SANCTUARY

1- THE HELPING MAN

The landscape could not be more hostile, some miserable shrubs tried to survive among the stones in a dry and dusty terrain.

Drought had transformed the territory, water sources were gradually disappearing, and large herds of herbivores had migrated.

The abundance of vegetables, fruits and seeds was barely reminiscent of a not-too-distant past, and human clans returned to a nomadic life.

One day one of these clans, a little more than half a dozen men and some women with their children, found, on the edge of the desert, a man who seemed to wait patiently, sitting on a stone. He was a young man, tall and very thin, wearing strange white blankets, beside him there was a newly defeated deer, when two hunters approached cautiously the man spoke to them in their language, offering to share the flesh. It was an unusual gesture in those times of scarcity and hunger, the hunters did not know how to react, and they could simply kill him, or expel him by stealing the meat. They observed that the individual did not carry a spear or any other weapon that reassured them and did not delay for someone to light a bonfire while his companions skinned the animal, the rest of the clan approached timidly. That was not a good place to camp, for there was no water source nearby. Then, while the meat was roasting at the stake, the man walked to a place a few feet away and began to dig with a stick, asking them to help him. At the insistence of that strange individual, some hunters struck the hard surface with their spears, but most simply watched without understanding the reasons for that activity under the implacable midday sun.

It was then that the miracle occurred. The soil they extracted, dry and hard, became darker, contained a certain amount of moisture. Surprised, everyone began to help, and soon after a brown liquid sprouted that filled the well and spilled snaking on the arid and cracked surface. A few hours later it had become a source of crystal clear, fresh, abundant water. That man knew exactly where they should dig, for the hunters it had been an intervention of the gods.

That is how it all began.

The years passed, and the landscape changed. Man, whose origin no one knew, had settled in the oasis and whenever he found people, he dispelled his natural distrust by offering them food and water. He spoke several native dialects perfectly, he was never aggressive, he cured the sick, he took care of the fractures and wounds of the hunters using macerated herbs that he carried in his leather bags. The infant mortality, very high, in a few years was reduced, after the visitor began to help pregnant women.

The news spread quickly, and other clans came with offerings, the population of the oasis increased.

They began to call him Patesi... "The Man Who helps everyone"