NOTE: 2024 10 05 (Saturday) I'm going to make a separate post for the excerpt from "a devil's work" because I think Blogger changed some of the stuff about uploading PDFs.
2024 10 04: Sorry; I haven't posted for a while because I have been working on the last part of "JTPYO - King of the Waste [3] / the trap" and in particular the last part of "the trap," which excerpt I've entitled "the children's gifts." I've already published a portion of "the children's gifts" and hope to get it all fixed up in the next week or so. I don't think it'll take very long.
Here's "the Goose Girl" from Naxosos's Lessons. In a few hours I'll come back and post underneath it the excerpt from "JTPYO - King of the Land of the Dead [3] / a devil's work" called "it isn't him!" which I've published in several versions here in the past.
LINK TO DISCLAIMER:
Just another day in You-Know-Where (Scarlett_156's blog): My disclaimer (scarlett156.blogspot.com)
This is copyrighted material. For permission, contact the author kristiwilson156 @ gmail (4 October 2024)
From JTPYO – Naxosos's Lessons (the vineyard laborers)
The Goose-Girl
There was a girl named Rose and her parents lived by the sea on Benetetria in Pavrain. The town in which they lived was poor, though some of the houses were sturdy and fine; also, it was very isolated. The bay and waters beyond it had been fished-out for years, but the area was of interest to the military and so people continued to live and trade there.
This girl Rose kept a flock of geese, which had been something she'd been taught to do by her uncle, her mother's brother, who was now gone. Her uncle had informed her that she should never let any harm come to the geese and that she should only harvest their eggs at her family's need, and that if any of the geese were to be killed, it would only be at her father's order. Rose understood these things and obeyed. She was a great caretaker of her flock of geese and over the years it took for her to attain twelve years of age, there were many fat goslings who were sold to market or to the local militiamen or townspeople to profit her family, and eggs to feed her family when the winter winds buffeted the shores and food was scarce, with a fat goose, or several of them, to eat at solstice-time.
Now this little village town did not know God, nor of him. Some of the militiamen knew of him from their travels, but they were never in the mood to tell anyone about him. There were references to him upon some very old markers in the town cemetery, but the graves were almost never visited and when they were, no one paid attention to the markers.
Naruthi happened to be passing through the town at one point, as he had some shady business to attend to with the garrisoned men. He noticed the place was rather dull and lifeless, but people, most of them dispirited and uncommunicative, continued to live there – of course, Naruthi knew that even if all the townspeople died or moved away, the garrison and its soldiers would still be resident, so there was the explanation.
However, Naruthi happened to notice upon his perambulation through the town the goose-girl Rose. Because of his facility for perception, he noticed also that the goose-girl Rose was innocently dedicated to her flock of geese – and that she and her family were perhaps not thriving, but at least maintaining, in a place otherwise barren of any sign of success.
So, because that is what Naruthi does, he determined that he would upset Rose's world and cause disruption in the town, and then proceed to his shady dealings with the soldiers in the garrison.
Rose was driving her geese down to the shore to graze, then, as she did on most calm mornings, when she saw a handsome man giving her the eye. She was used to this, as she was a comely young girl but not a wealthy one, so she simply gazed back, and held up the flail she used to direct her geese as a subtle threat.
Naruthi said: "Nay, young lady, I wish only to take a moment of your time to tell you about God."
This stirred something in Rose's memory, though she knew not what. She answered, "Stranger, if you wish for only a moment of my time, you may have it, as long as you stay where you are and make no sudden moves."
Naruthi then informed Rose of the existence of God and taught her to say "praise God." Once he was sure she had accepted his message, he traveled on to the garrison and Rose never saw him again. She thought of Naruthi a great deal after that, but of God even more often, and was greatly disturbed thereby.
Upon successive days, it seemed that a great clamor had begun upon the island Benetetria, or at least upon its shores, for Rose heard the local residents talking about it. Then one day, when Rose released her flock of geese from their enclosure upon her parents' manor, she noticed people she didn't recognize in the streets, and that moreover the streets were full of carts and people carrying their belongings; she had a difficult time driving her flock down to the shore.
When Rose and her geese did get to their grazing-ground, she climbed a promontory and looked toward the town, and though she didn't see much, she heard an uproar. She wondered if this had something to do with the God that the handsome man had told her about – it did seem likely.
Being mindful of her uncle's advice, Rose decided not to take her geese back to her parents' manor until she knew that everything was all right in the town – this was not too much of a problem for her, as there were many grazing-places for her birds, and she was more than able to care for herself away from home and hearth – following her uncle's advice had made her very self-sufficient.
For a few days Rose and her flock stayed by the waterside, even though it was rainy and cold. There were plenty of charaberries left on the bushes on the saltwater flats, so the geese were quite content. Rose made a little fire that kept the hollow where she slept warm enough, and though she was sometimes hungry and uncomfortable, she did well. When the noise from the town started to abate, she said to herself, she would return. She worried about her mother and father, but there seemed to be little to do about it, so she continued to follow her uncle's advice. She cared for the geese and kept them from harm.
But things got worse. The noise from the town increased and now there was smoke from houses burning. Rose took her geese further out onto the salt flat; they were not as content here, but they followed her because she was their caretaker. The geese clustered around Rose when she slept and kept her warm; she dared not build even the smallest fire for fear of being noticed. She wondered if this trouble was because of the God she had been told of; also she wondered if the man who had told her about this God was the agent of all the ill she was experiencing.
