The King and His Father's Ghost

Background: The king, Edward's father, already died due to old age; Edward supposed to be the king but the palace did not accept him so he just named himself as the king.

Running away from the iron hand of John Canty and his ripe rascal gangsters in town, the new king Edward Tudor found his way to the deep dark woods guided by the pail moonlight. As the night turned colder and deeper, he pushed to the forest lest the rascals will trace his path and find him. He had never set foot in that place before where there was not a single sign of inhabitant people. Sounds of birds and cricket, though, can be heard but far from the area where he was. He familiarized the place as he also searched for a place to hide and to sleep that night. He crept, following a dried riverbed until he found a river at the end of it. Beside the river stood a little tree which a yellow light was seen luminous through its leaves. He was happy to see that light and rushed to it with an expectation that someone lived in that area. Indeed he saw a hut built on that place He planned to ask for help but when he was on the point of entering to it, he heard a soft chant which enabled him to stop suddenly, to slow the pace and to peep into a small window. That time he recalled some hocus-pocus to counter it if something bad will happen. When he did this, he saw a man levitating at about a foot from the ground, surrounded by many candles. He also noticed that he seemed to know that there was someone looking at him because he stooped chanting and lowered himself with eyes partly opened. While his was partly opened, Edward's grew large to see this. He stood spellbound and said to himself, "he's more than a king."

The man seemed to read what was on his mind then said, "why in the window when there's a door?" Edward was not hesitant to come in, and they conversed with each other.

"Who is he?"

"I'm the king, Edward Tudor."

"I heard your father died."

"Yes, it' true."

"I'm a shaman, by the way. I'm the only one who lives in this remote place."

"A shaman! So you can talk to my father's ghost?"

"Yes, but not now. I will tomorrow morning; just stay here tonight."

With a feeling of security and excitement to talk to his father, Edward fell asleep peacefully. However, he had a dream. He dreamed of the shaman talking to him, and that he saw his father's image in him. The shaman said in his dream, "my son, everything that's happening to you is a part of you calendar of destiny. These you must consider as rocks in your life which are not meant to pulverize you into dust but to polish you to become a precious gem – a real king, and a kind of king I had never been when I was alive. At the end, the world will know how you - a mite of human being will turn out to be the greatest ruler of all times."

These words were spoken in a slow, sympathetic and fatherly manner. After he dreamed of it, he woke up and realized that he had tears crawling down his cheeks, and that he was just sleeping on the ground, the hut and the candles no more. He then knew that it was really his father pretending to be a shaman, and that his senses were deceived as if he was sleeping inside a hut. After that, he lay on his back on a tree nearby and sat down crying. He relived those moments when he was with his father, and he realized how much he missed him. During that moment of contemplation, he gained an inner strength, stood up and was determined to face each day's challenge as told by his father.