The Storyteller - Chapter 1

 

 The Storyteller

 A Novel 

By Paul McCann

Chapter 1

 

 The Air Raid Shelter

The storyteller awoke at sunrise after spending the night inside a cave that provided shelter from the cutting wind and rain . As he began to make his way down the mountain he was surrounded by the mists of time . He would never know when this would happen and would never know where he would be when the mists lifted .

He could end up in the past or future in places where he had never been .

The mists of time started to lift and the storyteller emerged out of to find himself standing in the grove of a church that stood on a hill overlooking a desert of little terrace houses that were spread through a maze of parallel streets . The village itself stretched as far as his eyes could see .

He made his way from the grove and he walked down into the streets that looked as if they had just been recently built . In the middle of the street, he walked down there were a few small buildings that intrigued him . He decided he would take a closer look and as he made his way towards these small buildings a strange alarm began to sound . Suddenly people appeared from their houses and ran towards the small buildings in the middle of the street .

The storyteller followed the people who went rushing inside the buildings .

Entering himself he saw many children where in there with parents who looked worried .

On the wall was a clock and around the floor there was some bench seats

for everyone to sit down upon . It was very crowded and the Storyteller noticed people were looking at his clothes .

Oner of the young ladies there asked ,

“Are you a monk ?”

The storyteller replied ,

“Well not really , I’m a traveller and also a storyteller /

Suddenly the sound of planes could be heard overhead .

One of the children asked a question to his mother ,

“Mammy why do they want to drop bombs on Belfast ?”

His mother replied ,

“We are in a war and bombing is part of being in a war.

Other children then began asking questions to their parents

“When will the war be over ?”

“Let’s hope it will be soon son .

Came the reply .

Another little girl asked her father ,

“Daddy if they start dropping bombs will we be safe in these air raid shelters ?

Suddenly the planes overhead began their assault dropping incendiary devices around the village . Machine guns around the village returned fire at the enemy aircraft with volleys of bullets in an effort to shoot down the planes .

Everyone inside the air raid shelter was very frightened.

The storyteller spoke in a deep whispering voice that seemed to have a soothing effect on everyone there .

“There is nothing to be afraid of . I have a story that I’d like to share with you all . Would you like to hear that story ?

Everyone there replied

“Yes, tell us the story please.”

Opposite the storyteller was a little boy holding a bottle that had a sailing ship inside of it . He asked the little boy with the ship in a bottle if he could borrow the bottle he was holding . The boy handed over the bottle and the storyteller looked around at everyone and said ,

“Does anyone know what time it is ?”  Everyone looked at the clock but it had stopped .”

“As you can see time does not exist here . Here in a place where we can be forever young and free to be sailing on a voyage on our ship in a bottle in search for the Land of Nod where no one gets old and we can sing all our cares away on the sea from Tir Na oGe where the horses of the fairy folk fly chasing after the dragons of the mystic and if we listen very hard , we can capture some of the ancient songs that have been sung to the winds from the shores of Tir Na Oge to the Land of Nod ”

All who were there looked young again like children and there came a whisper on the wind that passed by and upon the wind was a soft voice singing a melody that everyone recognised almost as if they had heard that song before somewhere and yet no one really knew where or when it had come from Around the ship flying horses arrived laughing and talking to the crew on board the ship from Tir Na Nog . As the ship approached its destination at the Land of Nod some of the crew abord tried to get off but the storyteller advised them to stand on the ship because time was different there on the board and if they tried to get off the ship they would be transformed into dust .

Luckily no one got off the ship and as it anchored close to the Land of Nod everyone fell into a deep sleep . When they awoke everyone discovered they were sitting inside the air raid shelter and that the bombing had finished . Each person there had a similar experience that they never shared with anyone because they believed it was their own personal dream .

The little boy with the ship in a bottle sat there looking into the bottle remembering his dream about sailing to the land of Nod .

The storyteller had already left the air raid shelter and had returned through the mists of time and found himself somewhere on a road through a forest with wanderlust at his feet and a sense of wonder all around him .

It was almost as if he had the knowledge of a secret that no one had ever been told except him and he wanted to share that secret with others .

He smiled to himself and sat down by a lagoon there where some children arrived with baskets of food . They gave the storyteller some food and drink and then after he had eaten, they asked him to tell them story and as was the the custom the storyteller of the lazy

Lagoon began with a song he had heard upon a ship that sailed from Tir Na oGe to the Land of Nod

 

.End Chapter 1  

 

The Storyteller

Link to chapter 2

https://www.abctales.com/story/mcscraic/storyteller-chapter-2

By Paul McCann