Roderic's Return

Roderic lived in a cottage near the church. One morning he set out to work in the great quarry high up on The hill. He stopped on the narrow path hither and listened to a bird singing. Is it a nightingale? Roderic asked himself. It is singing so sweetly that I will stop and listen. Roderic sat down on a big stone. He looked at the little bird perched on the branch of a tree. It has finished its song said Roderic. Before i go to the quarry I will return to my house and tell my neighbours of the wonderful bird. He looked once more at the tree, but the bird had now flown. And as he looked, he saw the branches and leaves of the tree shrivel and die. Roderic ran back to the village to tell of the strange event, going first to his house. “Where is the door?” Roderic cried in bewilderment when he reached home. He discovered it at length, but it was half-hidden in ivy. Then he looked at the church, and saw that the tower had fallen in ruins. He turned to enter his house. An old, old man stood in the porch. “Who can this be?” thought Roderic. “He is so old that I am sure I have never seen him before.” Aloud Roderic said “What are you doing here?” “A strange question indeed” the old man said. “Who are you to question what I am doing here in my own house?” “Your house!” exclaimed Roderic angrily. “Yes, my house,” answered the old man, more angrily. There was silence. Each glared at the other. Then the old man said to Roderic; “Tell me your name.” “My name is Roderic.” “Ah! Roderic,” the old man said, stroking his beard as though he were trying to remember something. “Roderic!” he said at length. “Ah, I have it. I have heard my great-grandfather speak of you on many occasions. He told me how his family had searched for you through the long years, and yet failed to find you. Arwyn, the Elder said you had fallen under the spell of the fairies, and would not be free until the sycamore tree withered and died. Come into my house, he cried taking Roderic by the arm. “You are the great-grandfather of my great-grandfather. I am a kind of grandson to you, and you shall treat me as such.” Roderic stepped across the threshold, and the smile that lit up his face as he entered showed that he had returned to his home.

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