SECOND MOVEMENT:
THIRD MOVEMENT:
FOURTH MOVEMENT:
Freedom triumphantly left the wedding and continued his journey.
Again he walked many nights and days.
The generous forest was feeding him fruits,
‘till one day he reached a strange town in the mountain.
There was no laughter, neither songs nor music…
People dressed in rags, bare-foot and dirty,
walked slowly in the dust behind a wooden wagon.
A squeaky cart filled with golden coins
followed a neighing horse.
Sad lamenting came from the ragged people.
Instead of greeting them with a “Good day,”
Freedom screamed, “Stop!”
He stared with awe at the wagon of gold.
He’d never seen so much gold before.
Then buried both hands in the golden coins
with a groan of admiration.
He never noticed there were no children among the crowd.
He didn’t listen to the people’s sad story
about an evil Reptilian who stole their infants for a ransom.
He didn’t even try to understand…
As a fire in a hearth shone the golden coins…
Freedom coarsely pushed away the driver,
pulled his whip and took over the wagon.
“Wait!” a tired old man commanded with strong voice.
“How dare you! This gold is a ransom for our stolen children.
For five years we’ve collected, scrimped and scraped,
keeping old and young in abject poverty,
to bring back happiness and laughter to this desolate town”
But Freedom lashed him on the back.
“Step aside!” he yelled in anger.
“I am the publican of the World!
But I vow to come back – all the gold I shall return.”
“Bravo!” said the Crow with satisfaction. “You are a real hero!
Oh, the Earth is big and the money is countless…”
The poor people remained by the road
– speechless, pale and tired, with broken hearts…
The old man whispered, “Stop, please,
you are robbing yourself too, not only us…
One day you will understand…”
