We were nine who followed the Druid through the woods. The sunlight danced through the leaves above us, weaving its way into the white robe the Druid wore. I watched the patterns form, dissolve and reform on the back of that robe as we walked on through the wood on a day that never seemed to near an end.

As the hours passed, some of our number went their own way. One wandered off looking for stones. Another stopped to embrace a tree. A third crouched by a still pool and gazed into its depths and the reflection therein.

One of us lay down in a hole and covered himself up with earth. Another stopped to collect the herbs and flowers which sprung up on that spot. Still another wandered off to the east, talking to herself.

Now we were three who followed the Druid. While we had been walking in silence for so long, now we were becoming restless. One of us was certainly about to ask the others how much farther they thought we would walk, when the Druid suddenly stopped walking and turned to face us. The Druid's robe was white feathers and the sunlight danced in the Druid's eyes.

"Be still, children," the Druid said. "We are among the trees."

We could hear the wind as it joined the sunlight in its dance through the leaves. The snap of twigs and the scurry of little creatures, the distant call of kettling hawks reached our ears.

When the Druid's face once again turned from us to the wood, my two companions turned so that we could face each other. The one to my left seemed very upset.

"This Druid is from my past," she cried, "not the one I believed I was following! Telling me to be still; telling me what I can feel for myself! The way of this Druid is sadness and pain: the pain of children bound, the sadness of leaving home!"

After an uncomfortably silent moment, the one on my right chuckled...a short laugh, but very deep.

"This Druid is a myth," he sneered, "not the one I believed I was following! Telling me to be still; telling me what I can see for myself! The way of this Druid is insanity and ignorance: the ignorance of the guided, the insanity of the untaught!"

During the next few moments of silence, I looked into the eyes of my companions and then at the tiny form of the Druid who was walking again and had gone quite a distance ahead of us. I listened to the hawks and the breeze; I let my eyes become dazzled by the sunlight dancing.

I smiled at my friends and stepped between them. I place my foot upon the endless path, winding its way from the forest of discovery, through the clouded hills of challenge, up the green mountains of glory, down to the pleasant pastures of paradise and back again.

I follow the Druid on the knot with no end.