the hut were tender and delicate high up on the trees but here, they were like massive steel bars all entwined together reinforcing the structure of the hut.

It was the bearded man's response to Ava's  question of "who are you sir?" that brought them back to the moment. He just kept saying "you wish for it and it is yours".

"What do you mean? " Ava queried.

But the bearded man chose to ignore her and continued his rant.

"Wishes are powerful; they talk about them in fairy tales. Wishes and stories are all entwined together. They can never be separated. Tall as tales". His long white beard swung to each side with exaggerated movements as he spoke. He seemed to gesture for them to sit. But the room was mostly bare, except for a wooden bench and a table. So they made themselves comfortable on the bench.

"Sir, I can well understand the power of a wish, I was desperately wishing for a place to get away from the rain and we found this place", Noah said very slowly afraid that they had encroached the bearded man's territory. "We are very grateful for your hospitality sir".

Ava meanwhile was fascinated by a piece of art the man was creating. I t was only half complete but yet it was hung on the wall, where it instantly drew one's attention. Through all the lines and swirls of colour, Ava was sure she could see a dragon.

So the bearded man had seen the dragon too, she thought.

Although he spoke in riddles, his eyes seemed to follow everything so keenly it seemed like he was on some kind of drug. He looked at Liam but did not speak. It was so uncomfortable that Liam had to break the silence.

"So you saw the dragon too" she said out loud.

"Yes I did, through you" there was a great intensity in what he said and then he seemed to lose interest and went on with his ramblings, "whatever you wish is yours".

"Well I want your dragon picture then" Liam said very quickly.

The bearded man suddenly stood up, with only his beard quivering. He seemed to be angry. However this lasted only for a fraction of a minute, the very next moment he seemed to have gathered his wits. Without a word being said he walked towards a book on the floor, wrote something on it, tore the page out and handed it not to Liam but to Ava.

Then taking everyone by surprise he spoke in plain English with no riddles "now go ", he barked. It was said in such a manner and with such force that they all rushed to the door. Ava meanwhile was still holding on to the piece of paper that he had given. When they got outside, some of them at least were surprised to see that there was bright sun!

There were rainbows everywhere. The droplets of water on the leaves were making colours in the bright sun and then dropped to the earth for another droplet to take its place. There was a lot of noise, the birds were chirping, the squirrels running about and the monkeys jumping from tree to tree. It was as if they were also surprised and overjoyed at the sudden turn of weather, and were loudly expressing their surprise.

"So the wish had come true" Ava thought to herself and it was not probably only her wish, it seemed like many of the creatures had wished for the same! No one dared to talk until there was some distance from the hut. There seemed to be a silent agreement that they needed to put a mile or two between themselves and the hut before any discussion!

Now that they felt safe Liam was the first to break the silence.

"That was so weird!" he said.

"What was that all about?"

"I don't know, but I feel he didn't mean any bad," Noah replied.

"Yes it felt like he was trying to tell us something but it was in puzzles" Ava said.

"If you need to say something you need to say it clearly. If you can't, I don't think it's worth saying it or listening to it." Liam was critical as ever. As they started to move on again Noah couldn't help but wonder aloud, "maybe he had a reason for talking in puzzles and being so vague, maybe he wanted to us to search inside ourselves and look for the answers".