The Saddler

“What are you working on Faf?” Riley asked his grandfather as he sat on the far end of the workbench to watch him work. He called his grandfather Faf because when he was very young, he tried to say ‘Grandfather’ but it just came out Faf-fa which was eventually shortened to Faf, and it stuck.

“I’m making a saddle,” Faf said as he laid a pattern over a piece of dark brown leather and cut the shape out with a wooden handled knife. “Hand me my skiving knife please,” he pointed to the old peg board above the bench where the skiving knife was hanging.

Riley retrieved the knife from the hook and saw the outline of the tool left in its place sketched onto the pegboard, so Faf knew where to put it back or more importantly, knew if something was missing. “Why are you making a saddle Faf, we don’t have a horse,” he asked as he carefully handed the skiving knife over.

Faf was skiving the edge of the leather where it would be seamed to another piece. “Oh, this is not a saddle for a horse,” he said and handed the skiving knife back to Riley to put in its rightful home. He then picked up the stitching chisel and mallet and proceeded to make a series of holes along the edge of the hide he was working on. After he nearly completed the series of holes he said, “This is a magical saddle.”

Riley just looked at Faf wondering if he was serious or fibbing like he sometimes liked to do. Faf pointed to the spool of brown waxed thread and motioned for Riley to hand it to him. It took a moment for Riley to snap from his thoughts to realize Faf’s request. When Riley finally handed him the thread Faf said, “Grab two needles out of the bottom left drawer please.”

The little storage bin had twelve drawers, each one full of some sort of tool or accessory such as snaps, buttons, rivets, and such like that. Riley pulled the little drawer open and carefully pulled out two needles to hand to Faf. “Oh, not that little one, see if there is another the same size as that bigger one,” Faf said as he pulled off a length of thread and cut it with a little pair of scissors.

Riley returned the small needle to the drawer and found a matching one to the big one in his hand. “What makes it magical?” he asked as he handed Faf the needles. Faf threaded each needle with the ends of the piece of thread and started stitching the two pieces of leather together. First one through, then the other and pull up tight.

“Well, it’s not magical yet, first I need to finish making it and then we’ll add the magic,” Faf said as he finished up the stitch and trimmed off the loose ends. It was starting to look like a saddle now that all the pieces were assembled together. Faf put the loose tools from the bench onto their hooks in the pegboard.

Riley was sure Faf was fibbing him now. There’s no such thing as magic he thought to himself. But still he was a bit curious so asked, “Where did you learn how make magical saddles Faf?”

Faf was now adding some scrollwork to the cantle with a couple different stamps and cutters. “I learned by watching my grandfather who learned from watching his grandfather. You see, we come from a long line of magical saddle makers going way back to ancient times,” he said as he continued to tool the leather.

Riley was really fascinated by the beautiful details Faf was carving into the leather. He leaned in to get a closer look. “Did my dad ever learn to make saddles?” he asked.

The scrollwork was nearly complete, so Faf concentrated on that last little bit before he answered. “Actually, no for some reason the calling to the craft always skips a generation. My father wasn’t interested in making saddles either.”

Faf handed Riley the tools he was just using and said, “Those go there in the wooden case.”

Riley opened the case and set each tool into its proper place. “Well, I certainly am interested in learning how to make saddles,” he said. “Especially magical ones. How do we add the magic to this one?”

Riley hopped down off the bench as Faf rubbed some wax onto the leather and then buffed it off with a clean cloth. “You’ll see tomorrow. You can go with me to a special place that most people have forgotten about.”

#

The next morning Riley finished all his eggs and sausage and quickly got dressed and pulled his boots on. “It’s a long trip and we’ll be gone most of the day, so Ma packed us a lunch. I’ll put it in your backpack to carry because I’ll be carrying the saddle,” Faf stated as he was also pulling his boots on.

Riley put the backpack on and noticed it seemed exceptionally heavy. “Is there more in here than just sandwiches?” he asked.

