Scribblenpaint's Sabbatical

We strolled along at a steady pace until we came to a village, and then we strolled straight through it, which took me by surprise.
‘Do you not live in the village then?’ I asked.
‘Lordy, no! Too many straight lines and sharp angles if you live in a village. No, we like the shape of nature and live in the Deep Wood. You’ll be able to see it at the top of the rise.’
We reached the top of the rise and below us was a thickly wooded valley. It looked like mostly deciduous trees and was very lush and green.
‘That’s where we live,’ he said.
‘Do you think we should be on first name terms if I’m coming to dinner? My name’s Beryl.’
‘Oh, yes, I suppose so,’ he laughed. ‘I’m Fortesque – Forty. Pleased to meet you Beryl.’ He shook my hand. Well, that took me completely by surprise. I don’t know what I was expecting a troll to be called, but it certainly wasn’t Fortesque.

We descended into the wood along a well-worn trail. ‘Not far now,’ he said. ‘The kids will be jumping out from behind a tree anytime now, so act scared. It’s part of the daily ritual. They like to scare me.’
‘OK. I’m glad you told me, otherwise I might have fallen off my donkey.’
A few steps farther on and two small girls with red pigtails leapt from behind a tree, with their hands held up like claws. ‘Grrrrrrrrrrr!!!’
We both shrieked and the two little girls disolved in a heap giggling.
‘It’s only us, Daddy. Don’t be scared.’ Then they ran off along the trail pursued by their father, who was now doing the growling. We followed and soon came to their home. It was the most amazing tree-house. I tethered Maria at the base and followed my new-found friends.

A spiral staircase wound its way around the trunk. There was a handrail which was decorated at intervals with pots of brightly coloured flowers – petunias, busy-lizzies, begonias, daisies and lobelia. The staircase came out onto a large deck with more pot plants on it. These were useful plants like tomatoes, beans and a variety of herbs. I looked up and the structure appeared to be several storeys tall.

Forty and the girls, Molly and Polly (twins) took off their shoes and I did the same. The door was open and we went in.
‘Hello Forty, my love. Have you had a busy day?’ said a plump figure with her back to us.
‘Not very. Not many travellers today, and I brought the last one home with me to share dinner.’
She turned. ‘Oh, I’m sorry. I’m doing the beans.’ She wiped her hands on her apron and shook mine. ‘I’m Valentina – Val. Pleased to meet you.’
‘Hello Val. I’m Beryl. I hope you don’t mind me coming back with Forty.’
‘Lord, no. He’s always bringing folks home. Did the girls scare you?’ she asked, winking.
‘They certainly did! I nearly wet myself.’ This set the girls off giggling again.
‘Do have a seat. You don’t mind if I carry on doing the beans?’
‘Not at all. Would you like me to help?’
‘You can shell the peas, if you like.’

I sat shelling peas and gazing around the room. There was a sink and, to one side, a large earthenware urn with a tap in it. This was obviously for water. There was also an iron cooking range in the corner.
‘However did you get the stove up here?’ I asked
‘We have a block-and-tackle for heavy things, and a pulley for the water and lighter things. It’s the girls’ job to fetch the water. They both fill buckets from the stream, then one of them stands at the bottom of the tree and hauls the buckets up on the pulley. The other one takes them off at the top and brings them into the kitchen.’

There were copper oil lamps hanging from hooks in the beams and all the cupboards and furniture were made of wood. The furniture was all very ‘freeform’, using the natural shapes of the wood. It made a very pleasant change from machine-made furniture. There were lots of pots and pans and crockery on shelves and hooks. This was the hub of the house.

Val made cups of tea for us all and sat down for a while.
‘Dinner won’t be long now.’
‘It smells delicious!’
‘It’s rabbit and mushroom pie. Courtesy of my two lovelies. They set their traps in the evening and check them first thing in the morning. They gathered the mushrooms, too.’
‘They’re a big help to you, aren’t they?’
‘They are indeed!’ The girls beamed and leapt up to set the table for the meal. It tasted every bit as good as it smelled, and we all ate heartily.

