July 22, 2021

Luckily village came to their senses and decided to wait and see. The child didn’t seem distressed, exhausted or starving. First of all because of his skills there was so much food in the woods nearby. Based on that it was officially accepted that for as long as child hasn’t stopped his daily routine of exploring and finding food, they were only observing him. Village people were not offended, but intrigued by child’s fierce determination to ignore offered food and compassion.

Unsurprisingly, they were humble enough to justify it. Rules were rules and it seemed that by refusing to embrace their support child knew and followed rules better than anyone. But was it purely for the sake of tribal rules this child was unwilling to blend in? Previously, when he was just spotted , they were shocked and alarmed. Later, village very passionately wished for the child to get comfortable and settled and start feeling at home. Probably deep down, secretly, they wanted to adopt him. Food was supposed not only to nourish and comfort, but to distract him from his daily trips to the woods, to encourage to remain in his shelter on the border not only at night, but permanently. To make him switch to their way of behaviour and habits. To spoil him. Village wished without thinking about consequences they should anticipate and how it would agree with their respect for the tribe. Forgetting about goodwill towards the tribe they always maintained and demonstrated before? Forgetting child’s best interests. However, it might have been the case that child was using his intuition to detect their indirect intentions to bond and transform him. Otherwise, it was also possible that it was beyond child’s abilities to recognise and to respond to their love. Although this point of view appeared far too simplistic: by trying to understand what was this child they started to see what was he not. Consequently, this was the time when village stopped pushing and insisting.

Nevertheless, village still perceived it as a problem which needed to be solved. Fortunately they modified their problem solving skills to theoretical reasoning as to “why” and “how” only. Their method of approach was nothing else than gradual development of many competing theories and deduction of something new out of it. Put it another way, in their disputes village was hoping to achieve a revelation or some unique truth and they were hoping to find that by investing all their patience and imagination.