As the gardener entered the heavily overgrown arbor , many small animals scurried away and various birds flew off but his jaw dropped at the sight of what was before him there . A very old man with a beard so long and white , it was like a woman's wedding dress train as it fanned out wide and flowed on the ground and he was sitting there so still he resembled a statue which at first it's what the gardener thought . Now what really startled him was the old mans movement with was very slow and yet even stranger was that this old man was simply reading a book . So when all the commotion happened the ancient man looked up, pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose and began to speak . It was odd also when he spoke for his voice was strong and clear and he said to the gardener , " I have here the book of your life , the story of which you yourself have written and I have been reading it with some interest " . "Are you death , the grim reaper ? " asked the gardener with his head bowed low . " No " said the old man , he smiled and continued " I am life as it should be , the bringer of a new chance " and his smile became a slight laugh . " I am you guide I have came to open the door for your real life to live where you will be much appreciated ." He stood up [ very slowly of course ] being very tall and long in limbs he pushed back the tangle of willow tree branches that were hanging right down to the ground revealing the trunk of the tree how it was split three ways in which cradled a very large clear as crystal sphere , yet it didn't seem so solid but more like a liquid held in a sphere shape . Inside was an image of a castle and village like no other that the gardener had ever seen because this castle and village was of the faerie folk kind , he walked up closer as the old man waved him on and he glazed deeper into the globe and saw many strange but wondrous faerie folk milling about . " Go ahead and touch the globe " the old man said and the gardener reached out his hand and it passed though it as if it were of mist . " Now" said the ancient man " you must commit yourself to this new life within the sphere of a distant land you must step inside the globe which you have to trust my word that I m not deceiving you with trickery ". Without a word the gardener stepped into the globe , when he did , he and the sphere vanished with a blink of the eye , the old man faded away and the trunk of the tree had the likeness of the gardener carved into it . The gardener never saw or heard of that old man again as long as he lived which was a long long time . I could say he lived happily ever after which is true , but this is the story that was on the scrolls . Yet there is a story of a gardener who came to a special faerie kingdom and village ...........................