The Forest

Once, there was a family who lived in a cottage, not so different from this one, right outside the village. There was a little boy named Wedin, and his older sister who was called Minta, their mother and their father. One day the children's father went out hunting in the forest and did not return. Of course there was a great sorrow in the village. Everybody cried for three days because the father was a greatly admired man. Wedin and Minta, however did not believe that their father had died in the forest, so one night, not too long after the mourning, the children snuck out of the house and went into the forest. At first they walked along the paths they used by day to gather berries and play bandits, but before long, they left the main trail. They walked deeper and deeper into the woods, and the trees grew darker and taller and closer together. Wedin started to cry, and Minta decided that they should turn around. They did, and they looked for the way they came, but they could not find it. They walked for hours, but Wedin was sleepy, and eventually, they stopped by a large rock and went to sleep.

When they woke up the next morning, they could not see the blue sky above because of the trees. Wedin started to cry again, and after crying a little bit herself, Minta shook him and went to look for food. They came to a stream, and they drank from it. Minta washed her face and made Wedin wash his. When he looked up, he saw a little man sleeping under a toad stool. "Minta," Wedin whispered, "Look here!" But when Minta looked the little man was gone. Minta was grouchy and told him not to make up stories about "little people." Later that day, Wedin saw the little man again, this time, he was standing on top of a leaf, and watching them. Wedin shook his sister and pointed, but before she looked, Wedin's eyes clouded up and he blinked. The little man was gone.

Wedin kept seeing the little man that day, but Minta never would. He would be standing beside a rock, or be resting under a leaf. Sometimes he would show up somewhere where Wedin had just looked, but he would always disappear just as fast. That night, Wedin and Minta slept outside again. They were very hungry. They had only had some berries and water to eat that day. When they finally got to sleep, Minta dreamt about bears and wolves eating her stomach, and Wedin saw the little man laughing at them.

When they woke up, Wedin and Minta saw a pile of mushrooms, berries, and fruit in near them. They ate the fruit and the berries, but left the mushrooms alone, because they didn't know what kind they were. They walked through the forest again and came to a hill. They decided to climb it. The little man showed up as they reached the top, he seemed to smile, then vanished. Minta and Wedin couldn't over the trees but a thick fog, so they decided to go back down the hill the way they came. Wedin saw the little man appear, standing on a branch, waving at them and shaking his head. Wedin asked his sister if they should go a different way. His sister shook him off and continued down hill. Before they got too much further, a wild dog scrambled out of the brush and snarled at them. Wedin thought for an instant he saw the little man on the back of the dog's head. The children turned and ran back up the hill. They reached the top, and saw that they could climb higher on another hill, so they did. When they got to the top of that hill, the little man appeared again, but this time on Minta's shoulder. He smiled and pointed at one more hill. Wedin said he thought they should be able to see home from the top of that hill. Minta brushed her hand over her shoulder and they climbed the last hill.

At the top, they saw a cloud lying thick and heavy over the forest. As they watched it, it seemed that a human's shape seemed to form on top of it. The cloudy human shape drifted slowly towards them. Minta could see that the shape was taller than any tree in the forest. Wedin looked away and saw the little man grinning. When the cloud person got close, it whispered to them,

"Human children, why are you so deep in my forest?"
Minta answered, "We are looking for our father, he came here hunting, and then disappeared."
"Why do you look for him, human children."
"We want to see him again, we want to have him back."
"I know where your father is, human children, he sleeps now within the folds of my robe."
"Who are you sir?"
"I am the guardian. You should go to sleep now."

Wedin and Minta laid down, the rocky soil they had been standing one seemed to be padded by the mist that was surrounding them. Wedin looked at the little man who was standing there.

"I'm Wedin." He said.
"Casiel" Said the little man, smiling.

Then Minta and Wedin were asleep. When they woke up, they did not remember the guardian, or the forest, or even that their father had gone missing. Neither could he, for he woke up with them in their house. The people of the village couldn't remember either, but Mrs. Lorgerstoc said there was something odd about the last week, but she couldn't put her finger on it. But long after that, when Wedin was a man with sons of his own, the eldest was named Casiel.