The Witch's Market Read Online Free PDF Page B

Anyway, I’ll come back. Maybe you can visit me there.”
    â€œWhat gave you this crazy idea?”
    â€œWell, it’s hard to explain, but it started with a dream. . . .”
    Now he sounded a bit angry. “So, you decide to leave me and go to a few strange islands you know nothing about all by yourself. All of this because of a dream?”
    â€œSorry, Ivan, but I’ve already booked my ticket.”
    â€œAll right, then. I know how stubborn you are.”
    There was a pause before he spoke again. “Will you be safe there?”
    â€œI’ll be very careful. I speak Spanish, remember, so at least I can ask around if I get lost.”
    I actually felt a little disappointed that all of sudden Ivan wasn’t persuading me to stay. Was this a sign that we really were breaking up, this time for good? That while I was away, Ivan was actually going to look for another girl? It would be my fault, not his.
    I decided to put Ivan and our uncertain relationship out of my mind and busied myself preparing for my trip to the Canary Islands.
    There seemed to be lots of supernatural stories about the islands. They were even mentioned in Homer’s Odyssey . Legend recounted how, borne on gentle breezes, many had sailed to their doom on these islands, believed to hold golden apples hidden in a cave. The cave was supposedly guarded by beautiful nymphs who were actually wild animals ready to rip the sailors apart.
    I wasn’t worried about wild animals but wasn’t sure how safe the countryside would be for a foreign woman traveling by herself. So I decided to stay on the Grand Canary Island first, since it seemed the most modernized. Then I’d figure out the rest of my itinerary.
    Between shopping trips, I went to the gym to build up my muscle strength and stamina for what might be a physically demanding trip. I tried to eat well and sleep well. I did have sex a few times with Ivan, though he always wanted more. I told him this was my farewell gift to him—in my opinion, much more generous than anything I could afford to buy him.
    Looking for real witches was not the only reason for my trip. Since my string-breaking I wanted to test whether I really possessed special powers. And, of course, advice from a tree is unusual enough that one needs to consider it seriously. But I also needed a break from Ivan. Over the four years of our relationship, I felt that my spirit was confined by his overly money-conscious one.
    The trip would be an escape, during which I could perhaps figure out what I really wanted in life—and in love. Did I need to be spoiled rotten with material things? Or was it adventure and mystery that I really craved? For Ivan, travel was just another chance to flash his wealth. I won’t say I didn’t get enjoyment from this, but I feared it would soon seem hollow. I also feared he would tire of me—or any other woman—after a few years. I did not want to end up like poor Mrs. Song.
    But for now I’d set it all aside and focus on my goal. I wasn’t sure if the trip would be a good move, but because of my dream I’d come to believe it was part of my destiny. I wondered if my journey would be like that of the three heroes in the famous Chinese novel Journey to the West . In the story a monk and his companions, a pig and a monkey, travel west from China to India in search of mystical truth in the form of Buddhist sutras.
    On the way they cross treacherous seas and encounter endless adventures such as climbing the Flaming Mountain, passing the Water Curtain Cave, entering the Entangled Silk Grotto inhabited by spider seductresses, even plunging to the pit of hell. Most dangerous of all were the many demons along their journey, all of whom wanted a chunk of the high monk Xuan Zhuang’s flesh because they believed that eating it would give them immortality.
    Braving all these dangers, the four made their way safely back to China with the sutras. I was