A new Story

Once upon a time in a small village on the very edge of a gigantic desert there lived a young goatherd.
He wasn't an overly smart boy, he wasn't very comely either, but his father had raised him to be a good person, brave, hard working and strong of character.
His father raised him to see the dawn of every new day as the beginning of a new adventure and a chance to make something better.
The goatherder lived a very simple life and liked it that way, but he always thought that there was something missing.
Every evening, just before sunset on his way home, he would stop his herd at the very edge of that huge and foreboding desert and watch the sun descend behind the dunes.
His father had often told him, to steer clear of the desert... but for the goatherd it held a new adventure in it's golden waves... something called to him from across the desert's vast distance.
" Petyn... I have crossed that desert once in my life, and it nearly killed me, you must promise me that you will stay only on the edge of the desert, only to go as far as the sweet grass grows..." His father had said to him by the fireside on a recent cold summer night, "... it... it has a way of taking away one's loved ones."
"But father, you taught me to fear no man, no beast and no place... why should I fear the desert? Besides I am nearly a man myself... I should like to see what's on the other...."
"NO!"
His father interrupted as he slammed down his large wooden spoon on the table.
"You must stay away from The Twilight Strand!"
"Bravery in the face of adversity is one thing.... but the desert," His father continued."
"The Twilight Strand doesn't only starve her travelers for food and water... but she makes them long for death rather than suffer... and when she grants their wish she makes them suffer a long and cruel death."