Prologue (2)

Without wasting any longer time, Babida the lumberjack headed in the direction that was just shown to him by the rowdy teenager. As he was nearing the Witch's street, the sun rays mysteriously stopped to shine. The path hence darkened and a sudden thunder came off the sky and rumbled.

The muscular woodsman was seized with fear that he tried hard to conceal. He kept moving forward and as he was doing so a ball of light appeared in front of him out of nowhere. His vision was blurred, forcing him to bow and avoid total blindness.

Right after, a levitating Witch who was dressed in a black hooded gown emerged from the luminary. She lowered her head and looked at the prostrated visitor while moving her long brown nails in a way one would believe she was playing a virtual piano.

"You, Babida the lumberjack...! What could be the reason that makes you disturb my peace?" The Witch interrogated the impromptu visitor.

"Pardon me, your Oracle! I wished I had announced my coming here today but the circumstances did not allow me to," Babida defended himself while remaining in the bowing position before the Sorceress.

"You will then pay the price for your guts. Won't you?" The Witch said to the reverent man.

"And what is that, your Oracle?" Babida the lumberjack inquired.

The Magician kept silent for a short instant as the woodsman continued to kneel down to her feet, his forehead and nose on the ground, his arms stretched toward the front, and the palms of his hands in contact with the sandy floor.

"Ten imperial Batangi." The Witch replied finally to him.

"Your wish is my command, your Oracle," Babida the lumberjack stated to manifest his agreement.

"So, what can I do for you?" The Sorceress quizzed the logger.

"There is a thin and black-skinned eighteen-year-old or plus maiden with spinning hair that I gazed at in Ekule's forest while I was cutting off logs. She wore a pink silk short dress with a butterfly knot on the front side. I have been seeking to get to know her but to no avail," Babida the lumberjack confided saddened to the Witch who was listening to him attentively.

"Hmmm, I see the big and strong lumberjack has been stung by an arrow of love." The Oracle reacted playfully.

"Now, I am asking you to do the following. You will go back to Ekule's forest and inspect where you glanced at her and bring to me anything she may have touched or left behind her." The Sorceress instructed the woodsman.

"Your wish is my command, your Oracle," Babida the lumberjack repeated to her, then stood up and walked backward, his spine slightly bent and his face staring at the empty ground.

In a matter of seconds, he exited the Witch's street and everything returned to normality. The sun was shining again, birds were flying high in the air, people of Okala village were moving up and down, children were frantically circling the streets and vendors were enticing customers.

Babida the lumberjack took the way back to Ekule.

He penetrated then crossed the main areas of the imperial city which were as lively as those of Okala. Inhabitants were as usual busy in carrying out their daily duties. They were loud. They were rushing here and there. They were looking after their kids. And among the numerous activities, they were also setting firewood for the lunch meal.

They were doing so many things but none of them distracted Babida the lumberjack who was focused on his mission: to reach Ekule's forest and get what the Witch had requested from him.

He trekked past the streets of the center of Ekule in the direction of the west till the limits of the livable zone, then entered the forest.

Without swirling around, he directed himself straight to the spot where the young maiden Suzie was picking up the white Button mushrooms. He turned over the stones, swept with his right foot then with the left one, the dead leaves littering the ground.

He had almost lost hope of finding a bit of the existence of his crush when he noticed an object ten steps away that was lying on the green herbs.

He went near it and lifted it. It was an untied pearl bracelet. He looked at it very closely and after a brief moment of thought, he said to himself: "Wait a minute! Is it not what I believe it is?"

He looked at the jewel a second time then confidently and emphatically declared: "Yes it is! That's a woman's anklet. There is no doubt about it!"

"Oh, oh! Wait, wait! Yes, yes, I'm standing in the exact location where I spoke to the Miss before she vanished away as quickly as she could." The logger asserted.

"So this jewel must belong to her. I am certain it detached itself from her foot, probably when she roughly stepped back." He added.

"I am bringing it immediately to the Witch in Okala." He spat out, and then he left Ekule's forest.

In the meantime, the young Miss Suzie, who was a sleepyhead, woke up from a long sleep. The day had well progressed. She stretched her hands upward while yawning then tried to perform a full high kick with her right foot. However, she halted her gymnastics when she realized in the middle of the process that something was strange.

"Oh, oh! Have I lost something? Why does my foot look naked?" She posed the question to herself, with her right foot half-extended in the air as she had paused her karate movement.

"Oh, Loba, God of the gods! It can't be it. How in the world did I lose my pearl anklet?" She cried out mad.

She lightly hit the head with her right hand, then pulled a small portion of her curly hair disgusted. She suddenly had a flash memory of her encounter in the woods with the unknown man just last afternoon.

"Oh, oh! I know exactly where and when my ornament went missing. It surely fell on the ground when I moved back frightened by this gigantic and never seen before woodsman," she voiced to herself.

She finished her cogitation, got ready, and right away speeded to the forest.

On her arrival in the woods, there was no one around. The logger had departed for Okala village where he intended to visit once again the Sorceress.

The young maiden Suzie explored the area where her unexpected meeting with the woodsman unfolded. She sought her anklet in the green herbs with thoroughness but could not find it. Despair and wrath took her over. Resigned, she stopped her research and headed back home.