- Harry AnderS -
Dutch psychotherapist and alternative writer

The wonderful adventures of a little Gypsy boy

Born as a Prince 1
Book 1: Heir to the Throne
- by Harry AnderS -

A children's series of stories

http://www.harryanders.com
harry@harryanders.com

In book 1 'Heir to the Throne'; a little Gypsy boy narrates the story of his first five years in a secluded place in the Rumanian mountains, surrounded by huge woods and dense forests.
He is the Heir to the Throne, and soon he will be our Chief Cook(ie) and a Real Trapper...

Book 2 'Our Lucky Mascot' will follow; where he discovers the gadjo world outside, is imprisoned during a police raid, has his own little snow scooter, and finally travels to foreign countries...

Chapter 13 ended with:

    Michail helped us skin my beautiful badger without damaging its fur, and prepared it to be roasted.
I went into our bushes, and gathered lots of nicely smelling herbs to spice its meat.
All the time, my friends crowded around my badger, slapping my shoulders and telling me they were jealous of their little cookie...
I tried to look angry, but soon started to laugh.
They were right!
Ultimately, I WAS only a little cookie...

    In the meantime, a few others had been skinning my fox and cleaning it out.
They handed me its nice looking fur, to be tanned.
Now I had two furs...
A beautiful big one from my badger; and a nice looking small one from my fox.
With a proud face, I handed them to my Dad.

    My Mom promised me to needle something nice and usable out of them.
Maybe, she could make me a pair of warm fox boots, to wear during the winter?
If possible, she would try to make a nice fur coat out of my badger's skin...

    I nodded my consent, kissed her, and felt PROUD of myself, as my Dad had told me to be!

    The next morning, I woke up in an excellent mood.
I remembered my beautiful badger, and its nice fur that would be tanned and sewn into a warm coat.
I jumped out of bed, and relieved myself in our small lavatory.
Next, I went to the shower all by myself, this time without my Mom throwing a tantrum first...
She looked a bit surprised, but didn't make any remarks.
I even let her comb my hair without fussing too much...

    I helped my Mom prepare breakfast; of course, spiced by a couple of nicely smelling herbs.
Now, I tried to get my Dad out of bed, by jumping onto his stomach and tickling his ribs.
    He turned around and tried to disappear under the blankets, grunting:

    "What time is it? Can't you have a bit more pity with a tired old man?"

    "Are you our King? I think you are more like a lazy slacker!"

    "Well, I think you are more like an early bird."

    I grinned, tried to tickle his back, and decided to tease him a bit more:

    "Is that all you have to say? I'm very disappointed in you, and I'm sure you can do better."

    "Not everybody can be as bright and sensible as you always are in the morning."

    "I think you are jealous of my bright brain. Next time, you better breed a duffer."

    "I think I will do that, thanks for the advice. Maybe, I even should exchange you for a more polite boy?"

    "Do that and you will be very disappointed. On the other hand, maybe then I will get another Dad who's less lazy?"

    My Dad jumped out of bed, and started to tickle me until I shrieked with laughter and gave up:

    "Is that all you can do, torture innocent little boys?"

    My Mom intervened, and all of us sat around the table to have a tasty and healthy breakfast.

    I dressed reluctantly, and went outside to join our slowly growing and yawning group.
Today, we would spread out immediately, to enter the dense forest in absolute silence.
    Misha turned towards me the moment he saw me, and whispered:

    "Hi! Do you want us to be together again?"

    "Nah... I'm not sure... Maybe, having another guide could be more fun? I will have to think it over..."

    Misha started to look VERY disappointed, and I decided not to go too far, at least not this time.
I threw my arms around his waist, and grinned apologetically:

    "I'm only teasing you, silly! Of course, I want us to be together again. We are best friends! Is Jonno going to join us today?"

    "Oh, you were only teasing... I will GET you for that! And, I don't think Jonno will join anybody any more. Yesterday, he decided to go straight to our waterfall from now on."

    "Well, I think he's making a wise decision. He will never be a good trapper, but maybe he will be good at other things..."

