Song of the Day Six, The Wizard's Theme

It isn't an adventure until an eccentric old man with a robe which smells of boiled frog spleen promises to show you some magic if you follow him into a tree hollow. Upon arriving he strokes his filthy, matted beard with a gnarled hand and looks at you saying how you seem to be such a strong, handsome young lad, and must be the hero of legend he was waiting for. His eyes glint ominously in their sunken sockets as the tree closes about you, trapping you with the greasy fellow in a space smaller than the average closet.

That got away from me a little too quickly. The wizard this song actually describes is more of a bumbling old man, with a nice hut in a forest glade from which there always rises a stack of smoke, welcoming in the passerby. He has shelves of exotic, but tame ingredients, and a cauldron bubbles and gives off a cheery, warm scent. A squirrel, which he affectionately calls Reginald Squirrel IV clambers through a window and climbs to his shoulder on his beard which stretches nearly to the floor, but is nevertheless immaculate like everything else about this man. The wizard takes a bread crumb from one of the many concealed pockets of his robe and offers it to his miniature friend. He turns and sees our hero enter, and smiles mischievously. With a wave of his hand, the doors and windows shut, and the flames within the cabin are extinguished. He claps his hands and a green flame encircles his body, along with Reginald. He throws a powder from his pocket into the air and with a gesture sends it swirling about our hero. The wizard raises his arms and the dust begins to glow brightly as it weaves a vision in front of our hero. Then suddenly the powder vanishes, the windows open, and the fires resume. Reginald finishes his bread, and scurries down into the wizards pocket searching for more. The wizard hums a light ditty, and continues to tend to his window garden. After a minute he glances up to the hero, and flaps his hand, as if to say 'Away! You've seen what must be done, now fulfill the prophecy!' Our hero stands a second, nods, and runs off into the forest. The wizard smiles, finishes his labor, and sits back on a chair for his mid-afternoon nap.