I am a Gypsy Prince

- I am a Gypsy Prince 2 -
Harry AnderS, Dutch psychotherapist and writer of many 'books with a message'

The next morning, my still proud looking Mom prepared me a healthy breakfast, of course spiced by my tasty herbs.
Feeling bright and shining, I left our caravan, to join our group of yawning kids as if nothing had happened.
Crowding together, or lounging on our wooden benches, we waited for the lazy slackers to show up...

Two minutes later, Misha left his caravan and joined our waiting group.
At first, he sat down on a bench far away from mine, talking to a few other kids.
Now and then, he stared at me, as if he wanted to ask me a question but couldn't gather up the courage...

Every time I looked at him, he immediately averted his eyes...
However, after a while, he suddenly rose from his bench and straightened his shoulders.
Hesitantly, he approached me; and asked, looking at his feet:

"Harry? Now that you are allowed to enter our woods alone, do you still want us to go together?"

"Do you think you can get rid of me this easily? Now, it's my turn to teach YOU a lesson! Come on, let's go."

I didn't know why I said I would teach him a lesson, but I was sure something like that would happen...
Could it be that our Ancestors and Spirit Friends were around us and had some plan?

Misha looked genuinely happy, while he heaved a deep sigh of relief because we would still be together.
He told our other friends we would first empty our old traps near our far away ravine.
Then, we would join them afterwards, to set up our new traps in our woods.

Our friends wished us good luck; but they also teasingly told me not to get lost in the too dark and creepy dense forest...
I stuck out my tongue; and told them not to worry about me, because I had a very experienced trapper at my side, to take good care of me!
Now, Misha started to blush fiercely, while everybody laughed at him and teasingly called him a 'babysitter'.
He made a silly face, while telling them he didn't even get paid for his tedious task!
It felt good, to banter like this and have some innocent fun.

Chuckling, and bumping into each other on purpose, Misha and his 'baby' left our still laughing group and disappeared into our woods.
Of course, I led the way, determinedly walking towards our steep ravine through the densest of undergrowth...

Soon, we reached our steep ravine; and I halted next to our flat boulder.
Suddenly, out of the blue, I knew what lesson our Ancestor wanted me to teach my friend!
For a moment, I closed my eyes, to have a better look at our traps with my Inner Eye.
Feeling very satisfied, I opened my eyes and asked Misha:

"Yes, I can feel them; and I could walk straight towards them with my eyes closed, if necessary."

"Are you a clairvoyant too? As far as I know, nobody in our camp has ever been able to do such a thing!"

"Well, I will try to teach you how to do it. First, close your eyes, and pretend you are seeing your own trap. Just picture it in your mind.
"Now, pretend you can see all the energies around it, even if your mind tells you it is impossible. What do you see?"

"I am not sure... but I am getting a faint picture of a dead hare. Of course, that is only my own imagination; because here, there are no hares at all..."

"EXCELLENT! I am clearly seeing a dead hare in your trap too! Now, please, have a look at my trap, and tell me what you see."

"This is too weird... I think I can faintly see a marmot, but that is also what I should expect around here. This is no proof at all."

"Why would you need proof? Just accept you are able to see things with you Inner Eye, by pretending. This is exactly how it works."

"Are you sure? Shall we have a look at our traps, to prove you are right? I still cannot believe it. During summer, not a single hare ever strays towards here..."

Walking together, we went straight to Misha's trap.
Slowly, almost unwillingly, Misha went on all fours, to look at his cleverly hidden snare...

For a long time, he stared open-mouthed and with a shocked face at a huge and fat hare, caught in his trap!
It was as if he still couldn't believe his own eyes...
Slowly, he shook his head, while he mumbled:

"I still cannot believe I SAW this same beast in my fantasy... Am I really turning into a clairvoyant? Or, are you pulling a prank on me..."

Tentatively, he touched the dead beast; as if he was afraid it wasn't real and would disappear...
Then, he looked up at me, and started to laugh.
Chuckling, he asked me:

Silently, I thanked our Ancestor in my mind, for making my friend happy by sending him a fat hare.
I could clearly feel several Spirit Friends around us, smiling and sending us their love...

This time, we took our snares with us, because we wanted to join our own group from now on.
During the summer, we didn't need to go this far away, or to be silent...
We probably would return here after fall set in and the animals again became too scarce.

For the last time, we sat down on our flat boulder, near the border of our steep ravine.
Of course, I retook my place in between Misha's legs; and leaned into him, as usual.
Immediately, he put his arms around my frame, and held me close.
Together, we enjoyed the beautiful sight of the meandering water stream along the bottom of the ravine.
At that time, I was still sure that nothing in the world would be able to end our precious friendship...

After looking at our steep ravine for the last time, we finally rose from our flat boulder.
Unwillingly, we started to walk away, proudly carrying our caught animals.
Probably, we wouldn't return here until late fall...

I used my Inner Eye to find our group of friends, who had spread out in our woods.
Next, I concentrated on their joint energy, and walked straight up to them.
Soon, we reached them; and we set up our new traps along faint animal trails, as usual.

From now on, we all settled back into our 'normal' summer routine.
Every morning, we went into our woods, to gather our caught animals and set up new traps.
Now and then, we brought baskets of tasty nuts and fruits, to distribute them among the 'diaper kids' and our parents.
Of course, if we had enough leftover meat, we distributed that too...