    At that moment, Jonno showed up, looked around, and came straight up to us:

    "Sorry, but I'm not going into that creepy forest any more! I don't like that sneaking around, but I want to be a champion swimmer once I'm old enough. From now on, I'm going to swim laps in our lake."

    Misha and I looked at each other; and we could see the relief in each other's eyes.
We told Jonno we thought he had a marvelous idea; and wished him all the best with his future championship.
Case dismissed!

    We waited impatiently, until everybody had joined our kids group and we were ready to go.
In silence, we walked through the bushes to our small clearing in the woods.
Most kids were forming the same couples again, but a few of them had to look for another companion.
Again, he older and more experienced kids told us to be very careful not to get lost in the dense forest.
They didn't like to organize a rescue search at the end of the day...

    This time, Misha took another route, leading us along a small stream straight into the dense forest.
Within a few minutes, I didn’t have the faintest idea where we were.
To me, all those trees and potholes were looking exactly the same...
How did Misha know the difference?
Or, was he looking for something else?
Maybe, he had sort of a built-in compass?

    He seemed to know the way blindly; and resolutely walked on.
The only thing was that, now and then, he hesitated for a moment, and seemed to feel around...
He had promised to teach me how he did it, and I decided to ask him about it again, as soon as I had a chance.
I was more and more curious, and tried to feel around myself a couple of times.
I could sense all sorts of different energies around me, but still didn't know how to use them...

    Suddenly, we left the dense forest, and arrived exactly at the ridge of the steep ravine where we had been sitting down before.
I still didn't have any clue about how Misha was able to do this...
In silence, we sneaked to the far end of the ravine, where we looked at our snares.
Unfortunately, they didn't hold any animals, not even another fox.
Secretly, I looked around for another badger trail, but didn't see any...
We set up our traps along other animal tracks, and retreated without making any sounds.
All the time, we didn't say a word, working together in total silence.
I thought we were a good pair!

    We sneaked back to the steep ravine, and sat down on the same flat boulder near its ridge.
Again, I positioned myself in between Misha's legs, and trustfully leaned into him.
Silently, we enjoyed the beautiful sight of the meandering stream at the bottom.
Misha put his arms around my waist; and I could clearly feel his love radiating towards me.
I looked up at him, and we smiled at each other, both of us enjoying our special friendship very much.

    Half an hour later, we left our boulder, stretched our rusty muscles, and decided to go home.
We crossed the dense woods towards our waterfall in silence, holding hands all the time.
    A couple of kids had already gathered along the ridge, and welcomed us:

    "Hi, Har and Mis! Didn't you catch any other special animals this time?"

    "Nah, we can’t be lucky every day. This time, our traps were empty..."

    "Just like ours. Soon, it will be snowing; and, from that time on, we will have to wait until spring is showing up again..."

    "Yeah, and I hope our parents will have some more luck in the gadjo world, otherwise we will be hungry again, like last winter."

    They were mentioning it again, that mysterious gadjo world outside our secluded camp!
I so much wanted to have a look at those strange gadjo caravans without any wheels, called 'houses'...

    We were too cold to undress and go for a swim, so we just slowly sauntered home.
Soon, we enjoyed the warmth of our campfire, and the grown-ups gave us something substantial and healthy to eat.
The food didn't taste too bad, and we still had enough to fill our hungry stomachs.
However, I missed our spiced and roasted animals...

    The next morning, a beautiful white snow blanket covered our world outside.
The sunlight seemed to be brighter, and all the sounds were damped and muffled.
Everybody outside our caravans was leaving a series of clearly visible footprints behind...
I had fun, by looking at them from behind our windows, and discovering from where they came and where they went.
At last, too many footsteps transformed the snow into mud; and, at least for today, the fun was over.

    From now on, we were forced to wear our clothes every time we went outside.
Only, the very moment we entered our warmed caravans, we immediately peeled them off again!
None of us could get used to the clammy and sticky things that started to stink after a while.
How did those gadjo kids do that, wearing their clothes all day and everywhere, both in summer and in winter?
They had to be really stupid...

    I wanted to go outside, and reluctantly started to dress, but my Mom told me:

    "Harry, wait a moment. Close your eyes, and don't look until I'm telling you to open them..."

