Collum and Dove: A Mythic Journey

On a recent Seminary of the Wild retreat, we were invited, over three days, to write a mythic journey. I had no idea how to begin such a story.  A name came to me, Collum, and I started writing. The story simply flowed and I wrote it down, without any idea of where the story was going.  Over the next few weeks, I plan to share the story of Collum and Dove on this blog.  It is much too long to put all in one blog.

Once upon a time in a land long ago, in a village far from the King’s Palace, lives a boy named Collum. Collum is 16 years old. He is also known as Ant because of his fascination with ants. His mom would find him in the woods near their home, sitting and watching ants moving to and fro.

She also saw him as an ant, busy, hard-working, willing to do what was asked, never complained. Yet she worried about him.  She saw that he was not fulfilled by the work he was doing. His interests and fascinations were always so much greater than the work that needed to be done. His greatest fascination was with all things of nature, especially ants.

On this particular day, she calls his name, but he didn’t respond at first, so deep was his attention on the ants.  “Collum. Collum.” Collum looks up and rose and went to his mother. This is the day he had long dreaded. It is the day he is to leave for his apprenticeship as a leatherworker in the next village. He didn’t want to leave his mother alone.  His father had died several years ago, and he had no siblings.  It is just he and his mother, and he hated the thought of her sitting alone in the house with no one around.  Normally boys might leave for their apprenticeship at age 14 but he had put it off. Now it is time to go.

He does not want to be a leatherworker, but this is the closest apprenticeship.  It is in the next village, a two-hour walk away, so on days he is free, he could come and visit his mother. He knew the work would be hot and hard and stinky.  He prefers the skins of animals still on the animals and not leather in his hands to make something.  But his mother and he are poor, and he needs to learn a craft to be able to support them, so he committed to going.

His mother loads up some clothes in a worn-out bag and puts some food in a cloth sack to eat on the way. He hugs his mom long and hard and sets up down the road to the next village.

Collum’s mother told him to be sure and stay on the road and be at the next village before dark. “We don’t know what’s in those woods.” As Collum walks, he sees a large ant cross the road. The sun is high in the sky and won’t set for several hours. He figures he is about halfway to the next village. It would all right for him to follow this ant a little bit off the road into the woods, as long as he can still see the road.

He steps down the trail through the briars and sees the ants are going up a large, tall oak tree. This puzzles Collum. He has never seen ants going up a tree before. He looks back and sees the road, looks at the sun and decides he had time to climb that tree. Fortunately, the branches are low and Collum is a very good tree climber.  Leaving his clothes bag and cloth sack at the foot of the tree, Collum follows the ants up the tree, being careful not to hurt them. The tree is very tall.  The tallest he had ever seen.

The ants go up and up.  Should he keep going? He thought of his mother’s warning and of the apprenticeship that is expecting him. Maybe a little further, then he would have to climb down.

Up he climbs, almost to the top of the tree.  He has never seen a view like this before. All he had ever seen was what was in his village. Now he could see for miles.  He could see smoke rising from the village where he was headed, and the villages beyond.  What a view! What a great perspective.

He could not see the road so he decides he had better climb down. He thanks the ants for this wonderful adventure and carefully climbs down the tree.

When he gets to the bottom and looks around, it all looks different. The ground around the tree is different. The bushes and briars are different.  His clothes bag and sack of food are gone. He could not see the road at all. It is as though he has come down a different tree.  Where is he?  Fear filled his heart and mind.  What is he going to do?

He looks for the road. No matter what direction he goes, there is no road.  All he sees are bushes and briars. A howl breaks out.  What was that? It sounds so close. In his village, the wolves were far away. Now they sound very close.  He doesn’t want to stay where he is.