Without clothes on his back, Stupid Samuel left the village on a burro. The donkey was the only companion he brought on his journey out of town.

The natives were not as heartless as they seemed. While they wished they had a better punishment for a ten-year-old boy, banishing him was the best solution they could think of. They deemed that an exile was necessary for Stupid Samuel to obtain enlightenment.

After a quick goodbye to his parents, Stupid Samuel gathered the few things he had in his possession: the abaca box of loose peso coins, and a machete given to him by his deceased grandfather. These he put inside a tenate that he made by using stiff palm leaves and carried the bag with all the gusto across his forehead.

Stupid Samuel also brought along a guaje, just in case he became thirsty. It hung from an agave rope tied around his waist. The gourd tapped lightly against his thigh, in a beat that matched the donkey's slow plodding.

It was with these meager possessions that Stupid Samuel traversed day and night across a lonely road outside the village. These objects might not seem to be sufficient for anyone — much less for a boy of Stupid Samuel's age — to survive out in the wilderness. Stupid Samuel had no fear, or rather, he lacked the concept of fear and apprehension, that he thought very little of his predicament.

During the day, he would sometimes dismount the donkey in search of food. The machete in his hand proved useful when he hacked some corn stalks off untended farms. The sheep, the cows, and the goats — they all looked at Stupid Samuel, as if he were of no consequence. Even though essentially, he was stealing; but for Stupid Samuel, it was only Mother Nature's way of giving him sustenance during his excursion. To the little boy, this was like scooping water from the river with his bottle and drinking the said water.

When darkness fell, Stupid Samuel would find some place to rest, usually under a shady tree or behind an overgrown shrub, hoping to conceal his whereabouts, as if he were a convict. He seemed to forget that nobody in his village bothered to look for him. Not even his parents wanted him there. 

Stupid Samuel also didn't consider that the donkey he's been dragging along would alert the greediest of thieves. Even a donkey, as old and worn as the one he had, was worth more in the hand than none in the bush.