I was a bit surprised by the cold, then I remembered I was back home.
Too many years away made me forget the way the climate worked. I was used to hot Decembers, and hotter Januaries.
Now, looking out from the window of my room in the fifth floor of the clinic I could see a barren landscape or a snow covered garden which did not help to raise my spirit.
On the verge of giving up to melancholy I heard a small noise behind me, I looked back, but there was nobody in the room, so I realized all the sound was coming from inside me.
When I started walking into my mind I could heard the first scores of L'hiver by Vivaldi and I understood immediately what was going on:
Elf has been "seeing" the starting of my sadness and reacting as he always does:
Brilliantly.
Listening to the great Vivaldi's opus you may think it would fill your soul with despondency since it "speaks" about a white and uninhabited wilderness, and maybe it is so, but my sprite knows me better than I do myself and the music brought such a great joy to my mind that the image in the window resorted towards a beautiful land full of white Fairies and Fantastic Creatures, changing my mood following the Magic of my personal «duende».
As I followed the strong muscle of winter made music by the Red Monk, I found a curled pointed green velvet shoe in the middle of the hall, being curious I just followed some steps more, and after a bend of the hall I found the other green velvet shoe. What was happening? How come there are things occurring in my mind that I am not aware of?
Then as a second thought, I let myself readjust my views and reckoned Elf existence which could explain everything, anyway, accepting this made me no less curious, trying to guess what was the sprite doing, and why.
I realized I was nearing the west wall of my mind so I tiptoed following the sound of barefoot steps just perceptible but not seeing anything since those places near the end of my mind are usually dark.
In a moment there was a bright little point on the wall, so I hid quickly behind the nearest archive while the little point opened into a window showing a beautiful landscape. It was then that I remembered Elf coming back from a similar place and greatly disturbed when he realized I had discovered his way in, and out, Galwrth.
He was so worried that last time that I wrote the event in my tale «Triskaidekaphobic», and promised him to keep his secret forever.
Now, I tried to walk away to keep my promise, but could not move from my hiding place. My "snoopiness" had me nailed to the floor. The desire to know what was Elf going to do, kept me as a strong hand grabbing my throat.
Besides, my guilty thoughts tried to make me remember that nothing happened last time, so why it would be different, now! Oh, well, all of you know how a guilty conscience try to justify its actions!
I could see Elf climbing through the window barefoot, with his feet being sheathed in long red and green banded stocking.
I followed him looking through the window: he walked stealthily around a singing tree, remember? those trees you can listen with your eyes (well, I cannot explain it, but that is how you "see" the song it sang).
The little window resembled a movie camera following Elf through the field, he only stop a bit to stoop down and get a nosegay of violets and then proceed to walk around another tree where, in a small multicoloured bank sat... Elkad!
Elkad
Do you remember? the foul-mouthed Elkad from the same tale I mentioned above?.
Now, she looked so beautiful as a fairy... well, she IS a fairy.
When she felt the presence of Elf I do not know, but presently she lifted her eyes and I could feel she was shrewt at him so intensely that I, too, felt my world became emerald and a cozy warm winged in my chest.
If you think I was feeling strange, you should have seen Elf, he was a foot above the earth and trembled as a little leaf in an intense breeze.
I thought he was going to faint, but it was not so, letting his feet to rest on a big stone he seemed to gain strength from Earth (or whatever he was standing on), and I understood why he had left his shoes in my mind.
Then with a great effort he offered Elkad the nosegay and said very softly:
"Fjlkit darwert, Elkad" ( Well, it sounded like that).
Elkad, changed markedly into a bashful little flower but the strength of her shrewt did not decreased, even when her face took the shade of her hair! (A furious red colour)
The whole world looked wrapped into a red-emerald glow, even Elf seemed a beautiful creature (I know it is impossible, but that is how I saw him in that instant).
Elkad approached Elf and took him by the hand, I thought his cap was dancing a merry-go-round caper as he was moving along her without touching the ground.
They moved down the gravel path into the singing forest, this time the window-camera stayed quiet as if it was politely honouring privacy.
Then, while I followed the pair with avid eyes, the window started to close into the small point of light and disappeared in the gloom of my mind.
At this moment I felt disappointed, why was I left out of all this? Ain't I Elf's chum? shouldn't I be part of his life, as he is of mine?Just in case all these sharing thoughts were only a crazy idea of mine, I left the shoes where I found them.
