The Extraordinary Explorations of Edson

By Asher Lewis Stam

A historical novella that will truly touch the reader’s heart. The story is narrated by an
older man in the early middle ages, who relates his adventures as a younger boy, which
the readers follow, and he is taken away from all that he holds dear.

Inspiration for this book is possibly surprisingly taken from modern day China and their
communistic ideals. The timely book indirectly deals with the issues that China faces.
The readers in the West will be able to identify both the good, bad and ugly of such
ideals.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Asher Lewis Stam
• Release date: Apr 25, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463414521

Book preview

The Extraordinary Explorations of Edson

A novella written by Asher Lewis Stam

Prologue

'The adventure I am going to relate is one close to my heart. Although I am now older and much wiser than I used to be, I still look back at those times with fondness. Such an experience could only leave a permanent mark brandished into my mind. I am wary of my youthfulness back then too, something that has now vanished. I had often told my sons about my explorations in the hope of shaping their values, and maybe they will have the same effect on you too.

I hope not to forget any details, as some of you have travelled far to listen to my story.

Some call me a wise man, and it is true I see myself as an experienced man. You don't have to undergo what I went through to learn the important lesson.

Although I relate it once every year I am prepared to relate it one more time. I say one more time because perhaps it will be the last time I will be able to, as my days are fleeting and my health is waning. Hopefully, you can all learn from my story:

They call me Edson after my father Edward. The word I could use best to describe our family is 'average', for we were very ordinary folk. Maybe not as common as those living near the bow bells in Cheapside London, but common enough in part of the Danelaw called East Anglia.

I had been born and raised on an island called Merasai (Mersea) with a causeway that flooded at high tide. I had lived at East Merasai until my parent's farm didn't produce enough crops, one year after several horrific summer storms. With flooded salty fields and broken crop stalks, we had to move to where my father could find a job on the jetty repairing tackle and fishing nets. The jetty was near our new small stone straw-roofed hut, located on West Merasai.

I recall the scent of the sea spray and of countless fresh oysters that had been caught that day. My job was to carry the oyster baskets to the wagons, which would be taken to Colneceastre (Colchester) to sell at the market. It was a shame my job was limited to carrying the oysters, for I often daydreamed of hopping on the wagon and going due North to the market. I had heard amazing stories of when the town was still the Roman capital of the British Isles, with its grand wooden fortress and Roman theatres and temple to Claudius. I had never set eyes upon a Roman temple before and wondered what it would look like.

The Romans were long gone though, and in their place were us, a hotchpotch of Danes from the Schleswig-Holstein region. My ancestors were not the Saxons, which lay to the south, but the Angles.

Around three hundred years ago, the people of Schleswig-Holstein had been invited to receive free land, by the tribal King Vortigern, in return for defending the land, from the Celtic Picts from the far North (of the British Isles). After defending successfully, the tribal King Vortigern kept his word and gave them tracts of land suited to farming. Little did my ancestors from Schleswig-Holstein know that our tract of land was dangerously close to the sea and in the likely event of a storm would become bogged and useless.

My father said his ancestors should have claimed land more inland, such as the town Windlesham, that lay safe from the reach of the unpredictable sea. But my ancestors had already made their choice and the tribal King had offered no alternative. And my mother was not one to complain, anyhow.

Further North was not a place we would want to venture into, what with the Celtic Picts I already mentioned and from what I heard they were barbaric druids. But there was also the nearby threat of the Vikinger (Viking) settlements in the large Kingdom of Mercia to the North and the West of our dear Island. The Vikinger (Vikings), as you know, originate from the chillier, mountainous terrain of Scandinavia and can be referred to as the Norse people.

In fact, they were raiders. Once, but now a long time ago, we Scandinavians were from one family, so officially we were brothers. So we both possessed the territory (British Isles), called the Danelaw. Both wore our cruciform brooches, but this didn't stop the rivalry between the two.

Let me tell you a bit about Mercia, for their ambitions would affect our home of Merasai Island. Alfred the Great of Mercia, who at the time had defended well against the Vikinger, married Ealhswith and the second child she bore was their first boy, and they called him Edward, the year being 874 (AD). As he grew up he received a quality education that befitted his royalty.

When his father, Alfred the Great, passed away there was no clear successor. Edward being his eldest son naturally wanted to become King.

Yet he had a cousin whose mother the people referred to as Queen Wulfthryth. His cousin's name was Aethelwold and being ten years older than Edward, he rose up to claim the throne throughout the dominion. Despite his mother being called a queen, the people didn't fancy having him as King and poor cousin Aethelwold conceded he had no support in the South of the Danelaw.

His disgust led him to travel North in the hope of some Danish and Norse support. Much to his delight, the large swathes of the Kingdom of Northumbria welcomed him as King and appointed him as monarch.

With the sudden change in fortune, Aethelwold found himself King of Northumbria with its buzzing capital Jorvik (York) and flourishing trade with the Vikinger. And so the Danelaw was split into two halves: Aethelwold to the North and Edward to the South.

In 902, with renewed confidence in himself, King Aethelwold, with his supportive army, sailed the North Sea southwards to the southern part of the Danelaw, East Anglia, ready to confront his cousin Edward on the issue of Kingship. Seeing the large army against them, the common folk of East Anglia saw no reason to fight against Aethelwold and so he swiftly and proudly appointed himself as the new King of East Anglia.

I was once a boy who looked up to the one who showed the most physical strength, like the legend of King Aethelwold. What I experienced, as I am about to relate to you, made me rethink my values, to reassess the ground I was standing on.

What I witnessed in my explorations made me more stable on the inside, but no one would know this from viewing my outward appearance. I had undergone a metamorphosis from within. To be more specific, I can now stand my ground on moral issues and values and not be thrown hither and thither by every gust of wind.

Let me begin to relate the details of how I ended up as a boy leaving the Island of Merasai, bearing in mind that these are memories of when I was young and how I perceived things:

Chapter One

I t was an early summer day and I remember that day as if it were yesterday.

My back was a little tense, but this happened every morning and my tempo was slow.

I was at the jetty where the fishermen had left a huge pile of oysters ready for me to collect. I loaded them onto the wheelbarrow, taking just a few minutes before the barrow was full.

I walked a few hundred metres pushing the barrow along a narrow