After a deep but unrestful slumber, I awoke to find myself in a dark wood. I cannot account for exactly how I came to be in this gloomy place. It is a hard thing to grasp even now.  As I look back to that dark encampment, my heart quickens at the knowledge of what is to follow.  

After many hours of climbing through the dense thicket, I chanced upon a path that lead through the gloom to a valley whose hilltops glistened in the morning sunlight.  As I trod over a small hillock to the opening of the valley, I spotted a jackal some distance ahead in the path before me.  I stopped to rest for a while and ponder the situation. As I rested, the fearful animal disappeared into the tall grass of the glade.  Having lost some of my weariness, I again took to the sinuous path in the direction of the now rising sun.

The day wore on and the shadows retreated to their origin under the noonday sun. I began to notice large, flat field stones along the path.  As I continued my journey, they became greater in number and were festooned with a great many lichen encrusted runes. The stones were partially buried and had evidently been organized at some time in the distant past.  I am familiar with many styles of writing and symbols, but these marks were decidedly odd. Not only were they unfamiliar, but they were chisled by a hand accustomed to a wholly different way of using language.  I found one particularly large stone with a great many markings on it.  As I looked at the marks, I stepped around it to view the runes from different directions, trying to ascertain some form of structure and syntax.

What could these stones represent? After some time, I began to note that certain markings were found elsewhere, though in different combinations. Perhaps through inattention I wandered from the path for some distance into the glade.  Finally, shaken from the enchantment of these stones I tried to regain my bearings. I struck off in the direction of a nearby col in the mountains, hoping to intercept the path by sundown. 

As I broke a trail through the high grass a moving shape caught my attention.  It was on the left side of my view and may have only been a bird taking flight from a shrub. I had nearly forgotten about the curious animal I spotted earlier in the day, so the movement startled me.  Was it a shy visitor or a predator? Trying to take my mind off this unpleasant topic, my mind returned to the runes. What could they be saying?

[With apologies to Dante Alighieri- Th’ Gaussling]