Tale As Old As Time

"The Boy and The Grakos?...can you tell me the story?" I told Leo.

"Really?" Leo's face was unsure.

"Well yes, you said this was a story from here, yes? I want to hear it." I answered.

"Umm...yes it's this town's tale but it's usually meant for children. We usually tell them these kinds of stories before bedtime. You still wanna hear it?" Leo asked again.

"Yes yes, I'm ready. Go on." I remembered to pull out my camera so I could record the story. Of course. Leo noticed the strange device I was holding.

"What's that?" He pointed at the camera.

"I'll tell you later. C'mon." I pressed record.

"Alright..." Leo's face went serious for a moment. He started telling the story in a manner which seems like he's an old grandpa telling his grandchildren this story by the fireplace in the middle of winter.

"T'was an old tale from a land called Brent. A boy once lived in the outskirt of the town. His parents gone and he was alone. A Grakos was his only friend. The animal with a long snout and dark hide. Stupid as it was, affectionate the Grakos felt for the boy. The Grakos was just like the rest, an animal for slaughter and be taken its hide. To be made a leather clothing for all of Orient. But this Grakos was special. Special for the boy.

The days lay passed and the two played endlessly. The boy called the Grakos with an affectionate name, 'KosKos' he named it. Until it came to pass that the Grakos was indeed special. A rare breed for his kind, its leather more precious. The townsmen placed a bounty in the Grakos and the two best friends ran away into the forest. The two went on a thrilling adventure into the woods. They were full of euphoria out of town. There was no one to get in their way, they were happy together. But the boy was still a boy with no knowledge of survival. A rabbit came and attacked the boy. His injuries were severe. The Grakos was sad and the boy was dying. The animal knew that it couldn't help. So the Grakos carried the boy slowly back to the town of Brent. The townsmen found them and treated the boy.

A week went by and the boy finally awoke. The little one realized he was back in the town. He tried frantically to search for his best friend. The boy found a festival went he stepped outside the building. Everyone was cheery and the celebration was magnificent. The boy was confused about what they were celebrating. The boy found out that his friend was slaughtered. The townsmen took its rare hide and sold them off to the capital. The Grakos was precious and it brought wealth to the town. The boy was weeping, but everyone else was cheering. The Grakos brought wealth to the poor town of Brent. The sadness and sorrow of one for the smile of others.

The End."

Wow. The manner in which Leo told the story was mesmerizing. He was a totally different person than his previous drunken state. I think he may have a chop for acting if he tries.

"So, how was it?" Leo said. His face returned to his previous flushed state.

"Uh....was that really the ending? The boy didn't even get a happy ending?" I asked him. I thought it was going to be a fairy tale with a happy ending.

"Well...yeah. It's actually a story told by parents to their children. The main message was that sometimes you have to sacrifice the things you hold dear to your heart for the betterment of the greater community. In this case, the death of the Grakos fueled the town's economy" Leo answered.

I don't think that's a message you should be telling children. It may turn them into brutal sociopaths or something. But the story itself was intriguing and perhaps I can turn it into a film. But after hearing the story, I may need a bit of budget to be able to create the film. It's not a blockbuster but that's not saying I don't need to hire the actors and all that. I will need money.

"Hello? How was the story?" Leo noticed I was spacing out a bit and called out to me.

"That was brilliant. Thank you, Leo." I pressed the camera again to finish recording.

"You haven't told me what that device is. In fact, you haven't told me about your job. You said you want to show me what you do." Leo replied.

"Ah, alright alright. Follow me outside and I'll show you." I motioned Leo to follow me outside the tavern.

**

The two of us arrived outside of my white van. Leo was, of course, like everyone, amazed by the foreign and futuristic vehicle.

"Wow....so this is the vehicle that everyone has been talking about. No animals to pull it, No magic pulse I'm detecting either. Where you're from must have some incredible technology" Leo muttered.

I ignored his ramblings and opened the back of the van. I pulled out a film projector and the white projector screen so I can show him a film. I set up the projector screen in the town square. I was thinking about what to show him. I'm not sure I can show him films depicting the modern world that I formerly lived in. If some powerful forces in this continent managed to get knowledge of the footage, they might kidnap me and interrogate me, possibly with torture, to make me spit out what I know about the place.