    I closed my eyes and kept them shut, wondering why my Mom asked me to do this?
I could hear her, leaving our caravan in a hurry, and disappearing into the muddy snow.
Within two minutes, she was back, but left the door open.
Now, I felt my grandmother's energy enter our caravan as well...

    "Thank you for waiting; and you may open your eyes."

    I opened my eyes, and saw my Mom and my Grandma, both of them smiling broadly.
I couldn't believe my own eyes, and nearly exploded from enthusiasm!
They were carrying a beautiful badger fur coat and a pair of superb fox boots!
    I was on cloud nine, and jumped up and down with excitement:

    "Yesssss! My badger fur coat is ready, and you've also made those beautiful fox boots for me!"

    "Please, stand still for a moment, and let's put them on you. Maybe, we will have to change a few things, until they are fitting."

    I could hardly restrain myself; but succeeded in standing still until they had dressed me into my beautiful badger coat and fox boots.

    "How do they feel on your body? Where are they too tight, or maybe too loose?"

    I walked around our caravan, trying to feel where maybe my coat or boots would be uncomfortable, but they felt good on my naked skin.

    "I think they are fitting very well! Thank you, thank you very much!"

    I hugged both my Mom and my Grandma, by putting my arms around them at the same time.
They had done a wonderful job, in working together!
I kissed them, and again thanked them a thousand times.

    Now, I looked in the mirror, and saw a small badger with a human head and a dark fur, curiously looking at me.
I turned around a bit, and the badger proudly showed a white band on its back.
I waved at the badger, and the badger waved back with a small human hand sticking out of its forepaw.
I grinned at the badger, and the badger impishly grinned back at me...

    I left our caravan, and jumped into the snow to test my new fox boots thoroughly.
With a proud face, I marched around our campfire; and, now and then, kicked some muddy snow towards my friends.
My boots turned out to be very warm and comfortable, and they felt like a second skin around my feet.
The soles were made of pigskin leather from my own pig, and the shafts were made out of soft fox skin.

    My badger coat felt like a natural and cozy womb, enveloping my whole body, with only my head and hands sticking out.
I thought I could get used to wear this beautiful fur coat for the remainder of my life!
The other kids saw me, looked at me in awe, and raced towards me to greet me.
    Of course, everybody had to feel my new badger fur:

    "Wow, feel that softness! It's beautiful. You've got your coat and boots just in time, before winter is setting in!"

    Now, I understood why Michail was wearing his own fur coat all the time, both in summer and in winter...
It felt really natural to do so!
From that time on, I stopped complaining about having to dress, and put on my beautiful badger coat and fox boots first thing in the morning!

    The snow melted away during the day; but, the next morning, more snow was swirling down, and winter seriously set in.
From now on, only the older and very experienced boys were allowed to enter our woods, always wearing homemade snowshoes.
They had to be very careful not to step into hidden potholes and snow-covered cracks, and the snow-clad mountains were way too dangerous and absolutely forbidden.

    As long as the snow wasn't falling too heavily, the grown-ups tried to get some work and earn some money in nearby gadjo towns.
Fortunately, Michail's big truck with attached snow chains was always able to reach the highway through the heavy snow.
Now and then, he left us and went to a gadjo market or shop, to get us something to eat or buy other necessary things.
We still had some money left from the begging, and tried to be as thrifty as we could be, without starving ourselves...

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Thank you for reading the next chapter of my story 'Born as a Prince 1'.
This is the first book of the series, called 'Heir to the Throne'. Many more books will follow...
Enjoy the reading, and help us make our world a better place!

Have a look at my OTHER story, about a retired psychotherapist taking the now eight years old and severely burnt little Gypsy boy into his house and raising him.
The story is on Nifty in adult-youth, contains NO sex, and is callled: 'Born to be a King'...

All my stories are on my own homepage as well: http://www.harryanders.com

I would LOVE to receive your comments...
Please, write me an email now and then.
Harry AnderS, Dutch psychotherapist and alternative writer.

harry@harryanders.com
http://www.harryanders.com