The Fifth Tale - The Tale of Three Visitors - Part 2 - The Second Visitor - Day 18

The Tale of The Three Visitors (continued)

 

Part 2 The Second Visitor

The next morning Nicholas met Rein for breakfast. He told him all about the previous evening's excitement and the rescue of little Basil. 

    "Sinterklaas! You have the most amazing adventures. I am thinking that maybe I should go with you to Myra." 

    "Rein, I would love for you to walk with me to Myra. The journey is always more pleasant when it is shared." 

    And with that, it was settled. Rein and Nicholas paid their bill and began the long walk to Myra. Along the way they took notice of the flowers, the trees and even the grasses that grew alongside the road. They saw small rabbits, some mice and once a snake even slithered out of their way from where it had been sunning itself in their path. Around midday as they were talking, they looked up and saw that a third person had joined them. This person was about was no taller than their knees, with skin of deep brown just like Nicholas' skin. Their hair was the same deep brown and ran in waves across their head. When the sunshine hit it there were gleams of a reddish copper color in their hair. It was hard to tell if they were a boy or a girl because their hair covered their whole face. Rein stopped suddenly when he saw them.

    "Sinterklaas, you must introduce me to your friend." 

    "I would if I could but I do not know our visitor. Who are you and how may I help you?" 

    "I am a messenger and you must help them." 

    "Help who?" asked Nicholas

    "Listen." 

    Nicholas and Rein listened carefully. At first there was just silence, then they heard what sounded like birds singing. 

    "Ree-oo, Ree-oo, Chee-oo! Ree-oo, Ree-oo, Chee-oo" 

    "I don't hear anything but the birds singing." 

    "Yes, those are the Nightingales, singing to the Kingfishers. They need your help." 

    Now Nicholas was very confused. Nightingales were not a bird that were around singing in the middle of the day, and kingfishers and nightingales were completely different kinds of birds. They never sang to each other. 

   " I don't understand. "

    The visitor said nothing more but held out their hands. Rein took one, Nicholas the other and between one step and the next they found themselves at the cliff's edge where the river emptied into the ocean. There was a young girl standing there looking out at the horizon. 

    "Excuse me young lady, could you help us? Are there some nightingales around here?" 

    "Good afternoon Saint Nicholas," Nicholas was so famous by this point that everyone seemed to recognize him, "if you are looking for birds it is the wrong time of day. But if you are looking for the River Guard, they are over there." 

    "The River Guard?" 

    "Yes, here we have a River Guard to protect us from pirates. The men and women with the best eyesight stand up here and keep watch out to sea. They are the Nightingales. If they see something they cry out with a piercing cry, 'Ree-oo, Ree-oo, Chee-oo'. Then the strongest men and women hear them. Those are the Kingfishers. They rush down to the mouth of the river to close the gates and keep the invaders out. Listen, you can hear them now. "

    And she was right. The loud crying of " Ree-oo, Ree-oo, Chee-oo" was coming from down on the edge of the cliffs overseeing the river. 

    Nicholas looked over and could see a group of people down in the river struggling to push large gates to block off the entrance to the river. 

    "Look Sinterklaas! Look at the ocean!" 

    That is when Nicholas saw the danger that was heading their way. 

    Far out on the ocean was a large ship. Coming from that ship were what seemed like thousands of smaller boats, They each had only two or three men in them and they each had a sail. They were moving with the wind and the waves extremely quickly towards the village at the edge of the ocean. And on each sail was the image of a large grinning wolf. It was the Wolfpack. 

    "I hope my friends in the village hear the call," said the young girl. 

    Nicholas looked down and saw the villagers struggling on the path up the side of the cliff to get away from the pirates. The village was empty, everyone was coming up the path. Well, almost everyone. 

   " I told them to come up here. What are they doing?!", said the young lady at the cliff's edge. 

    Nicholas looked and saw three young people down in the village. They were sneaking amongst the houses, hiding from the raiders. It looked like they were taking advantage of all the villagers being gone. They snuck into the bakery and stole some bread. Just as a pirate entered the front door of the bakery, they escaped out the back. They then ran across to the fruit stand and began grabbing treats. Just as the pirates made it to the stand, they scooted underneath it and away. The young teens were laughing and making a commotion, having a great old time. 

    At the cliff's edge a woman cried out, "Oh no! Oh God no! God save my lamb from the wolf!" 

    "Mother, I am here, I am safe." It was the young lady that had been talking to Nicholas. 

