The Pantaloon : Yuletide – The Return Of The Oak King : Brother Wagwit

The Pantaloon
Edited by Brother Wagwit
Earlyish in the 21st Century

Yuletide – The Return Of The Oak King

It was a cold winter night, well into the iron age. In a clearing in the middle of a forest, an old man –having bagged a deer earlier in the day– dug a pit and threw in a few small branches and twigs. From a leather pouch he pulled out a flint and struck his knife. A spark, a flame, and soon a promising bonfire. He then carefully cradled a large oak log between a pair of deer antlers he had stuck in the ground. The log was suspended just an inch or two above the center of the fire pit, the best to get a good char so it would burn slowly throughout the night. As the old man sat down to enjoy the warmth, a pair of travelers, a man and a woman, walked up and asked if they too could sit by the fire for the night. The old man readily saw that the travelers were good folk, and invited them to join him. They warded away the cold, tucking into slices of deer meat roasted over the fire. The next morning at dawn, the travelers shared nuts and dried fruit with the old man, remarking admiringly on the cradling of the hefty oak log, and how well it kept the fire alive all night. The travelers then asked the old man if he would tell them his name. The old man smiled, tugged on his beard and said: My name is Yule. He then chuckled, wished the travelers a safe journey and waved as he headed down a path into the forest, pulling a wooden sled, carrying the deer antlers over his shoulder.

Meanings are meaningless without proper understanding