After I finish this template I'll only have to make the cradle to hold the back, and then I can start on the actual guitar. I'll begin by making the neck, which has the most carving and the most room for personal interpretation.
Here is the second chapter of the story I've been writing. This is a short chapter with no illustrations, but next week's, chapter three, has several.
Chapter Two
The Savages
As a point of reference to our story I will digress for a moment and explain a bit about the tribe that Polly and Mr. Popper are a part of. They refer to themselves as,” the Savages”. The proper definition of a savage is a member of a people regarded as primitive and uncivilized. Sometimes known as wild men. The Savages are most definitely wild men and women, but not like you would think. They love parties of all kinds. They can be loud and not always careful of what they say. They love to eat and they love to cook. They love to play and they most dearly love to have fun. They stay dirty, because they love to get down on the ground, old and young alike, and play together. It is not uncommon to see the old men dressed up like giant rabbits eating clover while the youngsters try to catch them with butterfly nets. The young father’s like to play a game called, “stinkbug”, where they run around backwards on their hands and knees, while trying to pin their children to the wall with their bottoms. This makes for loud, raucous fun. The mother’s like to make places for their children to hide, out of sticks and rocks and things lying about. We would call these things forts, but they call them farts. You can imagine the looks they get from those outside the tribe when someone’s daughter yells, “Make a fart mommy.”
They love to play in the water. It could be sailing boats down a muddy bank in the pouring rain, or the children playing naked in the drainage ditch. But their favorite underwater game is called, “The Bucktooth Monster”, pronounced Bucktoof. They go to the nearby lake, in the summer, and one person will pull his lip up above his teeth and become the Bucktooth Monster. He will then chase the others around, under the water, until he catches someone and they, in turn, become the bucktooth monster. After a long hard day of playing the Bucktooth Monster, they build a large bonfire on the bank of the lake. The children are highly skilled in making fires and everyone loves to play with the fire. They sing and dance around the fire and laugh until they wet themselves. They almost always smell of wood smoke and urine.
As to their being primitive, they are, of their own making, and not out of ignorance.
They live in a land that most people would not live. It is extremely cold in the winter with lots of snow. It is, likewise, extremely hot in the summer. In the spring and the fall it rains almost everyday. They used to live in a beautiful valley with wildflowers and tall pine trees and flowing streams, but one of the other tribes had to leave their land, because it was too small for them to farm anymore. The Savages decided to give them their land and they moved into the mountains.
They built very small houses out of the wood from the forest. They like to be close, so they don’t require much space. They sleep in hammocks and in the summer almost everyone sleeps outside. They love the earth. They love to feel it between their toes. They love to lie on it during the day and look for signs in the clouds. They love to lie on it at night and watch the shooting stars.
When they’re together they love to talk of the deep things. Things that come from their hearts. They tell old stories of great mysteries and tales that have been shaken from the very robes of God. They speak of their dreams and they let their dreams speak to them. Above all, they sing. They sing a song that comes from their hearts, as one. It is always different, but they always know the words and the tune. In their singing together they come close to the Music Water. In that space, It speaks to them, It comforts them. It holds them, young and old, as a parent holds an infant.
Maybe more than anything else, the thing that separates the Savages from the other tribes around them, is the simple fact that in all their relationships, they love kindness. They love to take people into their homes that need a place to stay. They love to have people over to dinner and to play board games. They love to make presents and give gifts. And most of all they love to forgive.
When they speak, they love truth. They speak words that are true and honest. Words that bring peace and restoration. Words that heal.
They are slow to action. They would rather be careful than do the wrong thing. But, once the decision is made they love to act!
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