Lil

Not far from the home of Lil'Owl lives a lively gnome named Eddie. Eddie is Eric's twin brother and they both enjoy wandering the forest and fields around Boubliwae Falls. Eddie is a very cheerful gnome who loves music and poetry. Whether snapping his fingers to some newly created tune, or humming along side a swarm of honey bees, Eddie is usually heard before he is seen!

On this particular morning, Eddie is laden down with a rucksack filled with wool, bulrushes and milkweed flax that he has been collecting for Sarah. He strides very fast while humming an age old rhyme; however, he has changed the words from those that I remember from my childhood. Eddie is able to travel exceptionally long distances and adjusts his speed by the particular tune he chooses to sing or hum. If you or I were to hear Eddie we would likely think it the warble of a bird. His distinctive lilt is known to all the wee folk who reside near the Boubliwae Brook.

Eddie's quick pace causes him to draw air into his throat through his rather large nose, which would induce his ears to tingle and turn rosy-red. Eddie weaves upward, through the woodland and plunges along winding mossy and bark-strewn paths running between the narrow aisles of cedars and other forest trees. He wanders into spiderwebs flecked with diamond dew drops; past bluejays and butterflies suddenly all a-flutter; along never ending trails created by scampering hares. On the edge of the forest Eddie often encounters leaves up to his knees, burrs attach themselves to his woolen clothes, as he makes his way along the well worn paths leading through brambles. Now this may sound like a wilderness to you or I, but to Eddie it is wealth, and he never tires of launching himself through it to collect some of nature's bounty for Sarah.

Eddie's routes varied, but usually his destination was the same; the tranquil place of the wild sheep. He would arrive famished, parched and gloriously exhausted! Before leaving home Eddie fills his rucksack with cheese, nuts, fruit and wine to enjoy while relaxing amid autumn scents. Eddie would feast, while leaning against one of the majestic giant red cedars, drawing in through his nostrils the blessed aromas of the Boubliwae Forest. Then he would go about gathering tufts of wool from wild sheep. Eddie often visited with the longhorn sheep that travel down, from the tall rock cliffs, to forage on the rich clover covered ground by the banks of the Boubliwae Brook.

With his woven rucksack full and a song in his heart; Mildred in his pocket and followed by some busy bees; Eddie makes his way to Sarah's house snapping his fingers and humming...