The next weekend Matilda and Boromir found themselves in the car on the way to the mountainous county of Lika.
" Lets go over everything we know about your relatives" Suggests Boromir. " Apart from the surname"
" Well I know that grandmother is from a village called " The Wrong Path". Her mother was a type of village matriarch. She had a wolf instead of a dog. And once she took a thorn out of a Bear's paw, who knocked at her door"
Boromir was the rational type, these sorts of informations did not give him hope for discovery of any concrete facts, but Matilda was an archaeologist with an imagination, and to her legends where enough for her to dig in to a mountain and search until she does find something.
The journey from Zagreb to the south passed quickly and uneventfully until Matilda and Boromir found themselves on a narrow, cracked road in the midst of a Lika forest . They did not know exactly where they where heading, so they drove slowly and started to notice details. The day was beautiful, promising the beginning of spring. Along side of the road they encountered all sorts of wild birds, and their path was at one point crossed by a heard of trudging wild horses licking the salt of the asphalt. More than an hour they meandered trough the forest and mountains whiteout encountering man, until unexpectedly the forest opened up to a sun shine filled valley , spotted about with sheep and their Sheppard.
" We need to begin somewhere" Said Matilda.
" And it will do us good to stretch our legs" Added Boromir and stoped the car.
Matilda grabbed the thermos bottle and got out on to the road instantly provoking the territorial bark of the Sheppard dog.
" Good day" She wawed at the Shepard.
"Ooo! Yelled back the Shepard waving a great long stick. The Shepard dog started cantering towards the new arrivals barking threateningly.
" Don't mind the old Snake, she won't won't tear your whole legs off, maybe shekl take just a little bite. Not that many a stranger passes trough her field so she barks to let you know who it belongs to, and in case you dare to scatter her sheep, God knows she spends all day rounding them up"
" Hey snake" Boromir tries to befriend the dog who continues to run circles around them barking.
Matilda and Boromir start heading towards the Shepard frightening the anti social sheep to run for their lives. The sheppard was an old man ,weather beaten, with lines and crust around sharp and smiling eyes. " So whats brought you here? He asks the city kids." Yous got lost aren't you?"
" We are not lost, but are looking for something" Replies Matilda
And what in the good lord's name are yous looking for ? Old Wrong un, has eyes like a mag pie, where there anything shiny or worth while to be found here, it'd be sittin' in my pocket already".
Well we don't know exactly what we are looking for." Shrugs Boromir.
"Yous don't know what yous a looking a for, and still yous are a sniffin about the woods"..
Matilda pours hot coffee from the thermos into a cup and offers the sheppard to drink.
" Ouoogh. What an offer! Hot coffee in the middle of snow and field, appeared all by it self to an old man. Maybe ol Wrong un's gone bonkers, or yous two are fay men, come to play mischief on me and the ol Snake, come to enchant our sheep, and than wo ho ho all night, fays are roasting the sheep and dancing circles in the moonlight." The man slurps up the hot coffee with glee.
" We are no faeries" Laughs Matilda " I am looking to find out where my father's family comes from . The only thing is I don't know much about them.I know my grandma was from some village called " The Wrong Path", but I don't know if the places exists still".
" Oh. Why would there not be The Wrong path, no more? Well it hasn't withered unto the earth, and they aren't so good as to have them all lifted up to the heavens. Thous some of them thinks they is.Theres got to be a wrong path on this earth somewhere and God decided that this witchin wood is as good place to put it as any."
I ve' got a song for you from one man who comes from that path, named the Wrong path, to put you on the right path, or better said the Wrong path.The Old man chuckles at his own world play. "
" In the wrong path,
all is wrong,
all paths on the way to a crust of bread are wonky and wrong,
only Man's heart is alive
and still honores and keeps that rock called
The Wrong Path. "
Matilda brighten's up " So mister, you do know where that place is?"
"Look at the young-lady-wrong-un, why wouldn't I know. May be I is one of your relatives, I hope to God I is, because your sweeter than our famous potatos, but I don't follow those blood lines no longer, I am bored of old hags and farty old fellers, and prefer much listening to these sheep here, because they baaaah much less stupidity than men. But I ain't going to set yous off on your way, until you taste a bit of this here good old Lika's plum Brandy.
" I am driving, that is too strong now"Protests Boromir.
" Who's going to see you?" The old man chalenges. "Here everything is wrong, so don't you be acting up some fancy town manners, on Lika's roads, d'y you think there is police here? They's all got eaten by bears. Go on drink up lad." And the sheppard offers his wooden bottle, Matilda and Boromir join the man in toast.
" Have you heard of this one you northerners? You stick a finger into the sea and touch the whole world?" Asks the sheppard.
"'Course" replies Boromir.
" Well you stick your tongue into plum brandy and you understand and speak the language of Lika" Old man laughs devilishly." Now you see, you are better prepared, so I can put my mind at peace and I will let you know the way."
"You go on with the car, until you see an old swamp to the right called the Old Frog. Watch out she's still half frozen and will seem as clear as a lake, and there you turn left.Than you follow the road trough the woods, past the Bear's Hive village, yous a going to recognise it because of a blue house. Than yous a go a bit of galloping up the hill all the way to the Uncle's Shoe, those are just three houses and an old well, but the road than forks, so you take the furthest right towards Blunt Claw. You'l see the trunk of a giant old oak turned up side down, and there take a left. When you pass a mountaineering hut, used to be called The Billy Goat, dont' know what it is now, a mountaineers hut, with three dogs and a cow tied at the back, and you can certainly smell her. Than you's a really close. Just go on forward. And youl get on to the Old Path. There take the second right to get you on the Right Path, and that one leads easey peasey straig on to the village of Wrong Path."
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