Cenwulf was a reluctant leader warlord and teacher in ancient Britain. Orphaned at an early age he was forced to flee into the wilds for his own survival. Some say his own people forced him away, out of greed, spite and envy. We may never know the true reason. Gradually Cenwulf slowly began to overcome the long hungry nights full of fear and loneliness. Cenwulf even began to embrace this solitude and the rhythms of nature.
Cenwulf believed he would never return to his people. So set about learning to thrive in his new wild environment. It was at this time that the young Cenwulf was visited by a stranger. This stranger told him that he must return home and help his people. This stranger frightened Cenwulf, he feared going back and the strange man was weird. The stranger was old, but youthfully strong. Spoke plainly but seamed to have all the knowledge in the world. He wore an antler headdress that he never removed, and his clothing mysteriously changed to whichever environment he was in. Cenwulf had the nagging suspicion that he might be mentally ill. Not just a bit stressed or suffering anxiety, but full blown mad. Cenwulf wondered if he was absent from a secure homestead somewhere and had been reported as a missing person to the local druids. Cenwulf decided he had better flee and hide from this bewitched character.
The stranger could track Cenwulf wherever he was. Cenwulf also noticed the mysterious man, had the ability to move through the forest without leaving a trace of his presence. Cenwulf decided to move to the hardest, most uncomfortable exposed land he knew off, calculating that that the stranger would starve or leave before he would. But the stranger could hunt and forage with abundance, even in the hardest conditions, where it seamed nothing to eat could be found. He was to be able to sleep comfortably anywhere at will, despite the cold and driving rain of a North Atlantic winter. He could start a warming fire anywhere, as if by will alone. Cenwulf cold, hungry and exhausted (but still very protective of his own personal space,) finally asked the stranger, what he wanted from him.
The stranger began teaching Cenwulf everything he knew in preparation for his return. Cenwulf lernt to hunt, forage, build shelters, predict the weather, find medicine and healing herbs. The stranger taught him how to build fires in all conditions, and how to find peace and solstice in nature. He even taught Cenwulf knowledge of reading and writing.
The stranger told told Cenwulf it was time he returned to his people, the same people who mistreated him and caste him out. The journey back was long and exhausting, as they approached the edge of village, Cenwulf turned to ask the stranger what the actual plan was, only to find the stranger had disappeared. Seriously! thought Cenwulf, angrily and to himself.
Now Cenwulf had to face his enemies alone. But this time it was different. Cenwulf released he didn’t need their approval or acceptance. He had new found confidence, from the knowledge that the could survive and find happiness in nature. He didn't need them or their poxy village, he wasn’t bothered what the though off him, it didn't matter, and maybe it never really did. Cenwulf didn't need anything from anyone else. He decided to walk into the village with confidence and self possession, he would calmly tell his tormentors, “thank you, if it wasn’t for your small minded vindictive selfishness, I would never have grow into who I am now”.
As he walked through his old village, he noted that the people looked hungry and inappropriately dressed. That’s inappropriately dressed for the cold weather, he wasn’t being all judgy about how people expressed themselves through choice of clothing generally. Cenwulf noticed a group of small children fighting over of bits of a manky old turnip. The adults faces looked angry, dejected, and as helpless as their children. The people where struggling, their leaders had failed them. The same cruel people that had targeted Cenwulf, had now made life miserable for everybody else.
Cenwulf found the group of leaders and their hangers on, sat around a fire in the middle of the village. They seamed unable to understand that they were failing. They were even burning some children clothes to keep the fire warm for themselves. And because their lackeys depended on the leaders for their food and place in the village they dared not say anything, in case they lost what little they had. Cenwulf took a long careful look at them, sighed sadly, and knew then what he had to do. He knew then why the stranger has sought him out, Cenwulf knew he had to teach the others in the village what the stranger had taught him. At that moment, when he could just walk away and forget about them all, Cenwulf decide to stay, and in doing so, realised he had won. But what a sad victory it was.