One night there were sounds of conflict and flashes out on the water, and Rose became terrified. Now she collected her geese – they were also frightened – and retreated to a cove on a low jetty that she knew of, surrounded on every side except for the sea by salt marsh and, as far as Rose knew, only she was able to reach it. It was a very unhappy place and the geese also didn't like it, though one could live there for days as there was an abundance of sand crabs. Rose knew how to collect dew and rain for drinking water and so would be able to survive there for a time.
When morning came, Rose saw men in longboats out on the water. They could see her and her geese, but they could not reach them because of the shallows and the marsh. The men even shot arrows, but these were not able to reach Rose or her geese – and they couldn't retrieve their arrows – and finally they became frustrated and rowed away, shouting threats and curses. Rose was afraid and cried, and spent a very miserable day and night wondering if the men would find a way over the marsh and capture her.
Another handful of days passed. Things started to quiet down after a couple of days, and by the fourth day everything seemed almost back to normal – the sounds of conflict went away and the air cleared, and one morning Rose, now very worn and tired and hungry, woke to the sounds of birdsong, and realized that she had not heard this sound for many days, but now it had returned.
During her time of hiding, Rose had come to the conclusion that Naruthi, the handsome gentleman who had told her about God, had been the agent of all the upheaval but in a strange way that didn't have anything to do with her.
She began to feel that Naruthi had told her about God to protect her, for she doubted greatly, given the fires that had burned for days, that there was much of the village left.
She listened to the birds singing and felt the clean air on her face and, even though no one had ever taught her how to address God, she felt gladness and gave thanks to God in the same manner she would have thanked someone giving her a present for her birthday. This made her long to see her parents and her home, so she resolved to leave the salt marsh and return to her village.
Rose told the geese that she would give them a chance to take their freedom, as she was going to go and try to find out whether her parents had survived, which would involve risk, and her uncle had told her never to let any harm come to the geese. She then removed the bands from their wings so that they could take flight. She petted them and said goodbye to them, and left them stretching their wings – it seemed they were thanking God, too – at the cove, and made her way out of the marsh.
Once Rose had a view of the town, she hid for some time in a covert, watching. She saw men under guard being led through the streets with ropes around their necks and their hands tied; they were led by the local militiamen, and one or two of these prisoners wore the same uniform as the men who had shot arrows at her.
Rose still hesitated, as she had heard that even one's own soldiers may behave very badly after they have been in a fight.
Then a strange thing happened, for Rose heard a sound overhead and looked up to see her geese flying over her; upon seeing where she was, they circled, then landed in the covert and gathered around her. Rose sensed that the geese wanted to stay with her and were anxious to see their pens and food again, though if she drove them into the town it was doubtful that any of them would live much longer than it took for hungry survivors of the conflict to spot them.
But she couldn't persuade the geese to leave her and they all clustered around her until she decided that she would go to her parents' house to see how they had fared. Then all of her geese began waddling on their usual route toward Rose's house, and she followed them, wondering if she would see Naruthi again.
Rose and her flock managed to get back to the manor and, wonder of wonders, she found her mother and father there, whole and alive. Their house had taken fire but rain had put the fire out quickly, and they had been able to hide at a neighbor's farm for the worst part of the conflict. When they had come back, they had found that the local militia had vanquished the attackers and that further, the attackers had been driven from Benetetria. The manor house was somewhat damaged, but they had already hired workers to make repairs. Upon learning these things, Rose urged her parents to express their gratitude toward God, which they did, though they had never heard of him in their lives.
Everyone in the village, as it turned out, had been anxious about Rose, but her father had said to those who asked about her that he knew that she would always follow her uncle's advice, and that she was a very self-sufficient girl, and that they could and should expect her back. They were all surprised, however, that she had returned with her flock of geese intact and in a company all around her, having lost none, and that none of them had a band on its wing anymore. This was regarded as a marvel. Rose encouraged them to express gratitude toward God and, even though some of them considered it ridiculous and offensive, most of them did just on the off chance that there might be something to it.
The townspeople were hungry and so Rose and her mother and father made very good trades with them; after this, a number of townspeople started their own flocks from those animals they had purchased from Rose and not eaten straightaway. Rose ended up with only six geese left to begin a new flock, but her family now had enough money to make repairs upon their property, and Rose's father also made sure he added a substantial amount to his daughter's dowry. (After that, the young fellows in the district began to be very polite toward Rose, and to tip their hats when they chanced to see her driving her geese to the shore.)
Some years later Naruthi happened to be passing through the area on no particular business and noted that Rose was now a very successful lady married to an important man, living on an estate that was luxurious and productive, in spite of how isolated the village was. Intrigued, he wandered through the town, listening and watching and taking note of whatever he saw or heard.
The next thing Naruthi observed, then, was that the locals, though they were not ostentatiously rich or even comfortable-appearing, did not appear poor or downtrodden, either. People bustled about their business and when they would encounter one another, each would not just pass a greeting, but comment on something about the day or the other's attire, or about how peaceful everything was, or make some other observation that was friendly and positive-sounding, and then say – almost as though they were quoting a verse from an obscure text in a language unknown to them – "Praise God!" after which both parties would give a little laugh and look toward the sky, and then go on about their business.
"Drat that girl!" Naruthi exclaimed when he realized what was going on, and then traveled on down the road without taking a room, even though the next village was quite a distance.
If you have two ears, then hear.
**************
This is copyrighted material. For permission, contact the author kristiwilson156 @ gmail (4 October 2024)
