A book by Steven List

As the sun set, Rod came back to the house, knocked on the door, and invited Ham and his companions to join him in the center of the village.

The first things that Ham noticed as he left the house was the light.  There was lamps on posts at intervals around the village.  Instead of stumbling around in the dark, on his way back to the center of the village, Ham could see pretty clearly where he was going. He looked over at Rod, who just grinned at him.

As they reached the center of the village, Ham found that there were lights space all around the center, and some more around the well, and that the space was crowded with Huddlers.  As Ham arrived, there was a hush, then a rustling of movement and the sound of voices whispering “the Lightbringer”.  Ham looked around, still thinking that they must be talking about the man in his dream, the Lightbringer of his quest.

Rod began.

“Ham, when you came to my village some time back, you taught some of us to do things that only others had done until then. You taught us to make travel packs and sleeping rolls and prepare food for traveling and make walking sticks and more.  You taught us to make bags to carry water.  You taught us that it was possible to do many things, not just the things we had been taught growing up.  You taught us without thinking about what it might mean, and you taught us without reservations.

“A few of us decided to stay here in Rise when you continued on your quest for the Lightbringer.  We wondered, when you left, how marvelous the Lightbringer must be.  After all, given all that you had taught us and all the things you’ve done that no one else has ever done, we thought you were pretty marvelous yourself.  And as time went on, we realized that as far as we were concerned, you were the Lightbringer. Because you had brought so much that is new and wonderful into our lives, particularly in teaching us how to think about things.

“Not long after you left, for instance, we wondered about why we were stumbling around in the dark night after night.  We had been teaching the Huddlers of Rise how to do many things, and at that point many knew how to make fire, and how to carry fire with them. And so we created the lamps you see around the village.  It wasn’t a giant step for us anymore, although it would have been before you brought the light into our lives.  When we did that, the Huddlers of Rise started calling us the Lamplighters.  And we realized that it meant more than just creating and lighting lamps around the village.  It also meant that we had shared the light of thinking and doing that you had brought to us.

“And so the Huddlers of Rise call us the Lamplighters, because we spread the light that you – the Lightbringer – brought to us.”

Ham was, once again, speechless.

This continued in village after village.

“Welcome back, Lightbringer!”

Until Ham and his companions came to a village named Rise.  As always, they went to the center of the village to sit on the logs by the well.

But there were no logs.  Instead, there were benches and small tables.  And the ground was well cleared, and there was a clean shelf by the well with some cups on it.

As Ham and his companions sat on the logs, one of the Huddlers of Rise came to them and said “Welcome to Rise.  Let me go fetch one of the Lamplighters for you.”

Ham was dumbfounded, and just sat staring.

In a short while, one of his former traveling companions, Rod, came to greet him.

“Why did that Huddler call you a Lamplighter?”

Rod chuckled, and said “Will you wait until evening, so we can gather and explain to you?”

Ham, with a bit of frustration, nodded his agreement.  With that, Rod went off to gather the others, and Ham and his companions sat in silence on the benches by the well, drinking the fresh well water and munching on fresh apples that one of the Huddlers of Rise brought to them.

Rod returned.  “May I show you to a place where you can rest until evening?”

With Ham’s assent, Rod led the small group to a house.  Not a hut.  Not a shack.  A house.  It had a door on simple hinges.  It had shutters over the window openings.  It had wooden floors and a fireplace and a chimney.  And it had two separate rooms, each with a bed in it.

Ham was unable to speak.  He stomped on the floor, listening to the sound of the wood booming and creaking.  He opened and closed the doors and shutters.  And he went and lay on one of the beds.  It was the most comfortable bed he’d ever been on in his life. Ham was astonished.  It had not been all that long since he’d been in Rise, and yet the changes were unbelievable.

It must have been the fourth or fifth village they came to on their way back.

Ham and his companions entered the village and headed for the center, as they always did, to sit by the well and relax.  As they sat, one of Ham’s former traveling companions, Jeff, came toward him and said “Welcome back, Lightbringer!”

Ham was, to say the least, startled and surprised.

