Guy--Part Forty-Seven

Splog # 193

Forty-Seven

 Splog was playing a quiet and slow tune upon his fiddle and after a short time people began passing through the clearing in a kind of procession.Guy looked to either side but couldn't get a clear view of where they were coming from or going to. They appeared at the edge of the woods, strolled casually across the clearing and passed into the woods again. Three young couples had passed as Guy absent-mindedly explored his surroundings, but a fourth young couple arrested  his attention in its wandering. There was something strangely familiar about them. He knew that he knew them. But what could they be doing here? The ma and woman, barely out of their teens, both turned to him and gave a warm smile. Guy was too caught up in the mystery of what he was seeing to offer much of a response and then the couple were gone. Next came four children walking in single file. There were two girls and two boys and they seemed totally engrossed in their surroundings, trying to examine everything above, below and on all sides. Each of them at some point glanced at Guy and his companions but seemed too preoccupied by everything else to spend much time on them. There seemed a break in the procession after the four children and then a young woman appeared in a white dress carrying a rabbit in her arms. Behind her came two very tall men, one with dark brown skin and short curly dark hair and the other with long straight yellow hair and fair skin. The lighter of the two had a sword hanging in a scabbard around his waist. Behind them came a double row of people of all colors and ages, chanting a song of some type that gave a rhythm to their trides. In the midst of them, a young girl holding a red feather waved to him as she passed by. And another couple at the end of the file caught his eye. The woman was wearing a cloak of varied gray and white colors and the colors seemed to blend into each other as she moved. Immediately behind these people, a doe delicately picked its way as though it too was part of the group and a large frog seemed to be struggling mightily to keep up with it, now heaving itself forward in ng leaps and now awkwardly shuffling its rubbery limbs along the ground. Again there was a pause in the procession and then some butterflies flew into view. Slowly, there followed two ladies of indeterminate age, both clothed in long flowing robes. The one closest to Guy was all in red including a veil on her head that almost covered her face, and the other was all in white. They were holding hands and moved with a measured tread looking straight ahead and nowhere else. Butterflies, who all seemed to be either red or white, floated around them, never moving very far off. Not far behind came a boy and girl in their late teens or early twenties. the girl was wearing a light blue dress and the boy, a t-shirt and jeans. They were also holding hands and, to Guy's surprise, they waved shyly to the woman standing beside him, who put her hand up in greeting.