Chapter Twenty-One

UST AS THE SUN ROSE over the eastern horizon, the donkey began to bray a complaint of hunger and Steven awoke to find Madame Selah Welinska wrapped in his arms beside the dying embers of last night’s fire. She stretched luxuriously turned her face toward him and smiled, then snuggled back down into his arms. He gently extracted himself from her embrace and went to tend the braying donkey.

When he reached the animal he discovered that it was tethered just out of reach of a tasty batch of thistles. He unfastened the lead and let the donkey graze on the thistles.

“I don’t know why I bothered to tether you,” Steven said as he reached for sand and weeds to curry the back of the donkey while it ate. “You never go anyplace and I don’t know why you are with me.”

“That is easy,” said Madame Selah Walinska coming up beside him. “You’ve brought him to rescue a maiden in distress.” She pointed at her cart and for the first time Steven noticed that it had a harness, but that the gypsy had no animal with which to pull the cart.

“What happened to your draft beast?” Steven asked, not knowing if had been pulled by donkey, horse, or ox.

“I was careless,” said Selah. “I did not securely tether the donkey and when I awoke one morning it was gone. I searched as far as I could from here without leaving my few possessions behind, but to no avail. The poor beast was probably eaten by coyotes or taken as a stray by a caravan all the way back at the Tasmyrica fork.”

“I bought a horse in Byziatica,” said Steven. “When I awoke, I had a donkey who docilely follows me wherever I go. If you would like, we can share his labors and hitch him to your cart. I have little to carry and the donkey is strong.”

“The donkey, the donkey,” said Selah. “Doesn’t the poor fellow have a name?”

“No,” Steven said. “I suppose not.”

“Then he shall have one from me,” she replied. She stepped to the side of the donkey and it turned to nuzzle her gently. “Ah yes, faithful creature,” she said. “You have come to the aid of this weary traveler. Would you take as payment the name of Xandra?” Steven was certain he saw the animal bob its head up and down in agreement as if he understood. From that moment the donkey was known as Xandra.

After they had breakfasted and cleaned their camp, they hitched Xandra to the cart. Steven placed his pack in the cart along with the gypsy’s belongings, and they struck out southeastward on the road.

“How shall we entertain ourselves on the road, Steven George the Dragonmaster?” Selah asked as they walked companionably along with the donkey leading the way. “Shall we tell stories?”

“Do you mean to Once Upon a Time each other?” Steven asked. He had not bothered to offer to trade stories since the night with the thief, and was not sure that he could tell a story now that his possessions had been stolen.

“Once, twice, or as many times as you like,” said Selah. “Come now, what story would you like to hear from me?” she asked.

“I should like to know about Xandra,” said Steven. “How did you come by this name to give to our fine friend?”

The Endless Road

NCE UPON A TIME, at the beginning as stories go, there lived a great bricklayer named Xandra. Xandra was a fine craftsman and was in great demand throughout the land in which he lived. People said that the houses he built were built to last forever. The walls he made would never come down. People wanted Xandra to build them houses. The king wanted him to build a wall around the city. The liveryman wanted Xandra to build a stable, and the clergyman wanted him to build a church.

Xandra was a proud and vain man. The buildings and walls that he built were strong and beautiful. He took care and pride in his craftsmanship. As the city grew with houses and garden walls, churches, palaces, stables, and inns, people found themselves more and more often needing to go around the very wals that he had built in order to get from one place to another. They would meet each other and say “I would have been here sooner, but I had to go around Xandra’s walls.”

During the dry season one year, the winds picked up and encountered Xandra’s walls in the city. But the winds could not pass. Xandra proudly boasted that even the wind had to go around Xandra’s walls. With the wind came sand and tumbling weeds and scraps of clothing lost by careless travelers. All had to go around Xandra’s walls.

During the rainy season one year, the citizens discovered that the water, too, had to go around Xandra’s walls. The packed earth streets of his city began to run with water. The sand and weeds and scraps of clothing that collected in corners during the windy season were washed before the waters. The streets ran with mud and people had difficulty passing through.

Xandra boasted that even the water had to go around Xandra’s walls. People, however, complained. Many wanted to begin tearing down Xandra’s walls so that the wind and the water could pass more freely. But Xandra’s walls stood firm.

It was, however, in the early summer that things came to an unpleasant head. The sun that had shone so pleasantly on the people of the city could not go around Xandra’s walls. The walls had reached so high that only shadows fell upon the people of the city and they were sorely vexed.

But Xandra boasted that even the sun had to go around Xandra’s walls. He was proud of his accomplishment and thought to himself, “I am more powerful than the wind, stronger than the water, and more clever than the sun. Perhaps I should be the king.”

Now people became alarmed because Xandra was so boastful. Eventually news reached the king of Xandra’s boast and the king called together his council and they considered what should be done with the boastful bricklayer.

“If Xandra became king, we should all live within walls and never be free to move about,” said one councilor.

“If Xandra’s walls become any better, we shall all live within walls and never be free to move about,” said another.

But the king was wise and told his councilors that Xandra was to be summoned before the throne with all pomp and circumstance. Xandra was to be told that all the kingdom was to be called to witness the way the king honored the bricklayer. Then the king retired to his chamber taking none with him but the court jester.

Banners were flown from all the highest parapets. Heralds strolled up and down the streets of the city calling out the news. Everyone was summoned to the king’s presence on the appointed day to witness how the king would honor Xandra.

