“Wake up, wake up, little fool!” The old man’s voice sounded far too cheerful for such an early hour. The Fool groaned as he rolled over to blink bleary-eyed at the Hermit.
He accepted the bowl of food sharing a bit with his little dog who whined from the floor. “Where am I to go today? You said something about a wheel last night?”
Nodding his head sagely, the Hermit pointed at the open door. “You must set your feet facing the sun this morning, Fool. You seek something you can’t find but I know that nothing will convince you of that. So head for the Wheel in the clearing. If you start now, you should make it by noon. ”
The fool bounced up to gather his things. Then it hit him. He turned back to the old man. “What do you mean I won’t find the Will I seek?”
The Hermit’s head was bent over his book. He waved a hand towards the door. “You are the Seeker. So seek. I must go back to my studies.”
Knowing that he would get no more from his host, the Fool tied his bag back to his stick and struck out towards the rising sun. His little dog yapped at his heels before racing off to chase a butterfly for a bit. The Fool thought about his journey thus far. He’d learned that he needed something from the Magician and the High Priestess had just added to that mystery. The Empress and Emperor had also taught him how to listen and follow rules even when he didn’t want to. Then the Lovers had shown him what it might meant to be deep into another person. He hoped that would never happen to him though.
The Charioteer had just taken charge as he’d wandered the road but he had lead him to the lady with the lion. He’d learned a lot from her about being strong. Now the old man had told him that he would never find it but that he had to keep seeking? The Fool sank down on the side of the road to put his head in his hand. It was all so confusing.
A sound caught his attention. As he stood up, he couldn’t decide if it was laughter or crying he heard. But he knew he had to find out what it was. His curiosity wouldn’t let him just sit there. Whistling for his dog, the Fool headed down the road.
And in the middle of the road he saw people standing around looking up. He followed their gaze and his mouth dropped open in amazement. There in the middle of the sky hung a wheel. How had he not noticed it before, he wondered. Curious creatures surrounded the wheel. A demon bore the wheel on its back while a sphinx sat at the top. The Fool started at that. A sphinx? Maybe it was one of the Charioteer’s creatures? He saw a snake slithering down one side while four winged creatures watched from surrounding clouds.
“What does it mean?” he asked aloud but no one responded. One woman reached up to the wheel while another cowered in fear on the ground. As the Fool watched, the Wheel turned moving the demon to the top and the sphinx to the bottom while the snake wrapped its way to the other side. The crowd moaned in response and the woman who had been reaching up shrieked and fell to the grass. But the fearful woman stood up with a joyous shout.
Then the wheel turned yet again and everyone changed their places again.
“But what is happening? What does it mean? Is this my Will?” The Fool watched for what felt like hours but the Sun had not risen that much higher by the time the Fool decided to move on. “This isn’t going to change. That Wheel just keeps turning. People kept rising and falling no matter what happens. I have to move on. I have to find my Will.”
As he said this, the people watching the Wheel turned to him as one. They began to applaud. One of the women said to him, “You have learned the lesson of the Wheel. You may proceed, Seeker.” And the entire tableau faded away.
The Fool looked at his little dog. “Well that was strange. I wonder what we will find next.”
To be continued…
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