The Man in the Myth

Chapter 2

Roisin (Rosheen)

"My name is Cu," the little seven-year-old girl repeated before she paused in her story.

"Clue? What kind of name is that?" One of the little brunettes sitting in the circle giggled, setting off several other girls giggling.

The seven-year-old didn't look bothered by the interruption. Educating her friends about Cu was one of her favorite things to do.

"Not Clue, but Cu," the little girl emphasized, "like the letter 'q'."

"That's a stupid name," the brunette declared.

"It is not. Cu is a wonderful name. You're a stupid name," the seven-year-old declared, not even knowing that her statement made no sense, but knowing that the insult was a solid one.

"Sasha, let Roi finish the story," one of the other girls protested. They liked when Roisin told stories, especially stories of Cu. They were always wonderful stories about a boy who managed to do the most spectacular adventures. But now Sasha was interrupting the story and all the girls had to wait while Roisin defended a little boy who lived over three hundred years ago.

"Fine, finish the story," Sasha huffed as she sat back in the rough circle that the girls had made.

"'My name is Cu,' the little boy said. Samuel liked the name and told Cu that would be his name from now on. Oliver Cromwell could go to," here the little girl dropped her voice to almost a whisper, looking around for any possible adults to be listening before continuing, "hell."

The forbidden word had the elementary girls clearly shocked and much more intrigued in the story.

Sasha leaned forward.

"Then what happened?" She asked, suddenly very interested in what was going to happen to this little boy.

Roisin, relishing her part as storyteller, continued. "Well, then Cu met Cassie, the little girl who asked her dad to save Cu from the mean jerk."

A chorus of nods went around the group. All of the girls agreed with Roisin's assessment of William. Jerk was the worst word the little girls could think of to describe someone. William fit the definition to them.

"Now, Cu and Cassie--"

"Girls, recess is over," said one of the teachers as they passed the group of girls. "Let's go, let's go. Time to get back to class."

Groaning, the girls jumped up to do the teacher's bidding. They wanted to hear the rest of the story and now they would have to wait.

"Can you finish it tomorrow, Roi?" Sasha asked as they raced toward the school building.

"Of course," Roisin agreed happily. She loved telling stories about Cu. "Let's go! I'll race you to the door."

Laughing, the girls ran for the building, knowing that their day was half over and soon they would be going home for the weekend.

Roisin was excited as well. She loved school and loved being with her friends. But she was more excited that her grandmother was coming to her house for the weekend. Roisin's grandmother was the one who shared all the wonderful stories about Cu with her. This weekend was going to be no different. Roisin couldn't wait to curl up in her grandmother's lap and listen to the other adventures that Cu had with Cassie. Her grandmother had told her that there were a lot of stories about Cu, but Roisin wasn't old enough to hear them all. She was hoping that she had grown up enough now to hear more from her grandmother.

"Roisin, are you paying attention?" the first grade teacher asked from the front of the classroom.

"Yes, Miss Lausen," Roisin said, refocusing on what her favorite teacher was saying. But it was hard, because she wanted to go back in time to when Cu was playing in the fields. She could almost see him flying through the long grains of wheat with his blonde hair blowing in the wind.

Roisin would often run through her back yard, pretending to be back in time and running with Cu. She would often free her hair from her binder and let it blow freely in the wind. Her only regret was that her hair wasn't the white blond like Cu's.

Roisin sighed deeply.

She loved Cu.

But for now she had to focus on her spelling test.

"I bet Cu didn't have to take any spelling tests," Sasha whispered to Roisin.

"He didn't," Roisin spoke with authority. She didn't know if Cu ever had to take one, but she was certain that his life was simply too exciting for him to have to take a boring spelling test.

Much longer than Roisin wanted it to be, the final school bell rang, releasing the first graders from their desks. Roisin was the first out of the room and already headed for the car line pick up.

"Roisin, Roisin!" Sasha ran to catch up with her. "Can you tell more stories about Cu?"

Roisin nodded. "Of course. On Monday I will tell you all the best stories of Cu. My grandma is going to tell me so many more this weekend."

The two little girls clasped hands and began jumping up and down at the possible excitement of more stories of the little blonde haired boy.

"Roisin, your ride is here," the teacher called out. Roisin snatched her backpack off the floor and raced for the door. She was so excited, and to make everything even more exciting it was her grandmother picking her up from school.

"Grandma!" Roisin raced to her grandmother who picked up the little girl and spun her around.

"How is my little Roisin?"

"I'm doing great, Grandma. Can you tell me some more stories?"

Her grandmother smiled and winked at her granddaughter. "More stories about Cu?"

Roisin nodded happily.

"I think I can share some more with you. Hop in the car, darling, I'll tell you one as we head home."

Roisin hopped in the car and struggling for a moment she managed to buckle her seatbelt.

"I'm ready, Grandma! I'm ready!"

Smiling, her grandmother pulled out of the car line up and out of the parking lot. "Are you buckled?"

"Yes, Grandma," the little girl said with a laugh. "Can you tell the story now?"

"Alright. As you know, Cu had been hired by Samuel to help in the shop."

Roisin nodded. "But Grandma, what was Cu going to be doing?"

Her grandmother's eyes twinkled with delight at seeing the interest in Roisin.

"Well, Samuel was a bowyer."

"What's bowyer, Grandma?"

Her grandmother smiled in the rearview mirror. "A bowyer is an artisan whose job was to make bows a long, long time ago."

"Like my bows?" Roisin asked as she fiddled with her white bows at the end of her braids.

"Not those kind of bows. He would make long bows that you would use to shoot arrows with."

"Oh, he made bow-n-arrows."

"Yes. That's what Samuel made. And he taught Cu how to make bows. And more importantly, he taught him how to use the bows." 

Roisin almost clapped with giddiness. "Are you going to tell me a story about Cu and the time he went shooting with Cassandra? I love that story!"

Her grandmother smiled. "I suppose. Are you ready?"