    "Oh my dear daughter, I thought you were down there with your friends." 

    "No, I told them to come up here. It is so dangerous down there." 

    Nicholas looked back down at the village. The young people were now sneaking into the butcher's shop. What they didn't know is that the pirates had them surrounded. As the kids tried to sneak out the back door they ran into a group of pirates, who captured them, tied them up, and dragged them kicking and screaming down to the shore. Once there, they threw them into the little boats, and began rowing back to the pirate ship. 

    Nicholas ran. He did not stop to think, he did not form a plan, Nicholas simply ran down the riverbank, following the steep path the villagers had taken to the top. 

    "Sinterklaas! Sinterklaas! Where are you going." 

    But Nicholas was too far away to answer his friend. Nicholas ran down to the mouth of the river. There were a lot of boats that the Wolfpack pirates had abandoned as they were stealing in the village. Nicholas jumped into one. Right behind him, the strange visitor jumped into the boat as well. Nicholas set the sail and began sailing to the pirate ship, chasing the pirates that had taken the three youths. 

    Now, you may be wondering, if the wind was blowing the pirates to the shore, how could Nicholas use the wind to go in the opposite direction? Wouldn't he be going against the wind? If you had been on the riverbank and looked around, you would see that the pirates had to row their boats back to get back the ship, because the wind was now against them. Well, maybe there was a lonely breeze blowing off the river that only Nicholas could find, or maybe the visitor on the boat had magic powers, or maybe God just liked Nicholas, whatever the reason, he didn't stop to think about it. The wind filled the sail, and Nicholas sped toward the pirate ship. 

    As fast as he was going, he was not going to be able to catch the pirates that had kidnapped the three young people. They got to the ship before him, and bundled the children aboard. Nicholas couldn't catch them, but he was coming for them. 

    After what seemed like an extremely long time, but was actually only a few minutes, Nicholas was at the pirate ship. He grabbed ahold of one of the rope ladders the pirates used and climbed up into the boat, the visitor close behind. Finally, they jumped down onto the deck of the ship. Nicholas knew who was behind this, the head of the pirates. He loudly called out his name. 

    "Lycos! Lycos where are you!" Nicholas was using his most commanding voice. This was not the Nicholas that laughed and was jolly. This was a fierce and terrifying Nicholas. "Lycos, show yourself this instant!" 

    Lycos calmly walked over to where Nicholas was.

    "My dear Nick, how are you? What brings you by my merchant ship on such a fine day?" 

    "You mean your pirate ship, you thieving kidnapper!" 

    "Now, now, Nicky dear. Let's stop with the name-calling. What happened to that precious love you're always talking about. No need to be mean. We might borrow from these village people, but as you can see, they obviously want us to have their stuff. As soon as we show up they leave it all out for us to take. "

    Nicholas was not about to get into an argument with this man. He knew what kind of man he was, and the terrible things he had done. 

   " I will show you love, much greater love than you have shown to those around you. Just give me the children and then I will leave you alone. But I warn you, try to deceive me and things will not go well for you and your gang of bloodthirsty pirates." 

   " Oooo, such delicious threats. I am almost tempted to see what you think that you, an unarmed old man, can do to me, the leader of the Wolfpack. But the truth is, I don't know what you are talking about. As you can see, there are no children here. Just us 'bloodthirsty pirates' as you called us," and with that Lycos laughed and gestured around him. 

    Nicholas looked around. He could see quite a few pirates looking at him, some with hungry grins, some with angry stares. He could see the treasures stolen from villagers homes. He saw stacks of food, barrels of meat and water, and piles of clothes and jewelry. What he could not see is the three young teens that had been kidnapped in the village. 

    "What's wrong, Nicky-boy? Seems you have made a mistake? I think an apology is in order. You have accused us of being people that we are not. We are many things, but we are not kidnappers." 

    The pirates laughed and began carrying things into the hold. From the way they carried them, it was obvious that the clothing and the jewelry were just that, clothing and jewelry, baskets of fruits, big barrels of meat, water and pickles. 

    Nicholas thought to himself. Maybe he had been wrong. Maybe he hadn't seen what he thought he had. These were obviously bad people, but maybe that weren't kidnappers. Maybe he had made a mistake. 

    Clothes, jewelry, meat, water and... Pickles.   Wait, pickles? There were three barrels of pickles, but there were also pickles all over the deck. Pickles and pickle juice. Why were there pickles everywhere if the barrels were closed and sealed? 

    "You there, Stop!" shouted Nicholas. 