Then rationality took control, and I understood there are things which must be kept private, I almost sensed that Elf had let the window open until the last moment to share with me his... happiness? Well, I do not know, because I do not understand Fairies ways, but, well, I was disappointed anyway!!!
Shame on me!
The music is a fragment of "L'hiver" (The Winter) composed by Antonio Vivaldi, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra led by Valery Gergiev.
I could not finish my breakfast, and pestered the nurse to push my wheelchair to the garden.
When I was comfortable sitting under the big oak in the southwest corner of the garden, I opened my book and prepared to start to read.
Just then a small red squirrel came down from the tree and hiding an acorn under the blanket on my legs, looked at me and said:
"Please, keep my lunch for me, it won't be more than an hour"
"How come!" I answered between astounded and bemused. "Squirrels do not speak, lest of all in English"! "You are right!" the little thing said, adding while it mounted on my knees, "but it happens I am a very beautiful princess who had the misfortune to incur in the wrath of a powerful sorcerer, doubting his power, and he decided to turn me into a squirrel until a fairy accept to dinner with me and eat this acorn I hid in your blanket".
"Oh, Oh", I said "maybe I can help", and closing my eyes I went into my mind looking for Elf.
I found him under a pompous sentence exhaled by some obscure philosopher and anchored in my mind who knows why. He was trying to avoid being found, but I could see part of his rump coming out between an adverb and a verb.
"What's the matter, imp". I addressed him. "Why are you trying to keep away from me?"
"Don't call me «imp»!" He was trying to deviate the conversation, but I didn't let him.
"Stop procrastinating" I used this word on purpose to impress the goblin, but I should know I can impress a wasp easier then my elf!
"Why are you trying to avoid to help a lady in distress?"
"Lady in distress, my foot! Are you so naive as to swallow that deception?"
"Explain yourself", I was reaching that dangerous area where I start to lose my contact with Elf, and stop understanding his words and allusions.
"Now look, my pet!!" he lilted pointedly and looking at me searching for reactions, which he got easily.
"Don't call me «my pet», you abnormal midget", the words have not been out of my mouth that I was regretting my rage.
On the other hand, Elf was happy with the result of his insult.
"You call me «imp» in the first time!", he said smiling, and trying to hide the smile turning around, but he forgot the glass door where his figure reflexes clearly.
"I did not mean it as an insult!" I lied through my teeth!!
"Ha, ha" was Elf answer, "as if I do not know you since your birth!"
"OK, OK", I know when I lose a skirmish, which is, always! "OK, but do not digress, why you doubt our squirrel being a lady in distress?"
"Because she is the daughter of Sorcerer Urdomar, who was expelled from Galwrst because his bad habits." Elf seemed happy to disclose this news.
I asked, making a failing effort to hide my curiosity: "What habits?" "Oh, I cannot reveal that information, it is classified" Elf was very happy of seeing how easily I fell in his trap of making me desire to know something and refusing to tell me! He is a very devious sprite, I can tell you!
"How do you know she is the daughter of Urdomar"? I asked.
"How do you know your nose is yours?" He retorted sarcastically, avoiding to answer my question.
"All right", I gave up, "what wrong has she done being the involuntary daughter of a rascal?"
"She is not an «involuntary daughter», as you call her so poetically. Except for Fairies, all others being born in Galwrst has the opportunity to choose their parents when their tales and fables begin!"
"To choose their parents?! What are you saying?!" "You are an unborn being until your parents conceive you. Unborn, you hear? How can you make any choosing if you do not exist yet!"
Elf searched in all his pockets making a big demonstration of thoroughness until he extracted from an inner pouch of his green tunic a small spoon, and offered it to me.
"What is this?" I asked confused.
"It is a spoon, you moron!" Elf was enjoying the situation.
"Don't call me moron, you oaf!!" I cried. "I know it is a spoon, I am asking you what do you mean giving it to me!"
"Oh, I thought it was evident". Elf was smirking with all his face, I felt the need to kick his gums!
"Now, look", I was mad beyond reason, "I will carve your skull with this spoon!" And threw the utensil at his right eye! But Elf is a fast goblin and was sitting on the Archive of Obsolete Ideas long before the spoon left my hand!
"I reckon you have not an iota of humor in your system", the sprite said this words with fruition.
"Oh yeah?", I was still angry, more because I didn't understand the bizarre sense of humor of Elf than because his actions.
"So, where was the humor in offering me a spoon?!" I was curious despite myself.
