Natured Wits

About the Book

In the beginning of time, when the Creator made Adam, he had a little piece of clay left over, so he patterned a little man after Adam. He made both men a female, and then he called the little people Natured Wits and the larger people humans. Both pairs were given the same rules: do not touch the forbidden tree. Eve did so against the Wits’ pleading to her not to partake of the tree’s fruit. The Creator was saddened and punished the humans. Then he looked at the Wits and decided they needed no punishment but protection from the humans’ influence. He then made them invisible from the humans’ sight forever. Anything the Wits build or do will never be seen by the humans again. The Creator also knew the Wits needed help with nature’s wildlife because of their size. He fixed it so the Wits could give their little ones at birth the DNA of small animals, birds, or insects of their selection. This would give them wings to let them fly, stronger legs to jump and run faster. This also gives some of the Wits strange powers, like healing, levitation, and telepathic abilities to talk to the animals. One big plus he gave them is they cannot feel the winter cold. Even the Creator likes to have a little fun, so he allows the Wits to interact with the humans and fit their name as Wits by pestering the humans throughout time. Think that’s funny? Have you ever had something happen to you and you have never been able to explain it? Think about it. Our story starts with a short story about two little Wits, Waldo and Rufas, who love to prank around with two old men, the Hardison brothers, who own the land their colony lives on. The weather is hot. The two old farmers, however, are raising the largest watermelon patch in the world; and the Wits are just too small to get the melons open. Waldo and Rufas make a plan to get the melons busted open when two young boys enter the patch. Every day these boys enter the edge of the patch and steal a small melon off the outer edge of the field because if they go to the center where the melons are larger, they stand a chance of Old Tick hearing them. His howling would make the Hardisons come to the field and check things out. The fun starts, however, when Old Tick takes a vacation. The boys do not hear his howling, so they get smack-dab in the middle of the patch. The Wits watch, and when they get out to the middle, they go and alarm the two old men by pulling the hair in their ears. The Hardisons come to the patch and chase the boys in their old hay-hauling truck. The melons bust all over the place as the big wheels run over them, and the Wits can now have a feast. The rest of the book is a story of the colony’s past told by a storyteller, Old Owl Yakalot, and the colony queen, Carnavella, also called Lady Moth. This story starts when there is a drought so bad the Duck River has almost dried up; a storm finally appears over the valley, and everyone gets happy. The storm, however, acted very violently as it produces an electric storm and thunder that would scare the strongest of all the Wits. That is, King Aska. He fears what the lightning will do to the dry land before the rain or, as the Wits call it, water, comes down. His fears come true as the whole valley catches fire. He and his master of the Outwits, Eli, his brother-in-law, go out to save all the Wits and small animals they can to the safety of the dry riverbed. The king’s son, Ryon, along with Eli—both have telepathic powers. They ride on doves to save their strength to project their thoughts to all the stranded Wits and animals to go to the riverbed. Ryon misses his father, so he and Eli start out to find him only to find Aska enveloped in a brush fire and turned to dust as all Wits do when they die. The only thing left of them is their animal parts given to them at birth. Ryon goes back to his mother to get her to safety and to tell her the bad news of his father. When they get to the riverbed, water showers them, and the valley

About the Author

Ronald Cheek I grew up on a farm in Middle Tennessee. There were many long days in the fields as I thought of stories. I went to Harris School of Art for four years. I started painting Civil War paintings and never seemed to get much out of this experience. Then I tried fantasy art, and after looking at my first three pictures, they needed a story written; so here’s my first book and more to come.