Walk Through the Saga

Monday, February 22, 2010

Chapter-2 The Water

He woke up early in the morning. The hut was peaceful in the dawn. At normal times he would have slept on and on till he was hungry. But today he was disturbed in his sleep so he decided what-the-hell, he would get up. He bathed in the pond nearby. He hadn't bathed decently in a while so took time to swim around and blush away his sleepiness. The sun was good on his skin and he gazed absentmindedly at the sun. He remembered focusing on the sun before in his child-hood. He was determined to know what was causing it to glow and he had stood staring at it for hours. Since then he had always had problem in his vision. He wondered what the sun could have done to his eyes. Well he had learned to manage though. It was never an issue.
The water was growing warmer. The pond was no beauty but it had its own share of pleasure. There were less people snooping around here. The solitude was always wonderful to him. He remembered the swimming lessons he was forced to endure in the beginning. It was unlike this, it was an ancient well used to irrigate the fields in a village he had never been before. It was a strange place to begin with. Even professional swimmers would be stupid enough to take it easy. The depth is unimaginable. He was 18 then and like every teenager he was up for the challenge. Well-blow-my-horns .,even the local children half his age jumped in fearlessly. That's the sort of thing he was always amazed to hear. How come people do such things?Risk their lives for mere pleasure? while the rest of the human species looks in awe. It was then that he realized that there were two kinds of people in this world-the ones that entertain and the others who observe. Growing with a particular exposure for a while makes us master of the art. The key factor is the exposure. He wanted to gain all the exposure he could get. He wanted to learn all the languages in the world. He wanted to travel to all the places in this world and maybe beyond.

He came back to reality. A fish had slapped water at him. He realized he was turning soar with water. Grabbed his cloak and headed back to the hut. His friends were still sleeping. They were accompanying him to the grand master of Taiiko. The master was the best in the art for hundreds of miles and he had left his family behind with his friends to master the art. The art itself is no kungfu stuff. It involves keeping our heads straight, learning the ancient scrolls by heart and keeping discipline. He had his language training in English when in his native place.
His father had a business which maintains the properties of others. He worked under the king's administration and reported to a minister in the king's court. The wage and income was fair enough. The people where happy under the king's rule. Well... at the least some people. His mother had given up raising duties long before and went to help father's business. His brother was still with them having his basic education. He was seven years younger than him. His mother had great difficulty to conceive and had to literally move mountains during pregnancy. So naturally he was their favorite. Another important attribute of this family is that they move a lot. Believe it or not the family had shifted 18 houses so far in five different towns. An astrologer had predicted that his mother had that luck of houses. They were not a superstitious family but the fact did happen. They had their very own house in their native town, Ustka.Its a small place near the baltic sea. It was the only favorable port of Slavs later came to be called as Poland.

In the early centuries AD there lived many groups or tribes, including the Celts, Balts, Scythians, Huns, Goths, and Germanic peoples.  It is believed that the Slavs arrived in the 6th or 7th century when several different Slavic tribes settled in the area.  By the mid-10th century, the Polania tribe became dominant.  Legends say that the chief, Piast, united the groups into one cohesive unit, naming it Polska (Poland).  This region became Wielkopolska, or Greater Poland. During the 14th century, the Polish crown was passed on to 10-year old Jadwiga.  Poland formed an alliance with the pagan Lithuania when young Jadwiga married Duke Jagiello of Lithuania.  Jagiello converted to Christianity and becomes Wladyslaw II Jagiello, ruling from 1386-1434.  The union increased Poland's boundaries dramatically and created an alliance with Lithuania that lasted for 400 years.During this time there were many wars against various enemies (Teutonic Knights, Tatars, Russia, the Ottoman Empire).  However, the country prospered economically, culturally, and spiritually. The Polish Parliament, or Sejm, unified Poland and Lithuania into one state.  Royal succession is now based on election by the Sejm, including allowing foreign candidates for consideration.  The decision was disastrous for Poland, and during the period of the Royal Republic, only four out of eleven kings were native Poles.The Sejm then guaranteed religious equality.  Roman Catholics, Jews, Protestants, Orthodox Christians, and Muslims all were living together in Poland in peace. It was the dawn of the golden era for Poland. It was the 16th century and Edward " The Knight " Solomon was determined to make it even bigger.

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