Baiyang Chuan

Author: Sam Wellman
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: John Bunyan and his gang of playmates were sneaking along the south bank of the River Ouse. Ilsington Village was already behind them, below the southeastern horizon. Soon, the orchard near Appleton Camps where they had stolen apples also disappeared from sight. The sun was so hot that John could barely keep his eyes open. "Guys, let's stop here!" he yelled at the two boys following him. "Disperse!" John himself threw himself to the ground and began nibbling on an apple. Soon, he started daydreaming. How great it would be if they found wild honey, then he could ferment it into mead. He had too many mischievous thoughts. "John, why do we always play Robin Hood and the Merry Men?" one boy asked, still standing. He was also named John, but the other two boys only knew his name was Rogers. "What, stealing apples from rich people to feed us poor souls? Isn't that a good thing, Rogers?" Harry, lying beside John, chuckled as he nibbled on an apple. "Why don't we play soldiers?" Rogers asked. "We're about to start a fierce war." "Yeah, right," Harry taunted. "Our Bedford soldiers must always be ready in 1642, fighting for King Charles and England!" His sarcastic tone grew louder as he spoke: "I don't believe there will be any war. Some soldiers have already marched into the countryside. It's just the squire in the village green talking nonsense. Besides, if there really was a war, my father said the people of Bedford would fight for the Parliament. The King can no longer dissolve the Parliament like he did for ten years with the good men in it." "Parliament! Those rebels!" John Bunyan suddenly realized what they were talking about and shouted, "We want their heads!" John believed there would be a war. He would rather play a Royalist. But if he became a soldier, he couldn't steal apples. "John, if you dare," Harry pointed to the distant path by the river, "how about the head of that snake?" Harry was always so mean. Words didn't come out of his mouth like they did from John himself. Though John didn't usually mind, if Harry's mouth was as foul as it was now, John could tell. "Harry, what snake are you talking about in October?" John scoffed, but when he looked in the direction Harry was pointing, he saw Harry was right. "It's basking in the sun." Rogers quickly explained. He took a closer look at the snake. Its body was deathly gray, with bright black diamond-shaped spots on its back. The triangular head had two amber eyes that glowed, with a dark vertical crack between them. Its belly was bloated, as if it had just eaten a fat field mouse. The snake seemed lazy, but its black tongue still flickered proudly. John didn't speak, signaling the others to back away. No one objected. He quietly walked to the river, found a long, thick branch floating in the reeds, and picked it up. He tested its hardness by bending it. It was very sturdy. Then he tiptoed toward the snake, careful not to cast his shadow on the snake's fat body. He gripped the branch tightly, raised it over his head, and swung it hard at the snake's thick body below its head. "Hit it!" Rogers shouted. The snake's back split open, and it writhed in pain, unable to move anymore. Its jaws painfully gnawed at the dirt by the roadside. "That's a viper," John said calmly. "If it bites you with its horrifying toothless mouth, you'll swell up like a purple toad and die soon after." "It's not a venomous snake," Harry objected. "It's just an ordinary water snake." "There's a way to prove it," John suggested. "Open its mouth and look at its teeth." Harry immediatelyed. "I don't want to prove anything." "I guess I'll have to try," John said. He grabbed the snake's neck, used a stick to pry its mouth open, and then found another stick to pull out its two long fangs. "See?" Harry grumbled, still not convinced. But he didn't want to get close to see. "Here, take one," John said, and began to pull out a fang with his fingers. This was the kind of adventure he always loved, and the reason the other boys admired him. He was tall, strong, and cleverer than a fox. But that wasn't the reason they obeyed him. It was his fearless spirit that impressed them. John feared nothing in heaven or on earth. He claimed that his courage had nothing to do with God or the ministers of the Ilsington Church who had instilled the Bible in him. John's courage was innate. He reached out. On his palm, venom was seeping from the root of the fang. "Take it, Harry, or admit I'm right." Harry's eyes were wide, and he stammered, "You're... you're right." P1-P3