“Yes, there are some baked goods that we’ll need too,” Faf said as he went out the back door.

Faf and Riley left the yard through the gate behind the old orchard. They followed a trail deep into the old forest. It had been a couple of hours of walking into deeper and darker forest when Riley finally asked, “Are we there yet?” He was getting tired, but he did love to hike in the woods with Faf.

“Actually, yes right up ahead is the Old Gnarly Tree.” Faf said as he pointed to a carved wooden sign that read, ‘Old Gnarly Tree’. Riley looked at it in amazement. The tree was definitely old and huge which made it quite scary looking. There was a small blue wooden door at the base of the tree.

“This tree really is gnarly,” Riley said as he continued to gaze in wonderment.

“Well maybe it is but that is also my name,” a voice behind them said. “Old Gnarly at your service. What may I help you gents with today?”

Riley turned quickly to the voice and saw it came from a very small man with a long gray beard and tall pointy blue hat. His shirt was also blue, but his bib overalls were dark green in color. Even though he wore a smile and had a very pleasant look about him, Riley was startled and backed up a few steps which caused him to fall backyards over a log. He could feel the peanut butter sandwiches in his backpack get crushed.

Faf helped Riley to his feet and extended his hand to newcomer. “Old Gnarly the Gnome, so good to see you after all these years,” he said and shook the gnome’s hand which seemed awkward due to the size difference. “I have this saddle that needs some magic added to it.” Faf set the saddle down on the log that Riley fell over.

If the gnome remembered Faf, he didn’t acknowledge it. “Ah, yes let me take a look here,” he mumbled as he ran his hands over the saddle and examined closely. “And what have you brought for payment?” he asked.

Riley was still staring in awe at Old Gnarly when Faf turned him around and unbuckled the flap on the backpack. “I have six spice cakes, and three onion and garlic loaves,” Faf said as he pulled the baked goods out of the pack.

“Hmmm, that is enough to feed my children but doesn’t leave much for me,” he said. “Got anything else in there?”

Faf pulled out two smushed peanut butter sandwiches and gingerly offered them up too.

“Oh boy, peanut butter sandwiches, thems my favorite,” Old Gnarly shouted gleefully. “You’ve got yourself a deal. Give me two hours and I’ll have it done for you.”

Faf gave Old Gnarly a few details about what was needed and then he and Riley walked back up the trail a little way to where there was a pond. This was where they were going to eat their lunch which they no longer had. So instead, they took off their boots and waded into the water looking for tadpoles and minnows.

When two hours were up, they put their boots back on and went back to the old gnarly tree to see Old Gnarly. “It took a bit of doing but I think you’ll be pleased with the results,” the gnome said as Faf examined the saddle.

“Excellent work good sir,” Faf said and shook Old Gnarly’s hand again then lifted the saddle onto his shoulder and they started back down the trail.

“You never did say what the saddle was for Faf,” Riley said as they walked along. Faf stopped at an intersection in the path and looked around until he saw a mark on a tree made by scraping a little bit of bark off. Riley also noticed for the first time that the saddle was way too small for Faf.

Faf took the new path which led down into a small ravine. “Oh, didn’t I mention that this is a dragon saddle?” Faf asked with a snicker. “Dragon saddles require magic to properly attach to a dragon and to also keep the rider from falling off when the dragon flies upside down.”

Even though he had just seen an actual gnome in real life, something that he thought wasn’t possible, he was sure Faf was fibbing with him about a dragon.

Faf stopped at the base of the ravine where there was an entrance to a small cave. “It’s not a big dragon. Not big enough for me to ride, but definitely about the right size for you. As far as I’m aware, this is the last dragon in the known world, and it’s never been ridden.”

Riley stared first at the entrance to the cave and then back to Faf, who was looking at him with a grin. “You want me to ride a dragon?” Riley asked timidly.

“Do you want to ride a dragon?” Faf asked emphatically.

Riley looked back at the cave entrance and started to feel a rush of excitement. Then said with confidence, “Yes, let’s do this.”