On the appointed day the people gathered in the courtyard of the brick palace. A great band of drums and bugles preceded Xandra through the streets and when he entered the courtyard, the people threw rose petals in his path. Boldly, Xandra strode up the steps to the king’s throne on a high dais where everyone could see him.

“Here ye, subjects loyal to the land,” the king’s herald shouted when Xandra had made the most perfunctory of bows. “The king wishes to honor the famous bricklayer Xandra. Xandra’s walls enclose the city, the palace, our cathedrals, and our homes. Mighty are the bricks of Xandra. The wind may not pass where Xandra has made a wall, but must go around. The water may not pass where Xandra has made a wall, but must go around. The sun may not pass where Xandra has made a wall, and must go around. Great are the walls of Xandra and great is the bricklayer Xandra!”

The crowds cheered and the king stood to give Xandra a laurel wreath to wear on his head. The crowds hushed as the king stretched out his hand. So all was silent when the jester began laughing uncontrollably. The king withdrew his hand with the laurel wreath still in it. Xandra turned bright red and glared at the insolent jester.

“What do you find so funny, jester?” bellowed the king.

“Why that you do such honor to a bricklayer,” said the jester. “He isn’t that great.”

“Does not the wind have to go around Xandra’s walls?” asked the king.

“Yes,” replied the jester.

“Does not the water have to go around Xandra’s walls?” asked the king.

“Yes,” replied the jester.

“Does not the sun have to go around Xandra’s walls?” asked the king.

“Yes,” answered the jester.

“Then is not Xandra great?” asked the king.

“Not so much,” answered the jester. Everyone waited in silence for the jester to continue, sure that he had overstepped his bounds. “Well, look,” said the jester. “The wind has to go around any wooden barn in its path. The water must part for any stone. And the sun cannot defeat any tree. If Xandra was to prove his greatness, he would build a wall that the earth could not pass. For look around you. The earth goes wherever it will.”

Now the crowd was silent. The king glared at the jester. Xandra glared at the jester. Then the king glared at Xandra.

“Is it true that the earth goes where it will and passes your walls without hindrance?” Xandra was silent in the presence of all. Then he spoke up.

“I shall not accept this honor the king has offered to me,” said Xandra. “I shall prove, first, that I am the greatest bricklayer of all time. I shall return to this dais when I have built a wall that the earth cannot pass.” And with that, Xandra left the king’s presence amid the silence of the crowd. When he was safely away, from the courtyard, the loyal subjects of the king let out a great cheer, for Xandra’s boasting had been silenced.

Now Xandra was upset. He went to his workshop made of brick. The walls were strong, but they sat upon the earth. The earth flowed where it would. Xandra kicked the wall and found how completely solid it really was. It did not yield to the wind, the water, the sun, or Xandra’s foot. But the earth went where it would.

Xandra examined all the walls he had built, and they were mighty. None would yield to the wind, the water, the sun, or Xandra’s foot. But the earth went where it would. For eight days, Xandra sat on the ground outside the city’s brick walls. He contemplated the wind. He contemplated the water. He contemplated the sun. He contemplate his injured foot. But most of all, he contemplated the earth. There was so much of it.

On the eighth day, Xandra rose from the shadow of the city’s brick wall and broke his fast. Then he went to his workshop and got his trowel and a load of bricks. He carted the bricks to the city gates and dumped them nearby. Then he returned for more, and more. With each load of bricks that he took to the city gates, people gathered to watch what the bricklayer would do next. When he had trundled eight loads of bricks to the city gates, Xandra set to work. He dug out a shallow path in the road before the gates and began to lay the bricks.

But, to the surprise of the people, he did not erect a wall like they had seen him build before. Instead, he lay a foundation along one side of the path, and built the wall horizontally. The higher he built it, the wider the brick path became. Soon, all the road before the city gates had been covered in brick. Xandra retired for the night and in the morning he toiled again and the path extended away from the city gates.

Each day, Xandra made the brick path a little longer until by the end of the eighth day, it extended to the horizon and it took a strong man half the morning to reach the end of it. Here, Xandra stayed and manufactured more bricks.

People coming toward the city with their carts, entered the gates exclaiming how easy it was to roll their carts along the brick road in front of the palace. They were so enthusiastic that the king went out on the road to where Xandra was making more bricks.

“Xandra,” said the king when they met, “this is a fine road you are building.” Xandra looked at the king.

“It is not a road sire,” he answered. “It is a wall that the earth must go around. Because the earth does not rise up in the air, the wall cannot be in the air. It must be a barrier to the very ground that would overwhelm it. When I have finished the wall around the earth, the earth will have to go around it and I will be the greatest bricklayer of all.”

And so the king let Xandra build, and people came to the cit from miles around because the road that led to it was paved with bricks and was easy to roll their carts on. The people extended the brick road into the city and when the water went around the walls, it no longer turned the streets to mud. The city and the king became wealthy beyond their dreams because people from all over the world wanted to walk on the brick road.

Xandra kept building his wall around the earth and soon he was lost to the memory of the people of the brick city. But to this day, he continues to build his wall, and we, the people of the road, follow it ever on-ward, for the road has no end.

“And that is why you have named the donkey Xandra?” asked Steven. “He travels the unending road.”

“Indeed he does,” said Selah. “As do we. As long as there is a road in front of us we will keep traveling, ever onward.” She scuffed her feet in the dirt of the road where they walked and in a moment had uncovered a series of bricks.

“It seems,” said Steven, “that the earth has gone around Xandra’s wall.” They laughed and continued on their journey together.

Chapter 20
Chapter 22