"That guy isn't here anymore. Anybody who comes into the forest will be lost."

Lost Too Long

Do you remember? When you were a child I would often tell you not to go into the Lost Woods?

These days the trees have receded, so maybe you don't recall...

It's a very mysterious wood, said to house all sorts of creatures and plants... And monsters.

Ha ha ha, don't look at your old grandmother like that! You may not believe me now... in this time of peace, but long ago children and even grown men would go into the woods and never come back.

/\/\/\

Don't believe this old woman do you?

Well... when my grandmother was a little girl she knew a boy who used to live in this very village... It was a time when the forest was strong and its magic was stronger. When the trees hugged the base of Death Mountain, we lived in fear. For within the shadows lurked something great. Something great... and terrible.

Old magic. Not the magic you know of today. The magic of songs, and light, and shadows... No... this was a magic older than that. It was the magic of the goddesses and the darkness. The forest chose people. Some said that those who could enter the forest and return were the chosen of the forest. Others claimed that those who never returned were the chosen children of the Lost Woods.

Nobody knows for sure...

~ { 0 }~

Ah! That's right! The story about the boy!

Let's see...

When my grandmother was barely taller than your knee and her ears were too short to hear the words of the goddess, she knew a little boy

The boy was always getting into mischief. Him with his little flute and his little bird. Oh the tricks they would play on the villagers of Kakariko. He had even boasted he had destroyed the entrance to a temple that lay deep within the woods. No one ever dared confirm it. Only he had claimed to have seen the sacred grove for it was tucked within the maze of trees, claiming all who dared to venture deep into the woods.

Perhaps it was because of his constant childish pranks, or for destroying the stairway to the temple in the forest, I know not; but one rainy day... he vanished.

Time and time again his mother had warned him. "Don't go into the forest."

But time and time again, the boy never listened.

To this day our people cannot understand the power of the forest. The deep and lively silence that fills the forest and our hearts when we enter. There is life and death breathing together in perfect harmony. You couldn't see them. The creatures of the forest. They would hide in the shadows of the trees and bushes. But you could feel them. Their many eyes watching you, shining brightly in the darkness. If you were lucky, or perhaps not so lucky, you would see them.

Well this boy, whether he met a terrible fate at the hands of one of the darker creatures of the forest, I know not. It's possible that he wandered in the forest, unable to leave the loving embrace of the trees. Or maybe he was gobbled up by a monster of the darkness. I know not, nor will I ever know.

/\

But what I do know is: that boy with the flute and the pointed orange hat...

Ever since he went missing... You can hear the sounds of a jaunty tune echoing in perfect harmony...

As if there were more than one lost little child, playing together.

Apologizes...apparently this chapter didn't actually get posted or something. I just realized that chapter 23 was repeated here in place of chapter 21. I don't know how long that was going on. Either way here's the actual chapter 21.

They say that the old storyteller woman only tells stories about Kakariko village.