Stonehenge is a mysterious piece of ancient architectural wonder. Nobody really knows why it was built. I always wonder why anyone would care to build that useless, gargantuan monument of stone. From my imagination, maybe this was what could have happened in Amesbury, County Wiltshire, England, some time around 2500 B.C. to 2000 B.C. ago:

It was another dull day in the good ol’ Britannia. Five young men; Alfric, Godwulf, Leofric, Wulfgar, and Godmann spent most of their free hours loitering in the forest nearby their village. Bored with their routine lives, those five buddies decided to do something different. They were thinking about constructing a nice loitering park in the woods.

So, they assembled a group of 50 like- minded youngsters and cleared the area where they intended to build the loitering park. After a week or so, the place was all cleared up. Realized something was missing, Alfric voiced out his opinion, “Maybe we should build some sort of shelter. And it must be roomy enough to hold all fifty five of us. Come rain or snow, we can still loaf around.”

The gang was happy with Alfric’s idea and decided to go on with it. They spent the next three days planning the construction of the aptly named ‘Loafers’ Haven.’ Three days went by and they executed the well- thought plan. Those guys put in an amazing amount of efforts, considering they had to haul large stones from Preseli Hills, Wales (located 250 km away from the site). How they managed the hauling still remained another mystery unknown to all of us. Maybe some druids or giants were involved.

Despite their arduous efforts, the construction was never completed. Out of the 55 guys, only those five founding members stayed. Twenty three dudes were killed in a battle against the tribe from the enemy village, twenty one got married and settled down for good, and the rest of them were just plain lazy to contribute to the effort. Disheartened, Alfric, Godwulf, Leofric, Wulfgar, and Godmann decided to call it a day. Ten years later, Alfric was elected village chieftain. Godwulf was appointed head of the village warriors and Wulfgar joined a group of bandits. Sadly, Wulfgar was killed by his old buddy Godwulf. Leofric spent his years being the village drunk and Godmann was ordained druid.

What became of Loafers’ Haven? There it lied, unknown to people other than those 55 fellows, and plus some druids and giants. Hundreds of years later, some people accidentally found the Loafers’ Haven while hunting in that forest. Awestruck by what they had discovered, those hunters headed home to spread the news. Soon, the legend of the stone hinge turned out to be the talk of the town, and eventually grown to the level of the talk of Britannia. In the long run, the words ‘stone hinge’ was corrupted to Stonehenge.

We have to admire the way those loafers kept the secret. None of them had told of their grand design to anyone outside the circle. Why would they risk themselves getting berated by the village elders once their plan was known? Due to the pledge of secrecy, nobody knows what motivated some people to build Stonehenge more than 4500 years ago. Throughout four millenniums, people had devised various theories behind the construction of Stonehenge. Some people believed it was the work of Merlin the Sorcerer. Or maybe it was designed by an ambitious chieftain. Perhaps, it was a ground for some sacred, ancient rituals. Possibly, it was five loafers’ stroke of genius. What we can say for sure, nobody really knows. Until then, I’ll just keep on guessing and imagining…