A wanderer, lost in a dense forest
Hi to everyone,
looking for an irish ballad that might have been the inspiration to this poem :
A wanderer, lost in a dense forest
on a stormy night
sees at a distance a light
dimly shining out of a lonely hut.
He knocks on the door,
enters and sees
a young boy, age nine, sitting at a fireplace.
- Greetings, my child!
- Greetings, stranger-replies the boy.
- Are you alone here?
And here the dialogue between the two begins :
- No. sir, we are seven :
father, mother, two brothers, two sisters
and myself.
- Where is mother?
- Mother died.
- Oh, then you are only Six, my child?
- No, sir, We are seven :
father, mother, two brothers, two sisters
and myself.
- Where is father?
- Father was killed in the war.
- Oh, then you are five only?
- No. sir! I told you we are seven :
Father, mother, two brothers, two sisters
and myself.
- And your brothers,
where are they?
- One died in an accident,
the other one was taken prisoner
and never returned.
- Then you are three, only three?
- No, sir, we are seven :
father, mother, two brothers, two sisters
and myself.
- Your sisters, where are they,
poor child?
- One drowned in the lake;
the younger one, coming to her rescue,
drowned too and perished in the water.
- Then, you are one only, my boy,
alone - aren't you?
- No, sir. we are seven in this hut :
father, mother, two brothers. two sisters
and myself.
Anyone recognizes? any ideas?
Thank you
Gilad.