Perhaps a Western would be good. The scenery in western films usually depicts a desolate wasteland in the middle of nowhere where outlaws rule the town. I think it would be a nice and soft introduction to the world of films for a medieval land. But of course, I'm not going to show him the usual western cowboy films with Clint Eastwood or anything like that. I'm going to show him some Samurai films instead, particularly by my favorite director Akira Kurosawa. Yojimbo should be good. Yojimbo is a Samurai film directed by Kurosawa and starred my favorite actor Toshiro Mifune. It told the story of an unnamed Ronin, a Samurai without a master (Toshiro Mifune), that stumbled into a small town ruled by two different factions that were slowly decaying the town and making the inhabitant feel unsafe. Over the course of the film, the Ronin then tried to save the town by doing all manners of badassery and mind trickery to these two factions.

Yojimbo was also in Black and White since it came out in 1961, an era when Japan has not caught up to Hollywood's use of color pictures in their films. I think this color format might be suitable for someone foreign to the concept of films. I set up the projector in the town square and connected the projector to my laptop where I have the film on my hard disk. "Oh shit, It's in Japanese" I muttered. I stupidly realized the film's language was in Japanese. Even if I put an English subtitle, Leo wouldn't be able to read from it.

But then I realized something peculiar from the film's folder in my computer. "Orientian.srt" it said. It's important to note that '.srt' files are used for a video's subtitle. Did the guy who sent me here do this? Did he put a subtitle for the language of this country? Well shit. More power to me I guess. Now, Leo and people from this country can also watch the films from my world! I didn't mind the extra bonus and went on to set up the equipment. I set up the white projector screen and audio equipment. I also have some foldable chairs in my vans so I also set those up so Leo and I can sit and watch together.

"Hey, Leo! It's ready. Come here and sit." I called out. While I was setting up the equipment, Leo was focused on studying a notebook that he pulled out of his pocket previously. I peeked to see its content before and I was sure it had some magical runes in it so I guessed he was studying magic. I didn't think the dude was the studying type from his previous demeanor but one shouldn't judge someone's character from their outer appearance I guess.

"Ah yes, I'm coming! Wow!" Leo had a tinge of surprise at the end of his sentence.

"What are all of this equipment?" He was circling around my computer and projector to study it closer. He seemed curious.

"Nevermind that. Just sit for now and I'll show you what I do in my line of work. Keep in mind what I'm about to show you might shock you a bit. And also, I didn't create this particular film that you're about to see. A master of filmmaking of my world made this" I said to him and motioned him to sit.

"You keep saying that world, 'film', I don't even know what it means. But alright my curiosity is peaking so I will indulge your request" He smiled and sat down on the chair.

I turned on the projector and Yojimbo started rolling. Unlike modern films where the credits were usually placed at the end of the film, older films usually have the film credits at the start of the film instead.

"I'm just seeing a bunch of names and...are those their titles? Director? Producer? What?" Leo muttered.

"Ssshh. Be patient." I told Leo.

Finally, the film started. The opening scene of the film showed the Ronin played by Toshiro Mifune walking along a dirt road. He didn't seem to have any destination in mind. The road was forking in different directions. He then picked up a wooden stick from the ground and threw it up into the air. After the wooden stick fell, the direction it was pointing at was the direction where the lone Ronin went. That was the iconic opening to Yojimbo, a film that went on to inspire other western films like Fistful of Dollars played by Clint Eastwood. Or perhaps it was more accurate to say that Sergio Leone utterly plagiarized Akira Kurosawa's idea since the Fistful of Dollars was an unauthorized shot-by-shot remake of Yojimbo.

Of course, Leo was utterly surprised by this. "W-what!? There's a person! There's a person trapped in there!" Leo muttered in shock. What he did next shock me as well.

He stood up from his chair and pulled out magic wand (at least I think that's what it was) and aimed it at me.

"Y-you! Are you a demon!? How did you trap him in there!?" As he said that, his magic wand was glowing blue.

Oh shit.