This is a Book which I am currently writing and hopefully many can enjoy and maybe even possibility be picked up by someone who believes in it.


Prologue


The Sun warmly rose silently from the soft orange clouds, which lay painted on the horizon, polishing the grey white sky into an azure blue.
How many of its inhabitants would look with wonder and marvel at this ritual is unknown. But what is known is that there were stirrings and movement as men, women and children alike busied themselves with the tasks and duties that a new day demands.
The air was crisp with the newness of the morning and the sound of feet on crunchy gravel was evident as the grooms and coachmen hurried around the main stables at the rear of a large manor house of a country estate, making ready the master’s carriage and team of horses.
Today was an important day. They all felt it.
Inside the Manor house the master sat finishing his fine breakfast and rinsing the last particles of food from his mouth with rich Brazilian coffee. He donned his beautiful silk jacket and called for his servant to assist him with the pulling on of his soft leather boots.

This being done, he made his way thought the huge main living room crossing the elegant reception hall and out onto the large pillared porch which stood proudly atop a flight of 38 marble steps which reached up from the quartz covered driveway which lead to his home. His home he mused and smiled at that thought. Today was the day that a new public building was to be opened and not only opened in his honor but also dedicated and named after him for the services and good he had done for the nearby township.

The smile on his face broadened into a wide grin as he surveyed the rolling green lawns and rows of tall trees that lined the paths and walkway surrounding his estate.

He was approaching his 80th year. It was hard for him to comprehend the journey that his life had taken, a life that had given him all that he wanted all that he had ever dreamed of and even more than he had ever wished for
A feeling of wonderment flooded over him causing him to shiver and at the same time allowing the tears to well in his eyes and roll unchecked down his crinkled face, as he cast his mind back what was it 40,50,60 no even more than 60 years ago when the results could have been and were nearly very much different that was the time in the forest………..



Part One
Chapter One


Of all human conditions surely loneness is the greatest sadness that a spirit can endure, the feeling of utter solitude, alienation from all contact given by your own species, to be absolutely alone with only ones inner torments for companionship is this the true definition of purgatory. These were the thoughts that plagued the woodworker as he sat near the flickering fire that was to provide the means of cooking his meager food rations, which he was able to snare in the fullness of the receding day as the light gave way to the determination of the darkness. Loneliness!
What is the purpose of existence if we are unable to share joy with our fellow travellers on the journey of discovery called life?

What had brought the woodworker to this place and predicament is questionable and not really relevant to the story at hand but needless to say he was at the lowest point of his life, requiring some form of divine intervention or, at worst, a drastic inducement and injection of self worth.
He had been employed by a Master craftsman of the township he was born in and after serving his required tenor had decided to venture out on his own, knowing that his skill could rival that of the Master’s. He was confident that work would be beckoning for his services. Sadly he was to find that was not the case, as he travelled the countryside looking for work. All were impressed with the reputation of his teacher but it seemed that nobody was prepared to gamble on an unknown commodity as he was seen to be. The other liability he had which appeared to act in his disfavor was that he was unable to speak. Though he was able to display his skill with the tools he was privileged to own, he was treated with mistrust because he was unable to communicate in the usual manner. This treatment eventually became the last straw that had driven him into the depths of the forest where he currently was and caused him to be in the position just described.
At his wits end, while cooking what he felt could be his last meal before oblivion, he contemplated ways to end the misery that seemed to be all about him.

If one was to die he could see no reason why it had to be on an empty stomach. This last thought struck him as quite bizarre and caused the corners of his mouth to turn and push his entire face in an upward direction, crinkling his dry parched skin and compelling his sunken eyes to squint creating laugh line at the corners. This physical change took but a moment but in that moment a transformation had occurred. What had started as a ridiculous notion had resulted in the restoration of hope; as he contemplated this, he felt deep in his gut the relaxed swelling of an enormous belly laugh that finally erupted from his upturned lips and reverberated from the trees and the branches above him that were being consumed by the encroaching night. The laughter was so loud and strong that it registered protests from the birds that had already nested for the night, and roused small animals that were resting nearby forcing them to scurry though the black undergrowth to find a safer sanctuary.

When the laughter subsided the carpenter was amazed at the affect this change of feelings had had on his state of mind. Feeling renewed and reenergized he thought no more of ending his life but turned instead to planning the next stage of it and how to best approach the challenges at hand. That was to get work and be paid for his labour.
He ate his meal and contemplated his future, and what a future he saw.
He allowed his imagination to create places, which he had never before seen or knew existed. Places where work was plentiful and his skills were in demand and commissions were exquisitely designed and executed. Using timbers that only Kings and Queens were privileged to have furniture made of, priceless exotic woods, from far off lands, that were purchased and hauled by caravans from the east, or transported as cargo on the heavy ships that were blown to the four corners of the world by the trade winds of fortune carrying them to new ports and visiting desolate coastline of far off countries. Excitement once more grew in his weary body as he allowed these ideas to follow him into sleep, where they were converted into vivid dreams of promised fortunes, positions of grandeur and a Master in his own right, a workshop of his own where he was the teacher and many young apprentices were hanging on his every word as he shared the passion of his art with them.

Morning came too soon and with it the stark realization that he was still alone and sleeping on the floor of a damp forest. The thick acrid smoke curling up from the last of the smoldering embers of the fire from the evening before were the only connection he had to the dreams and hopes he had so eagerly embraced in the darkness.
But the visions he had encountered and bathed in that night were strong in his mind and somehow they seemed to warm his bones, recreating the smile and feeling of triumph he had experienced in his sleep.
So many questions needing answers or was it a case of so many answers that were in search of the right questions?

How was it that he was able to sense the feelings he would encounter when he reached his dreams? What was the magic that had taken place that changed his focus from dying to living?
There was nobody with him save his thoughts. As he cleaned his place on the forest floor he wrestled with these conflicting ideas.

Deciding that physical action was a better remedy than sedentary thinking, he committed to seek out the nearest township and begin his journey of discovery there.
There was one more thing that he made a commitment about with himself, no matter how grim things may appear to him at any one time he would never again consider taking his own life. Because of the speed at which he had dealt with his emotions the night before he knew that feelings are only fleeting but death is final. His world was changed with a smile and that was his personal remedy for a sick heart. SMILE.
That idea alone caused a lift in his spirits as he finished packing his possessions and bundled them up in his sack, which he swung over his right shoulder. One final look around and he left the security of the night haven, venturing out once more into the land of people, problems and prosperity.
At the edge of the forest, not knowing where he was or where he was going, he decided that any direction was better than none and so, turning towards the Sun, he headed in an easterly direction convinced that he would sooner or later find a road. Which would lead him to who knows where?