VESH AND THE FAIRIES OF TIMBUK FOREST

Every city, town, or village has its shares of slothful men and
ne'er-do-wells. This specie of infamous men has uncanny ways of making
their presence known, such as getting excess credit from the local store
without paying up, making boisterous merry-making in the neighborhood,
stealing from unsuspecting folks, and getting drunk in the mornings.

Locna, a small village of hunters and farmers, has a sloth in the name of
Vesh. Vesh is a classic lazy man who wakes up late and does no work for
the remaining period of the day. Vesh rises by noon and then eats whatever
food his wife, who sells vegetables at the village market, leaves for him.
After this, he comes out in front of his porch, drinks some palm wine, and
begins another sleeping session until sunset. If not for his wife's
industriousness, Vesh's family (which comprises of four children) would
have starved.

Although Vesh has large expanse of land to cultivate, he has neither farming
implements nor hunting tools. All of his lands have turned into woodlands,
having lied fallow for as long as twenty years.

Outside the village of Locna is a forest called Timbuk. Thousands of evil
fairies inhabit this forest. Though men do pass through Timbuk, no one
dares to hunt or farm in it because of these evil fairies. The people of
Locna, both young and old, believe in the existence of these fairies,
though none has seen them before.

Like most idle men, Vesh is quite adventurous at heart - being idle does
prompt men to embark on nonsensical and stupid ventures that bring no
profit. On a bright morning, Vesh decides to go into the Timbuk forest to
investigate the existence of the evil fairies.

He gets to the forest in the evening, which is a wrong time for such
mission. After walking aimlessly for many minutes, Vesh stops to poke a
tree with his machete. Suddenly, a voiced cries out. "Who's there?"

Vesh looks around in fright. That must be the sound of the wind through
the trees, he thinks.

"Who's there, please?" the voice asks again.

Vesh shakes his head. "I can't be that drunk!" Then he announces in a
whisper which couldn't be heard by anyone but himself, "I-I'm Vesh, son
of Klug."

"Ahhhhh, Vesh," the voice answers. "What are you doing here?"

Vesh looks at the machete in his hands. "I'm sorry, fairies. I ought not
to come here. Please forgive me. I c-came here to farm," he blubbers.

"Yahhhh," hollers the voice, which happens

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