    Three men continued rolling the barrels of pickles toward the stairs to the storage area of the ship. 

    Nicholas walked with big heavy steps and stood in front of the stairs. 

    "I told you to stop! Open these barrels." 

    "Are you hungry now, little Nick? You sure you want a pickle, I've got some fresh oranges from Spain over here. They are nice and ripe?" 

    "Just open these barrels, Lycos!" 

    Lycos chuckled, "OK, fine, no worries. A pickle it is. Here," and with that he levered off the top of the first barrel. 

    Nicholas looked into the barrel, it was full to the brim of pickles. He swished his hand under the pickles...and found more pickles. 

    "Open the next barrel!" 

    "Picky Nicky. I guess the first ones aren't good enough. Ok, open another barrel." 

    The second barrel was the same as the first. Nicholas, of course, had them open the third barrel. It too was stuffed to the brim with pickles. Pickles and pickle juice. 

   " Now do you believe me Nicky-Nick? Grab yourself a pickle and be on your way. Unless you wish to join me? I am sure we can find something to do with you here in the Wolfpack." The pirates all laughed. They began to put the lids on the barrels. 

    "Wait," Nicholas held out his hand, "dump the pickles." 

    "Come on now. You can't expect us to waste these perfectly good pickles we've borrowed. These are good and fresh, why would we throw them all away?" 

    "I said to dump them." 

    Now, if you or I were standing on a pirate ship, surrounded by pirates that had weapons and we told them to do something they didn't want to do, they would just ignore us. But this was Nicholas, Saint Nicholas. Even when they didn't want to, people did what he said. Also, there was that strange visitor standing next to him. No one spoke to the visitor, but all the pirates felt a little afraid of them. 

    Lycos definitely didn't want to obey this old man. Over and over again Lycos had had big plans, and then this man had messed them up. He had tried to take Giorgios' daughters and Nicholas had stopped that plan. He had tried to get the three officers killed, and Nicholas had found a way to mess that up through dreams of all things. Now, he was the captain of a pirate ship and this old man was ordering him around. Lycos didn't want to do it, but then...he looked at Nicholas...and he looked at the strange visitor...and he found himself saying the one thing he absolutely didn't want to say. 

    "Dump the barrels." 

    The pirates looked at him. They looked at Nicholas. Then, one by one, they dumped the barrels. 

    The first barrel turned over and pickles and pickle juice flowed everywhere. Then the second barrel, more pickles, more pickle juice. Finally the third. Pickles and juice. No hiding children. 

    "Turn the barrels over." 

    The pirates turned each barrel right side up. 

    Nicholas looked in the first one. There, stuffed into the bottom of the barrel, tied up and with a rag stuffed in his mouth, was one of the children. Nicholas reached in and pulled him out. He quickly got the children out of the other two barrels. They weren't moving, they weren't breathing, they were just lying there like dead fish. 

    Nicholas reached his hands out and prayed. 

    "God, show these children love. As I love you and I love them, so bring them back to the ones they love." 

    As soon he was finished praying there was a gasp, followed by two more. Then even bigger gasps as all the pirates' mouths dropped obey and they began to stare. The three young people were breathing again. The strange visitor helped the young teens climb down the rope ladder and into the little boat Nicholas had arrived in. 

    Nicholas looked at at the pirates all around him. Then he looked at Lycos. 

   " You lied to me. You lied about the children. You have no love in your heart." Nicholas' eyes grew cold. Anger hardened his face. it was a scary sight. But then, a smile cracked through. His eyes began to twinkle. 

    "You have been called Lycos, the wolf, leader of the Wolfpack. Today I name you Kouneli, rabbit, leader of the Bunnies. May you learn what it is to be the prey and not the predator." 

    With that Nicholas climbed down to the boat and he and the visitor rowed the young teens back to the village and their families. 

    And what happened to The Wolfpack? Well, The Wolfpack never bothered any village ever again. There are many stories as to why and many people have many different reasons. Some say all the pirates that were there that day heard Nicholas and realized how bad they had been, and then they became meek and mild as bunnies. They never bothered anyone and learned how to love. That is one story that is told. 

    Other fisherman reported a different story, however. They said that sometimes they would find a pirate ship drifting out on the ocean, sails drawn wandering aimlessly. Whenever they would go on board the ship, there would be no one there, it would be empty, abandoned. No people there, but not exactly abandoned either. For all over the ship, in every nook and cranny, the whole ship was covered in...Bunnies.