CHAPTER TWO : "VALLEY OF THE BLACK WOODS"
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Many hundreds of miles away from the celebrations in the Fung household, another
baby was born. No servants attended to him at his birth. No wiseman predicted his advent.
No overjoyed parents - the only embrace this baby would ever know is the embrace of the
warm pool of blood which he is immersed in. His mother had died giving birth to him... with
her dying breath, she bit off the baby's umbilical cord with her teeth - separating forever
mother and child. His first breath of air reeked of death. He was all alone there in the
Valley of the Black Woods. Death had claimed his mother this day, will Death also claim his
tiny life?
Four hours have passed since the child first inhaled his first breath of deathly air.
The child is still alive, but silent. He had no more tears nor the strength to make another
sound. Soon he will join his mother... soon...
Another hour passed. The baby's breathing is slower and weaker now. Soon, he too will
stop breathing... At that moment, there was a rustling of leaves... then the baby felt something
like drops of water on his chest... only it wasn't water; it was the saliva dripping from the
open fangs of a hungry wolf! The wolf must have followed the trail of blood to this spot...
where the stench of blood was heaviest.
There are certain things about an infant that are a given. They have no understanding of
the world around them, or their relationship to it. They know "comfortable" as in "secure" and
"nourished". And they know "uncomforable" as in "exposed" and "hungry"... and perhaps "pain".
The babe reached out with his tiny fingers to the source of the "dripping water"; thinking
perhaps that this "dripping water" can be nourishing... then he let out a loud cry! His fingers
were cut by the wolf's sharp protruding teeth.
The wolf leapt back, startled by the baby's sudden scream. Then there was the sound of
something whisking through the air... and the next moment, the wolf lay dead on the ground...
But by then the baby had passed out. Had he been awake, he might have been able to make
out the blurred image of a huge man standing over him with a huge bow in his hands...
A moment later, the baby opened his eyes... all he saw were long, black tree branches
speeding pass him... Startled, he let out another cry. Then he felt a strong arm tightened
around him to support him more securely. The baby felt himself being juggled up and down as if
galloping on a horse. He felt the strong winds blowing and he felt uncomfortably cold. Then
instinctively the baby placed his head upon the stranger's hairy chest to keep warm. Somehow
he knew he was safe. Soon he fell asleep again. In fact, he slept throughout the entire
journey to the village...
* * *
(end of chapter two)
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