The night of the stag

Domenica, 29/05/2005

The night of the stag

Account of the 20-21/05/2005 Adventure of the brave lads


The journey started from our well-known place of meeting, at the edge of Canterbury. There we met and prepared for what was ahead of us, all our equipment and food; we tore sackcloth into garments for us to wear, in order not to be noticed as any more than poor travellers, but memorised a password that only we would understand (“Marriage Ahoy!”). The long and arduous walk started around the seventh hour after noon, slightly later than planned, due to the difficulty found by some in being punctual.
Leaving Canterbury through a secret passage in the bushes, we went up and down hills on a rarely trodden path. For a short stretch the band of brothers walked through the village of Rough Common and their walk then brought itself onto the road which goes through Blean Woods. This lonely road was very long and it seemed as though the track would never end. I felt the need to move off it as soon as possible, preferring to face the dangers of the woods rather than the uncertain perils of meeting enemies on the road, which might have jeopardized our quest. Halfway through the that walk, Michael left us, saying he would catch up with us later, but we doubted whether we would ever see him again.
Andrew (McPoo) finally decided it was time for us to get off the road, much to my delight, sensing the danger of staying on was indeed great. The place where we left the path was not easily going to leave marks of our passage.
We got into the thick of the woods immediately, this was already quite deep in the woods, we had crossed many parts of the woods as we walked on the road. The trees were very low and spread over the floor of the woods were purple flowers. This enchanting sight lasted for a while, then we started following the river. We had to keep crouching, moving branches, jumping over the river, while staying together. What followed was a series of places where logs on the floor were wet and weak and crumbled under our weight almost getting us stuck in the ground at times. This forest was old, some trees were entwined together, something mystic about it made my heart beat faster.
The excitement of the journey was increasing in my heart as we went, while the morale of some of the brave’uns was getting lower. As we arrived at the end of that thick part of the woods, the river took a turn and passed in front of us. We needed to get to the other side where the sky reappeared. There was only high grass and bush for a while, then the scene cleared…
In front of us, was an astounding scene. The trees were tall. The ground was soft. A lake on the left, with an island in its center, moon above. We were at the heart of the forest and it was beautiful. Elves must have lived there until some hundred years ago, but it was a place no one had seen. We were ready to set up camp and let the trials begin.
This adventure was the result of young Jim being called out into the wild in order to receive the bestowing of his masculinity - in the light of his wedding to Becca (-Roo) coming up soon – which our society had been slowly robbing us of. We, his friends, had decided we would go through the same trials, understanding this danger concerned us all. Jim knew he had to go and we knew we had to follow him.
The trials involved hunting with bow and arrow to feed ourselves, axe (boot) throwing, for many important reasons which I cannot think of right now. The power inside of us was being unleashed, the heavenly power given unto us by God himself and indeed it was being unleashed from within Jim, who had to battle us all at once, and overcame. The final trial made us climb a cliff and jump into emptiness across a gorge, hanging from a rope (zip-line). After that, we believed the challenges were finished and that we could let our guard down. Two us the group, Aaron and Ife, left us then.
At that time, the sun went down. Out of the darkness came an experienced warrior, he had managed to track us down with the intention to kill Jim, vanquish him, in order to remove the greatest obstacle to him getting Jim’s future wife Becca and taking her to with him back to Japan. The great skill of the warrior in unarmed combat and twin (towel) nunchaku was ultimately no match for Jim’s passion for Becca. In a final attempt to execute a deadly attack, Jim saw the assassin’s weak spot and slew him (with his towel). The warrior vanished and at that moment, the bestowing of masculinity came upon us, in the form of a talking stag carrying a cauldron of mulled wine in between his antlers. He congratulated Jim for his victory and told him he was indeed worthy of marrying Becca, then invited us to drink the mulled wine. Once each of us had drunk from the cup, we were in complete harmony with nature and the stag had left us.
We went back to camp and fellowshipped with each other and nature, drinking and dining around the fire, while we sang joyful songs and puffed on cigars. Eventually, it was time to go to our other home; we packed up and left that place, resolving to see it again one day soon. The walk back through the wood was of joy and contemplation, and laughter for some, through the utter darkness of the night and the woods, but with the moon and stars shining down on us as we went.
As we arrived back into civilization, the people who crossed us were speechless, as we were beaming with the joy of the Lord, knowing we were right then what we were meant to be.