DocAndersen
The master was very busy with guests and asked his six students if they would mind completing a task for him. He gave them very detailed directions to the home of the wordsmith and what it was he required of the wordsmith. The six students were very excited and took off walking towards the next village where the wordsmith lived. It was a walk that took them into the woods. About halfway through the woods, they encountered a child who was crying.
Five of the students huddled together
“What would the master do.” They asked each other.
The sixth student knelt by the child and, in a quiet voice, asked, “why are you crying?”
The child as children will do let loose with all the problems it was having at once. “I am thirsty; I am hungry, I am lost, and I want my mother.”
The student reached into his bag and withdrew his lunch and his waterskin, handing them both to the child.
The child drank and ate quickly. Meanwhile, the five students were still debating what they should do.
The sixth student said, “where do you live.” The child gave the name fo the village the student was walking to, so he said, “let us walk there.”
“what about your friends?” the child asked.
“They are debating what to do, I will find them on the way back.: the student answered.
The child smiled and took the students had as they walked to the village. The child walked right to the wordsmith’s house and entered. The wordsmith was concerned.
“Child,” he said, “We sent you for kindling 3 hours ago.”
: I got lost,” the child said, “and he found me,” pointing at the student.
The wordsmith beamed and shook the student’s hand. The student shared his master’s request. The wordsmith smiled and said, “it will be done.”
The student left and wandered back to find his fellow students still discussing what to do. He gently nudged them to move, and they all headed back to the master’s compound.
A week later, the master went to the wordsmith to get his object. He attempted, as was the tradition, to pay for the item. The wordsmith refused, “I owe you a debt far greater than this.”
The master walking home wondered what debt the wordsmith meant.
This work is Copyright DocAndersen. Any resemblance to people real or fictional in this piece is accidental (unless explicitly mentioned by name.)
