The Story Traveler
Bond is the traveller. By clicking "Post Your Answer", you acknowledge that you have read our updated terms of service , privacy policy and cookie policy , and that your continued use of the website is subject to these policies. Home Questions Tags Users Unanswered. Story by a traveler who goes town to town eating interesting meals Ask Question. Other than this being "horror" themed, what makes this Science Fiction or Fantasy related? What was the time frame of the setting? Driving his car or riding a bus town to town?
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Sign up using Email and Password. So August gave his foster son some money when he was eighteen years old. With this, Oresto bought a lot of hay and sold it at a good profit.
Then Oresto bought and sold more hay, and more hay. In a short time he was able to buy a horse and wagon.
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The business went very well indeed. Good fortune seemed to smile on the little house, but tears were still often shed at the memory of the lost daughter, whom her parents had not been able to forget in spite of Oresto's presence. Now and then, Nina's look became gloomy and when Oresto would come home he often found his mother for so he called her in great distress. He wanted so much to comfort her. The young man would have given half his life if he could have found out what fate the poor little girl had met.
Meanwhile, Oresto had built himself a pretty little house on a hill with a lovely lawn around it, and asked his foster parents to move over and live in it. So August gave up his wine business. Every day he stayed at home and enjoyed working in the garden beside his good wife, and almost all the time they talked about their young son. One Sunday, as they were all three at dinner, they heard a knock at the door. Oresto went out, and came back to tell August and Nina that a traveler was outside and was asking for a place to stay and rest for a little while.
The three of them welcomed him in. The traveler was an old man with gray hair, and wore a big straw hat, which hid his whole face. Then he placed his large walking staff in the corner and looked round him. Oresto brought a plate and placed it before the guest. The traveler answered quietly, "I'm afraid I cannot tell you very much, dear lady, for I have been sick more than a year, and it is only a few days since I came out of the cave where I live.
They did not talk about this any more during the rest of the meal, and it seemed as if they all intentionally spoke of ordinary things, because they did not wish to pry. Later, when they were all sitting around the hearth, Nina looked into the fire, as she was accustomed to doing, and cried out suddenly: Whatever has become of my poor little girl!
The traveler then asked with interest if they had had a daughter. Nina told him of that terrible occurrence, and how they later adopted Oresto in their child's place. The traveler listened to her with growing attention, now and then wiping drops of sweat from his forehead, to the great surprise of August and Oresto, to whom it seemed as if the room were rather cold rather than warm.
Frequently the traveler interrupted Nina to question her about certain details.
When Nina had finished her story, the old man seemed as pale as a stone and stared steadily at Oresto. Then he collapsed and fainted. I'll make up a bed so that he can lie down. Oresto carried the stranger in his arms to the bed, and laid him carefully upon it. The old man's eyes opened, and he gazed around him as if in surprise.
Then he went to sleep. Apparently he slept well the whole night, for at daybreak he was up and ready to leave. Oresto, who was also up at dawn to sell his hay in town that day, climbed up on his wagonload of hay, and drove his horse into town. But great was his surprise to see the old traveler standing before him in the middle of the road. The old man called him by name and asked him to stop. You could tell anything in their presence you wish to say to me. I have a secret which weighs heavily on my heart, and which I must share with you.
And sooner or later you must hear where you came from. Oresto stared at the old man. The cave was only a few steps away. Oresto tied the horse and went with the stranger inside.
The cave was dark, with only a bit of sunshine from outside. Finally the stranger spoke. I cannot repay them my whole life long as I would like to, for all the kindnesses they have shown me. Oresto gave a great cry. Enraged with anger, he lifted his hand to strike the old man, but catching sight of his gray hair, and remembering his promise, he lay down his hand.
At the same instant the back wall of the cave opened. A beautiful fairy appeared in a blaze of light, who pointed at the old man with her finger. It was as dark as before. Oresto felt as if someone had struck him on the head with a hammer. That was his father, the one who said he had stolen his foster parents' little girl?
He had to feel himself over several times to make sure that his head was still on his shoulders. And yet, suddenly there came over him an endless love for this old man, missing for so many years, who at this moment looked like a living picture of misery.
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Oresto fell down on his knees and said, "Oh, father, pardon me that I did not hear the call of blood before. The traveler grasped his shoulders, pressed him to his heart, and said, "Oh no, not you, it is I who must ask for forgiveness. I beg you to have compassion on my wrong deeds, which I am only now trying to set right. Take in what I say, my son, and I hope you will understand. A man cannot successfully strive against the laws of nature.
This is the story that the old man told: The thought that some time everyone must meet the same fate, and go out of this life into the mystery of the grave, it terrified me. I would have sold my soul to the devil if he had promised me everlasting life on earth. I worried that if I should die before her, she might marry again, and in my poor mind this doubt grew until it caused me fearful anxiety.
I went to the crafty wizard and he promised me that he would guarantee me a life of two hundred years if I would make an agreement with him. I was delighted, and hastily accepted all his conditions. He said, 'You shall marry Anita that was the name of your mother ; but the first child the two of you have shall belong to me. I live in a crystal palace at the bottom of the Adriatic Sea, and you can get to it only through an underwater cave called the Dolphin Gallery.
Bring the child to me there. Here is the key and the plan. As I didn't know at that time what a father's love is, I thought the agreement of little importance. I cheerfully signed the contract the wizard handed me. My only thought was to marry Anita as quickly as I could and have a long life with her. But before the wizard let me go he said, "Beware: If you do not fulfill this agreement, you will die at once, and so will your wife and child. But soon my suffering began.
When you were born, your mother noticed that I was not overjoyed, as she had hoped. I could not, and would not, tell her about the agreement with the wizard, and it made me miserable to think that the poor little thing, for which I would have gladly given everything, must pay for the long years I had bargained for myself.
My love for you, son, was boundless. When you grew bigger, I almost forgot the horrible contract. It seemed as if I was the luckiest man in the world.
We are a collective of visual storytelling artists with a passion for sharing genuine travel experiences through the art of film and photography. The Traveler is a New York Times bestselling novel by John Twelve Hawks. The Dark . said that John Twelve Hawks is "a gifted storyteller, makes this surreal and vaguely supernatural good-versus-evil story entirely believable." About.
My trifling earnings were hardly enough to keep us alive, but I didn't care about that. My riches were seen in your eyes, your wonderful eyes, which you used to look at me when you began to call me Father. One night the terrible wizard appeared. He reminded me of the agreement. He threatened me, your mother and you with death if I did not bring him the child immediately.
The next morning, I woke up and you were both sick with fever. I understood the warning. Almost crazy with fear, I wrote a few words to my dear wife Anita, saying that I was going away to look for better luck, and that sooner or later I would come back. Instantly, I decided to steal the girl, give her to the wizard instead of you, and then to go home again to my wife. And so, I'm afraid that that is what I did.
I tried in vain to quiet her. The wizard knocked on the glass wall of his dwelling, and there appeared a beautiful talking doll, which made little Cecilia quiet again. This is what I named her and call her to this day. I stammered, 'Thank you, sir; but I do not wish any other reward than the two hundred years of life that you promised.