He looked around, hoping for a glimpse of the Lightbringer. He was disappointed.  All he saw were his traveling companions, Jeff, and a few Huddlers who were standing nearby and staring at him.

“Where is the Lightbringer, Jeff?”

“Where? Why standing right in front of me, of course!”

And Ham realized that Jeff was calling him Lightbringer!

“But I’m not the Lightbringer!  I’m searching for the Lightbringer.  I haven’t found him, so I’m heading back home again.”

“When you left, we talked to the other Huddlers in this village.  We told them about your quest and your vision and all that you had taught us.  We began to teach them some of the ways of doing things, and the ways of thinking that you taught us.  And they said that you must be the Lightbringer.  Over time, they’ve begun referring to you as the Lightbringer, and we just went along with them.”

Ham sat in stunned thought.  How could they mistake him for the Lightbringer? Impossible!

And yet…

Setting out the next morning, Ham decided to retrace his steps so that he could see the Huddlers he had known and traveled with.  And, admittedly, with the faint hope that he’d find Martin somewhere along the way.

As they got back to their last village, Ford, where he’d met Fred.  Things seemed pretty much the same, although there did seem to be a few new things in the village.  It had only been a matter of some days – perhaps ten – so on the one hand it was not surprising and on the other Ham was suprised to find any changes at all.

At the next village, things were a bit more different than they had been, and he heard a few Huddlers whisper “Lightbringer”. He assumed it was because they remembered that he was searching for the Lightbringer, and gave it no more thought.

A day came when Ham realized it had been a long time and he had not found one hint, one whisper, one clue about the Lightbringer. He felt sad and disappointed and frustrated. He had traveled farther and wider than anyone he’d ever heard of, he still had his dreams and his vision, and he had not found what he sought.

This happened as Ham and his friends were sitting on the logs in the center of a village near the well. It could have been any of the villages he’d visited during his travels.

Ham’s current traveling companions were Hope and Rob and Bess and Fred. Each had come from a different village along the way, and had been with him for varying lengths of time. Each seemed transformed from the people he’d originally met, standing straighter, being clearer of eye, and speaking in whole, clear sentences.

Ham looked at each of them and smiled. He might not have found the Lightbringer, but he had made many friends, learned many things, and traveled a great distance, seeing many new and different things.

It was time to go home.

Ham thought of his family: his father Horace, his mother Hannah, and his sister Helen.  He didn’t know exactly how long he’d been gone, but he knew it had been quite a while, and wondered how Helen had grown.

He thought about Hyram, the mayor of Dusk, and the Huddlers who were all he’d known before he set out on his quest.

It was time to go home.

Ham told Hope and Rob and Bess and Fred that he was going home, and that they were welcome to travel with him.

As had happened many times before, some chose to stay and some chose to go with him.  This time, it was Hope and Rob who were going with him, and Bess and Fred who were staying.

One morning, waking in his sleeping roll with his current group of fellow travelers, Ham looked around and realized that Martin was gone.

He asked the others, but none had seen or heard a thing.

Ham went to where Martin had been sleeping, and found a small stone with a small image carved into its face.  Other than that image, the stone was completely smooth, and slightly smaller than the palm of his hand.  Looking carefully, Ham could see that the image was a small flame, dancing and swaying.  While it was not really dancing and swaying, there was something about it that gave him the feeling of its being alive in a fire kind of way.

Ham didn’t say anything to any of the others. He just put the stone in his pouch.  And from time to time, as he traveled through the land of Dank, he would reach into his pouch and hold and feel the stone that was all he had of Martin.

Over the next months, this became a pattern.

Ham and his friends would reach another village.  Ham would ask about the Lightbringer.  With no luck.

Some of the group would elect to stay in the village, and some from the village would elect to travel with Ham and his group.

Martin remained a constant.  Ham found that when he was feeling stumped – when he just couldn’t figure out what to do – Martin would somehow have the right questions or suggestions to get him over the hump. Ham came to depend on Martin for his knowledge, his knowing smiles, and his constant guidance.