“Kill the witch right now! Hang him! Hang him!” said the people, as John was standing on a stool with a rope around his neck, just waiting to be hanged.
John then looked around, then he quickly felt his pocket. He suddenly shouted at the people.
“Great people, I am not a witch. I am a messenger from the future, and if you kill me at this instant, you will not know what is to come!”
“Who do you think you are?” a man said, as he stepped out of the crowd.
“I am a man sent from the future” he replied.
“You make me laugh. What proof do you have? Will you show us an eclipse? We know about those things. Stop all these nonsense and pull the stool away” said the man, as he turns around.
“Wait! What day is it today?” asked John.
“Wow, you do not even know what today is? You have one minute to figure out what day it is today, or else you die instantly” the man said, as he raised the crowd into frenzy.
John then suddenly looked around. He noticed the garments of the people. Then he looked down at the ground and saw some African lilies.
“Your time is up! Prepare to die” the man said at John.
“Not so fast. Today is July of 1692” John said to the man.
“Well….uhmm…that does not prove anything. Tell us of an event that will happen in the near future” the man said in surprise. Everyone was also surprised.
“Okay” John replied. Now he is really confused. He starts to think back to his history books that he used to read when he was still in school. He also remembered the time when his teacher was talking about the time of the Salem witch trials. He remembered that he failed because he got the date wrong of one event. He remembered that that event will happen on the following day.
“Tomorrow on the third day of August, victory shall be handed over to the French under Marshal François-Henri de Montmorency, duc de Luxembourg against a joint English-Scottish-Dutch-German army under Prince William of Orange. This battle shall take place near the village of Steenkerque in the Southern Netherlands, 50 km south-west of Brussels” John said to the man.
The man laughed, while everyone gasped.
“You really are the joker aren’t you? The great William of Orange shall be defeated by Montmorency? You sir, are quite the jester. Hang him now and stop this baloney” the man said.
“Imprison me now. If tomorrow, what I have said does not come true hang me, and burn my body. If not then let me free” John said towards the people.
“Okay, we have a deal. Take down that man” said one of the townsfolk.
“Come on, are you going to believe in this man? Kill him at once! This…this witch!” the man protested.
“I sense that that man does not belong in this town. He is not from here. He is an alien to this nation” John said, as he was cut down from the tree.
“What? That’s preposterous!” the man shouted. “Will you believe in that man’s accusation?” the man shouted.
“I mean, do you even know him?” John shouted at the townspeople.
“What? You fool!” the man replied.
“That man has a point. Who are you?” one of the townspeople asked.
“What? You don’t remember me?” the man replied.
“What is my name?” the woman asked.
“Uhmm…is your name Mary?” the man replied. He guessed.
