Cloaked In Red by Vivian Vande Velde

Author:Vivian Vande Velde [Velde, Vivian Vande]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: General Fiction
ISBN: 9780761460466
Publisher: AmazonEncore
Published: 2012-02-07T05:00:00+00:00

Deems the Wood Gatherer

Once upon a time, before eyeglasses were invented, there was a nearsighted but good-hearted man named Deems. Although his profession was wood gathering, what he liked most was to help others.

Since, at that time, the forests of the land were owned by the king, common folk were not allowed to chop down trees for firewood or for building. The villagers were only allowed to use trees or branches that had come down by themselves.

Wood gathering was a perfect job opportunity for Deems because, with his poor eyesight, he would have been a hazard to himself and others in many of the professions that were available to him. You wouldn’t want to hand over a bow and arrow to a nearsighted archer, or a razor to a barber whose vision was blurry, or a wagonload of goods to a driver who could barely see the rump of the horse pulling the wagon—never mind being able to make out the road.

But wood was something everyone needed, and Deems was happy that his job gave him the chance to be helpful and useful. Those who knew Deems were happy, too. They were happy for the wood, and they were happy that a wood gatherer, by the king’s decree, was allowed to carry only a small ax for trimming fallen branches into manageable pieces. Since—with his poor eyesight—Deems routinely failed to recognize his own children if they were across the street from him, people thought it was fortunate that Deems didn’t have a tree-cutting-sized ax.

One day, after a windstorm had rattled the roofs and windows of the village the night before, Deems kissed his wife good-bye and set out for the forest to look for fallen branches.

Deems lived near woods that had a bad reputation among wood gatherers due to the odd things that happened there. Some even thought the forest had been touched by magic, with peculiar people coming and going, and with creatures making their home there who were not seen anywhere else in the wide world. There were even rumors that some of the animals knew the speech of humankind. But Deems didn’t believe any of that, for he had never seen any such thing.

Of course, Deems had trouble seeing much beyond the stretch of his own arm.

So, instead of fretting, he considered himself lucky not to have to compete with the others, who avoided these woods. Working alone, he would soon and easily fill his hand-pulled cart with all the wood he needed to sell.

Today, Deems chose a path he had not gone down before and started his search. He hadn’t walked long before he came to a clearing where there was a large pile of sticks and twigs. A very large pile. A pile large enough to come close to filling his wagon at one stop.

Oh, happy day! Deems thought. He gathered up all the biggest pieces, congratulating himself for this most excellent start to his work.

But while his cart was close to full, it wasn’t entirely full, so Deems continued down the same path.

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