As the Fool walked across the field of wheat, he started to smell smoke. Worse than just wood smoke – it smelled like something burning. He then spotted a small column of smoke heading in his direction on the wind. Small dandelion pods began falling from the sky and into the golden field of wheat.
A man appeared. He was carrying large rods over his shoulder, and the rods were on fire. He was walking with purpose.
We ran out of fire at the fort, the man said as he passed, so I went out until I found this lightning-struck tree.
The Fool walked with the man for a bit. His back could feel the heat from the fire on the burning sticks. The man carrying the sticks was sweating from the endurance and the heat.
I have to also make sure that none of this wheat catches fire, the man went on, or we’d lose all of our food this winter.
The Fool could see embers landing in the wheat behind the man, but luckily, so far, they hadn’t caught the wheat on fire.
The fort was a mile from where they were, so the Fool followed the man and stepped on any embers that fell off the sticks. The smoke went right into his eyes, causing him to strain to see the threatening embers. The Fool could smell burning hair as the fire got closer to the man’s head.
I would run, the man said, but I might put out the fire – or worse, I might drop it into this dry grain field.
Slow and steady, the Fool thought.
Since the fort was in the middle of a large open space, it seemed close, but as the man and the Fool walked, it never looked like they had gotten any closer. The column of smoke rose into the air that was already thick with dandelion pods floating down into the field. The Fool thought about how, next spring, that field would have little yellow flowers everywhere.
Finally, the fort became closer. They could see people running out to help the man. They each grabbed a burning log off of the man’s back and brought the smoldering wood into the fort to restart the fires.
Thank you, the man said to the Fool. Did you want to come in?
No thank you, the Fool responded. My journey ends over there. The Fool pointed to the horizon as wind created waves in the golden wheat. As he walked away he started to smell the cooking of meat and he was happy that he had helped.