THE CHOSEN ONES ( PART FIFTY )

Arvid knew that the baby would need to be buried
very soon, but he was not sure that Bess was ready
to part with her Great Grandchild.

He finally decided to see what reaction he would get. He turned to Bess and said, "I think it would
be best...if we buried the baby, as soon as possible."

"What!" cried Bess suddenly, "you can't this is
all I have left."

Arvid realised this was going to be harder than he
thought. "The baby is bleeding Bess, it will attract animals...we must clean up the blood and bury the child."

Bess realised Arvids words were right, she knew deep down, she could no longer hold on. "Okay!"
she whispered, "but I would like it, if she could
be buried down by the river...under the Weeping
Willow, that's where she must be buried, that's
where all the children play."

Bess looked sad again, when she realised what the
bad men had done.

"What is it?" said Arvid.

Bess started to recall what happened:- "We had a hut, everyone was made to walk inside naked except
for me.

They told me, because I was so old and frail, that
I would be made to watch, they held me...I was
helpless. I was made to watch, as my family were
being tied up in the hut, then they torched the hut, turning it into a huge bonfire.

I could hear the screams, it was awful. All they
did was laugh...then I heard crying down by the
river, realising the baby was still down there, I
cried, the baby!...the baby! please don't hurt the
baby.

But it seemed they wanted to inflict as much pain
as possible...on me. The leader turned to me saying, what good is a baby to you old woman? it's
better off dead.

The next thing I knew he went down to the river, he picked the baby up, then he stabbed it through the heart...the crying stopped, that was it, there's nothing left."

Arvid thought, 'even Jonah wouldn't stoop so low,
there must be other bad men out there, but why
would they do such a thing?'

Arvid found a flat piece of stone...he began pulling the earth away, using the stone as a kind
of shovel. The earth luckily was quite soft and
easy to dig out, under the Weeping Willow. 'Earth
to Earth, ashes to ashes,' he thought to himself
as he dug.

It seemed to Arvid, that these men were not hunters, but just out to inflict a lot of pain.

Eventually the hole was dug, just big enough for the small bundle.

Arvid then turned to Bess, "you must place the baby
in the hole now."

She cried out and wept a flood of tears, until she
could cry no more...then she placed the baby in the
hole.

Arvid and Bella began to fill in the hole. Once done, Arvid placed some heavy stones over the top
of the grave.

Bess looked up at the tree, "oh beautiful Weeping
Willow, may you take care of this child, may it
nourish you with goodness. Oh bless this child."
The Weeping Willow, gently tossed its leaves in the
breeze, as if in answer.

Bella walked along the river bank, she found some
wild flowers and picked each one, thinking of the
child, then she came back...and layed them down on
the heavy stones.

The three figures stared at the grave, each one
deep in thought. Bella then turned to Arvid, "I'm
really hungry, can we get something to eat?"

Bess turned to Arvid and Bella, she thanked them
for what they had done, then she said, "you had
best come with me to our Winter cave, we will be
safe there."

To be continued .......THE CHOSEN ONES ( PART FIFTY ONE ) | ABCtales