The Boy Who Never Was comes to Iverness Castle

I’m sorry to have to I take my leave of you,” the Boy Who Never Was told the Big Foot giant. “I was barely beginning to get to know who you are and how you live. In such a short time I was beginning to think of you as a mentor.”

“It’s important for you to recognize the rarest reality even when it is unseen,” the Yeti replied. “If you hope to understand who you are some day, you must first recognize who your fellow creatures are. Never be frightened by any reality no matter how strange or unknown it might be. Remember that there is a reason for everything. Now, prepare yourself; you are about to set off on a journey.” The Boy Who Never Was sensed that his pet dog Gatsby was waiting for him.

When he least expected it, the Boy Who Never Was found himself standing in front of an old, red-sandstone castle, glittering in the sunshine, very near to the Ness River. It was there that the King of Scotland had seen the Three Witch Sisters. He had been a little taken aback, though, because, although they were female, they also had beards. Every time they spoke up, they always did so in contradictory terms: “Fair is foul, and foul is fair.” They also said: “When shall we three meet again? When the battle is lost and won,” and, “Thrice for thee and thrice for me and thrice again, to make up nine.”

“Why do they speak in riddles?” the Boy Who Never Was asked the Big Foot yeti.

“Like most mystical beings, they can see all sides of an event, like prophets or soothsayers. That makes it easier for them to predict what will happen before anyone else can think about it,” he reiterated. “Witches were ‘wise people’ in the olden days. People were threatened by their vast knowledge and wisdom, and so they sought to do away with them.”

“Did the Three Witch Sisters make any predictions?” the Boy Who Never Was asked the Yeti. “Did they say anything that would affect the future?”

“Yes,” the Big Foot replied. “They treated the noble Macbeth as ‘Thane of Glamis’ and then as ‘Thane of Cawdor’ and lastly as ‘King of Scotland.’ All of these prophesies were fulfilled.” Then he added that witches are the guardians of many of Nature’s secrets.

“What other secrets, besides you, do the witches keep?” the boy asked the Big Foot. “Can there still be other invisible beings, as of yet unknown?”

“There are more than one might think,” smiled the Yeti. “You see, many creatures live for long periods of time, sometimes even for centuries. They have to adapt and change their lives according to the seasons. In the beginning, when the earth was still cultivating the initial seeds of life, Nature itself dictated just how the first animals should look and just how big they should grow. But according to how the process progressed, its creatures were able to control their own destinies. The less adoptable animals died out in favor of the stronger species. Finally, many of the species became extinct and started disappearing from other life forms.

“Some species such as I,” the yeti continued, “survived, but given the fact that we are so rare, we exist more as legends than in truth. The few people who have seen us believe that we are shadows or figments of their imaginations. Sometimes, they only see us as scary things that only deserve to be seen in museums. Some of us have opted to live in remote sites of the world, far away from human society.”

“I am beginning to understand why there are so many hidden things,” said the Boy Who Never Was. “Sometimes, the better option is solitude.”

“Now you are ready to meet the Loch Ness Monster,” Big Foot said to him.