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The first time I heard this story, Giles Abbot, a completely awesome storyteller was telling it. It stuck in my mind for months so thought you\\u2019d like to hear it too.

For more waffle-free stories, short stories and flash fiction, you\\u2019re welcome to drop my site: www.tinakonstant.com.

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STORY TRANSCRIPT

There was a man called Jonas who lived in a large, busy village where he worked for a local fishing crew. As a result, he had to work all hours, seven days a week to earn enough to feed himself and rent a small room.

Every day he woke up knowing there was a better way to live.

So on a wet morning, without notice, he packed his few belongings and left the village.

He hiked north and kept on going! He had no idea where he was going but he knew he wanted some peace and quiet and a small place to call his own. He wanted to be his own man. He wanted to be his own boss. He wanted to live his own life according to his own rules.

He passed through a dozen villages, but in each one, he didn\\u2019t find what he was looking for. As he travelled, he fished and hunted. Some he kept for himself, the rest he sold at markets, and in that way, he travelled further and further north.

And finally, a year after he first set out, he came to a bay. It was completely deserted. He was three days from the nearest town. The bay was surrounded by a steep cliff and on the top of the cliff was the ragged remains of what once might have been a house. Jonas stared out over the sea and like all good fisherman, he knew just by looking, that the waters were bountiful. So he stopped. This, he decided, was home.

Jonas couldn\\u2019t remember when he was ever happier. He woke early on the first day and got to work turning the ruin into a house. When that was done, he got to work building his boat. He hunted, fished and lived his own life. When he needed more than fish or meat, he packed his supplies into bags and travelled three days to the village to exchange it for bread and cheese, soap, tools and anything else he needed.

And so he lived.

But as you can imagine, life in the bay got lonely after a while. And although he kept himself busy, the loneliness grew. Fishing and hunting wasn\\u2019t as much fun as it was in the beginning. The long nights felt longer. His mornings were cold and his days grew grey.

So after some considerable thought, Jonas decided that the cure to his loneliness was a wife. He wanted a family. He wanted noise and clutter around his feet. He wanted children. He wanted a friend.

So he packed dried fish and meat and took the three-day journey to the village. He planned on selling his supplies, then finding a wife!

You can imagine how that went. Jonas was a big man, tall with long matted hair...'