BRICKLE

In the youth of the world when the winters dawned unending darkness, two Brothers wandered the Wood at night, each following a separate path. Hunger and a midwinter madness drove them far from their home, but a clear moon lit the way of broken bracken and frost hardened ground.

It was the first Brother who fell from the path. As he wandered a smell of fire and warmth wafted through the trees and with a delicious glee he followed it blindly without care. The woodland was dark and treacherous in the long night but his desire for warmth and comfort let him betray his path. Far across the Wood, the second Brother had smelt the fire, and his thoughts too had crossed to comfort and warmth and all the good things in the world. It was in that moment of temptation he heard his Brother’s cry. Though the second Brother dare not leave the path, for he knew the perils of the Wood at night, and his thoughts were ever on the tales of the Night Shepherd – a being of dreams and slumber who haunted the Wood from twilight til dawn. His heart hoped and longed for his path to bend to meet his Brother but ahead of him firelight glimmered. He approached the light with caution for the things of the Wood were many, and not all were of pleasant nature. Though as he came near he heard a joyous welcome.

“Ho! Rest yee a while at thy fire, for thou art lost in thee unending night, and thou art far from thine own hearth.”

He wore a coat of green, and in his long braided hair a wreathe of winter leaves sat atop his glowing crown. His face said friend, and the second Brother sat himself beside him.

“Taketh what yee will, and comfort thine soul. For when yee art rested, I, myself, Brickle yee shalt know me, shalt take yee from this place and guide yee back to thine own hearth.”

The second Brother welcomed all the stranger had said and looked around the fire at the roasted meats, and the barrels of wine and fruits, and the splendours of the summer abound. He almost fell to his temptations, but the cry of his Brother haunted his mind and he turned to Brickle. “Thank you, oh blessed one, for you are the most splendid of all fellowships. But I cannot eat at your table knowing that my Brother is lost in the Wood.” And it was in that moment when Brickle rose and let out his own cry which sounded of ghosts and ghasts and of owls and deer.

“Ho! Be yee not concerned. For we shalt find thine Brother, and it shalt be I, myself, Brickle, who shalt deliver yee both to yee own hearth.”

And true to his word, the stranger summoned his fair mount, a deer of the Wood, and beckoned the second Brother to join him abreast its back. They dashed from the fire and into the darkness, and in a moment they had collected the first Brother and half a moment more they arrived at their own door. But it was different in a way, for the door had been decorated in holly, and inside a light shone. As they entered they were greeted by all their family and all their friends and their table and their rafters bulged with finery and feast. The brothers were amazed to see everything about them, and the warm welcome in their own home, but as they turned to thank Brickle and his fair mount they saw that he was gone. Though if they had stood at their door a little while longer, and stared out into the unending night, they would have heard Brickle’s haunting cry.

“Ho-ho! Onwards into the night I go, shepherding here, shepherding there. Ho-ho! Into the night I go!”