The Hero of the Return

I love reading hero stories. I love seeing how many ways the structure of them can be played out.

They all begin, of course, with a wasteland, and people forced into living lives of desperation. until one of them hears the call, and sets out on her (or his) adventures, looking for a way out of the desperation and hopelessness of living in that wasteland.

And so, the hero sets out, faces the dreaded Guardians of the Threshold who will be the first to test the potential hero by attempting to refuse her entry into the Land of Adventure, but of course, she overcomes them. She hasn't long to rest, though, because her trials and tests have just begun. She soon finds that she cannot succeed completely on her own, and that is when the helpers begin to appear: foster parents, friendly animals, magical weapons for fighting against the Dark Powers. She will go through all the steps, reaching the nadir of the journey and fighting the dragon, Holdfast, who would refuse her determination and right to take this journey, to gain the treasure.

But she cannot be stopped. The treasure is won; the healing elixir is given into her charge.

And now she earns the freedom to live her life on her own terms - as she chooses, and the prince becomes her consort, and the two of them finish the journey together.

For now, she knows that it is time to return to that wasteland community with the treasure and elixir that will restore the land to its full glory, turning it into fertile green fields that can be plowed and planted with the stuff of life itself. She has been given the healing elixir, and she now knows how to use it - how to make the community grow again, so that the people there will all do their part in having a place that is theirs and where everyone in it can thrive. She has brought back the secret of interdependence. She has brought back the stories that she learned, and has found a way to share them.

She has been given another gift by the gods of the journey to aid her now that she has returned.

A tiny four-legged creature, a little babe of a long-haired dachshund she calls Wooffer.

As Wooffer's Mom, she shares the secrets of the survival and thriving of the true community - the place where all the creatures belong and share equally in the gifts and the responsibilities of the community of Wooffer's Woods.

She has become a Master of Two Worlds, the world of humans, and of the higher realm of the animals who have never lost the secrets, and who help her to tell their stories, as a master storyteller for the lowly human race, as she ws taught it by her learned animal guides.

Ann

Oh, Ann,
What beautiful words. I was just writing to you about the inside out and the outside in.

I am speechless.

Love,
Betty

The human spirit has a resilient, tough, hard as nails shell.

Children do have a magic power. I agree with that. Like a phoenix, their spirit can emerge from ashes. Children have the power to spin cocoons and come out as butterflies. I imagine that is what saves the human race and every new generation. Every day is a new day.

Love,
Betty