The Man

Once upon a time, there was a man who woke up one day and found himself in the wilderness. He knew he was no longer in his country, because the plants that were growing about were not from his childhood. He was no longer at home and no longer with the people he knew. He did not know where he was and what was he supposed to do there. So he set out to find out.

He sat down in a corner to think of how he would find out what he was supposed to do. He decided that he needs to take care of his daily needs, and see to how he could maintain his life, so that he could comfortably establish what he was supposed to do there.

He decided that he had to first find food and water, and to build himself shelter. He built a makeshift hut and realised that it wouldn't last, so he built a sturdier hut that could weather the storms should the storms come. After that, he thought he should make himself some new clothes because he would need to go and meet people and interview them and establish his location. Surely he must appear presentable. If he were to wear the same clothes everyday he would look like a beggar. This made him think of how winter might be coming, and he did not have enough warm clothes. In this fashion, he took some time and he went about preparing for his livelihood, so that he could comfortable establish what he was supposed to do there.

He had not met anybody so far, and sat down and thought that he should travel to go and meet people who could tell him where he was and what he was supposed to do.

He thought about how he was going to approach the people, recalling what he remembered of the town he lived in, he realised that everybody would seem to have a purpose. The bun seller was a bun seller, and the innkeeper was an innkeeper. He had nothing to offer, and surely, in the foreign town he was headed towards, people would not be obliged to talk to him. So, he decided to establish himself as something first, and started to train himself in carpentry. By the time he was pleased with his craft, he built a stock of stools that he could carried to town to sell. He thought he could use the money to repay people as well. He was unable to carry with him his entire wardrobe, so he left most of his clothes in the hut that he built. That should be alright, he thought, because it seemed that the land did not have the four seasons, and there was no winter.

Finally, he met people, but it turned out that the people were primitive and barbaric. They grunted and ate raw meat and did not live in huts and did not sit on stools. He could not talk to them, much less establish where he was. Scared that he would be killed for his fancy clothings and foreign manner, he took off his clothes and abandoned his wares and joined the yahoos, thinking that he would try to understand them so that he could eventually communicate with them. Soon, with his day-to-day association with the people, he lost himself and his agenda.

One night, a snake came to the man in his dream, and reproached him for wasting his life and efforts. That was the first time in a long time that he had any conversation in a language. He felt bad for being reproached and defended that he did not ask to be put in this strange land, and he did not know what he was supposed to do. When he woke up, he felt very angry, and took a stick and went out to hunt for snakes, intending to beat them. But before he found any snakes, he was distracted by the crowd gathering about a fire, that somebody had apparently discovered. The man forgot about beating snakes and what he was supposed to do again.