Near the end of the day, I always quickly went into our surrounding bushes.
There, I gathered my tasty herbs, to spice our roasting animals; as, after all, I was still our little cookie!
Life was good; and I enjoyed every single day of it.

Until, slowly, nearly imperceptibly, summer came to an end and the days became shorter...

One morning, I wanted to leave our caravan, to join my friends into our woods.
Unexpectedly, my Dad called me, and asked me to follow him towards our small parking lot...

Why would he ask me to do such a thing, while he knew I wanted to look after my snare?
Had I unwittingly done something wrong; or, maybe, he needed me to help him with something important?
I looked at my Dad's face, and he showed me a really serious expression!
Well, I would soon find out what he had on his mind...

"Sorry, Dimi; but my son and I have to talk about something important. You will have to wait until we come back."

With a disappointed face, my little friend trotted back to his own group of 'diaper kids'.
Meanwhile, I followed my Dad, who slowly sauntered towards our parking lot with me on his heels.
What would be the 'important something' he wanted to talk about?
I felt rather curious, and also a little bit anxious...

A moment later, my Dad scooped me off the ground and sat me onto his broad shoulders.
Now, I was sure he wasn't mad at me!
I started to tickle his ears, as usual, but he didn't react and only told me:

"Sorry, son, for sending your little friend away. But, I want to show you something that might be very important in the future...
"I don't want any others to know about it, not even our close friends, until we really have to use it. Only Michail knows about it."

Of course, now, I started to feel very curious!
What could be the 'very important something' we might have to use in the future?

My Dad took me towards the far end of our parking lot, where we kept our spare caravans.
Here, he put me down, next to a small and rather ugly looking old caravan full of mud and dried leaves...

I had seen the old thing many times before, but never paid it any special attention.
Now, I saw it was attached to a rather old car, which once belonged to Misha's deceased Dad...
Was this the 'very important something' my Dad had talked about?
I felt a bit disappointed...

My Dad squatted down to be on my level; and took my face in his hands, thus forcing me to pay close attention:

"My precious son; please, listen carefully to what I ask you to do, because this may be very important for your safety!
"Whenever any grown-up in our camp tells you to flee, please, don't ask any questions, but go immediately to this caravan and hide inside, without any hesitation."

Of course, I didn't understand why he would ask me to do such a strange thing.
Why would my parents ever ask me to flee; or from whom would I ever have to hide in this old and ugly caravan?
Were the grown-ups planning to play some sort of a game?
However, my Dad's serious face told me this certainly was not a game of hide and seek!

"But, why, Dad? I don't understand why you are afraid somebody might harm me..."

"Are you again reading my mind? Then, you know why I am afraid! Outside our mountains, more and more gadjo's start loathing and chasing us Gypsies.
"Fortunately, we still have a couple of loyal friends among them; and one of our gadjo friends warned me about a possible witch hunt in the near future.
"If so, the police certainly will look for me and you first, because I am our King and you are our Prince and Heir to the Throne...
"Please, son, always keep in mind what I ask you; and immediately hide in this caravan the very moment any of us tells you to flee!"

Of course, I had often listened to our ancient stories about nasty witch hunts and having to flee...
However, I still didn't understand why any people outside our camp would ever want to harm us!
We had never done anything bad to them, or had we?
I leaned into my Dad, and asked him my burning question:

"I still don't understand why any gadjo people would hate us, or want to harm us..."

"I don't understand either, my son... However, our past taught us to always reckon with a new witch hunt. That is why we keep this car and caravan ready all the time.
"One of our loyal gadjo friends warned us to be careful, and I'm taking his warnings very seriously!"

"Dad, what is the exact meaning of that strange word 'witch hunt'? Nobody ever told me."

"A 'witch hunt' is, when other people believe we have done very bad things; and they want to harm us and punish us."

"Why would they ever think such a thing? I am sure we never did anything bad to any gadjo!"

"I know, son; and, this time, I don't have an answer for you... But, please, always keep in mind what I told you!"

"Okay, Dad. The very moment anybody tells me to flee; I will immediately hide inside this caravan."

My Dad ruffled my hair, kissed my head, and silently hugged me.
Next, he opened the ugly and rather dirty caravan, to let me have a look inside...

Feeling surprised, I stared in awe at its spotlessly clean inside and all its filled lockers!
Everything was stuffed to the brim with all the things we might need if we had to flee unexpectedly!
A hidden locker held a small sum of gadjo money, next to a couple of passports and other necessary papers.
Those would allow us to cross borders, without having too much trouble with customs...
I never knew this old and ugly looking caravan would be so neat and well-maintained!

Next, we went to the old and a bit rusty car which once belonged to Misha's Dad.
To my surprise, its inside was clean and very well-maintained as well; and its fuel tank was filled to the brim!
The combination was ready to drive off immediately; and we could easily stay away for a couple of weeks, if necessary.
I even thought it could be fun...
Secretly, I hoped we would have to flee soon, allowing me to finally see the mysterious gadjo world outside our camp.
Of course, I wisely kept my thoughts to myself...

My Dad lifted me onto his shoulders, and we ambled back to our own black-and-golden caravan.
In the meantime, I thought about what he told me...
Would any gadjo people really want to harm and punish us?
For what reason?
We weren't 'bad', and I was sure we hadn't done anything questionable...

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