After dinner the girls asked if they could take Maria to the stream for a drink and to eat the sweet grass, and were delighted when I told them they could ride her there. I asked them to take off her saddle and the saddlebags first, then they could both fit on together. They tumbled out of the door in a race to be the first one there.
‘Will you stay the night?’ asked Val. ‘We have a guest room. It’s right at the top.’
‘That would be lovely. Thank you! How exciting to sleep in a tree-house. I’ve never done that before.’ This made Val and Forty laugh.
I shouted down to Molly and Polly to put my saddlebags on the pulley and I hauled them up.
‘I’ll take you and show you your room before it gets dark.’ said Val. ‘It’s a bit of a climb, but the view is worth it.’

I huffed and puffed with my saddlebags up three rather steep staircases, to the guest room. It was not large – room for a single bed, a dresser and a chair. There were two large windows, back and front, and I could see right over the tops of the trees. It was breathtaking.
‘If it’s alright with you, Val, I think I’ll stay now that I’m up here. I don’t think I can do that climb again tonight.’
‘That’s OK,’ she smiled. ‘We’ll see you in the morning.’

I watched the sun set over the distant hills and night descended like an indigo velvet blanket. We were far from any lights and the sky was crammed with millions more stars than are normally visible. What a lovely place to sleep.

We continued along the Serpentine Road.  It was much quieter than when we’d arrived.  The snake festival was to last another day and with fewer people travelling the road it made our journey easier.  We wandered along, following the bends and twists in the road until I asked myself  ‘Why?’  The surrounding countryside was perfectly flat; mostly meadows with the odd tree here and there.
‘I think we’ll take the short-cut, Maria’. I guided her onto the grass. We could see that the road was heading for the low hills and going ‘as the crow flies’ would cut some considerable distance and time off our journey.

We’d been on the grass for about ten minutes when there was an ‘Oi!’ I gave a big sigh, rolled my eyes and muttered, ‘Now what?’ I turned towards the voice and saw a stout little man waddling towards me. He was clad all in olive green and had on a deerstalker and wellies. His face was quite round and sported a bulbous nose and red whiskers. His skin had a green tinge to it.
‘Hello’, I said. ‘Are you a leprechaun?’
‘NO!!, I’m not!’ he shouted, and glared at me. ‘I’ve just not been well, that’s all.’  I had the feeling I was not the first person to ask this question.
‘Oh, sorry to hear that. Did you want me for something?’
‘Aye. You’re not allowed on the grass.’
‘Why’s that? We aren’t doing any damage.’
‘That’s got nowt to do with it. You’re just not allowed. Everyone has to use the road.’
‘Then why wasn’t the road built in a straight line? It meanders about all over the place, but it’s not going around anything or visiting anywhere.’
The non-leprechaun seemed a bit nonplussed. ‘I don’t know. It’s allus bin like that. Them as came before built it, and the rules are – you must stay on the road.’
‘I’m heading for those hills,’ I said, pointing, ‘and I am not travelling three times further than I need to, to get there, and there’s not much you can do about it. So I’ll bid you good-day.’
‘There’ll be trouble, missus.’
‘Not for me there won’t. Now you go back to whatever it was you were doing and pretend you never saw me. I’ll be over those hills in no time.’ I left him scratching his beard and wrestling with his conscience.

An hour later we were back on the road where it started to rise gradually into the hills. As we ambled up the incline I turned in the saddle to look at the view. The Serpentine Road looked more like a lazy, meandering river than a road. If we’d stuck to it, it would have taken three hours longer to get to where we were, and I couldn’t see that the cavalry had been called out to deal with us, either. The only other people travelling on the road, in the same direction as us, were two small groups in the distance, dutifully sticking to the road. What rebels we were!

We reached the top of the crest and started down the other side, between the two hills. Half way down, the road, which was now more of a wide track, divided into two. There was a weather-beaten signpost at the junction. The wider track to the right said ‘The Road More Travelled’ and the other, narrower track said ‘The Road Less Travelled’.
‘Well, that’s extremely helpful, Maria. I think it’s time for a drink and a biscuit.’ I climbed down and got us both some refreshments. It was almost noon so I decided a little siesta might be useful. I settled myself against a tree trunk and pulled my hat over my eyes.
‘Don’t you wander off, Maria, and I’ll give you another biscuit when I wake.’ There were decisions to be made after we’d rested.