"Man that was clear as an icicle!", he seemed surprised I didn't understand his prank: "With it, you can stir the rice pudding you have between your ears and understand better what I am telling you!"
I was already seeing red, and ready to jump over the midget, even if I knew I was not going to get near him, fast as he is, but he raised his hand and said with a disarming smile:
"Sorry, sorry, pal! Promise not to joke again, remember I have a tale to tell you about the bad sorcerer and his daughter, and as you see they both already exist, before I tell you who their parents are, so they can choose anyone they want, of course, in that case we will have a different story for each new selection of ancestors! Do you understand, now?
The interest about the story stopped me to keep arguing, and looking to the small squirrel still sitting on my legs (all this I wrote seems long, but it was developing at mind speed, so all the things that happened have taken less than a few seconds) I got back my attention to Elf and I waited for his tale.
"Once upon a time", the goblin started out of the blue, he cannot control his zany thoughts!
"Oh no!" I cried, "do not start it like that!"
"OK, OK!", he seemed to think a bit and went on:
"A time upon a once", shoot the unrepentant imp, and quickly added, as if trying to stop me to interrupt him again, "after the ugly events occurred during the eviction of humankind from Galwrst, we lived a beautiful and peaceful life under the rule of King Oberon and Queen Titania, but unfortunately, the last tremors left by the human trek towards East of Galwrst brought some evil circumstances to take place while we were unaware of those facts."
"Hidden between the roots of Yggdrasil (the old Tree of Life), one of the trunks that should have been deported with the rest of the evil plants to Niflheim (The Northern Darkness by Horror Realm), and was forgotten by the Dusky Harbingers, the officials in charge to clear up the mess in what was left of Galwrth, despite it has been clearly marked), between its roots, I wrote, there was a last Egg of the dragon Níohöggr, who was also the father of the devious snake who misguided poor Meve to bite the fateful apple, or whatever."
"Meve?" I could not help myself. "Who's Meve?"
"Himmel und Wetter!" Wrongly quoted the goblin for Himmeldonnerwetter! And added as if more swearing was needed: "By the bifid tongue of the fourth head of the Lernaean Hydre! Can't you try and use your rice pudding to think a little bit?" This seemed to calm him, so he added slowly as if talking to a small child:"
"Meve was the second wife of Mada, when Lilith decided to leave Galwrst because she felt she was not considered as important as Mada, Meve was then created so as not to leave Mada alone!"
"Is that clear, now?" Elf said this putting his mind-nose against mine.
The urchin could not stop himself from raising his voice more than necessary.
"Yes!" I said, but it was not clear at all. The problem was that if I would have said «No», Elf would have been sidetracked starting another story and I would be so confused as to lose the thread about Urdomar and the squirrel, so I decided to wait and ask Elf about, eeehh... Mada and Meve in other occasion.
"OK, then, I was telling you that there was an Egg hidden under the roots of Yggdrasil, from this Egg, hatched Urdomar, the wicked sorcerer, first as an disgusting snake, then taking the shape of a magnificent Magician clad in a blue robe and depicting a venerable old face that hid all the evil nestled in his soul."
"As soon as Urdomar realized he went unnoticed, his brain started to cook up a perverted plot to kill the King and the Queen, and destroy Galwrst." "Urdomar was careful to keep a low profile in the roots of Yggdrasil, and started to concoct a new breed of a vicious big tree which he named Wild Oak, full of an evil sap that concentrated in the acorns and had the power to induce heinous behaviour in those unfortunate fairy beings who smell, eat, touch, or come in contact, in any form, with those fruits."
"All those maleficent properties could only affect Fairies, not humans, since the latter had been already corrupted by that apple or something of the kind."
"With the acorn-weapon ready, Urdomar only needed an innocent way to introduce them into Galwrst and produce havoc in all the place. When everything were distorted and corrupted, using his power to control extreme moral wickedness, he would became the Ruler and Owner of Galwrst, and from there, through the mighty forces the Wonder World have with its fables, stories, and tales, using the now ugly dwellers, transform all the Universe into the Original Chaos!"
If you didn't realize yet of the fact that Elf has taken all my attention and interest with his story, I am telling you now, HE HAS!!
"Stealthily leaving his lair under Yggdrasil roots, and adopting the figure of a benevolent old man, he started to look for somebody ready to help him in his plot."
"It was not an easy task, Galwrth has no inhabitant with enough evil to follow our ugly Sorcerer, and after a long time without success, he decided to leave Galwrst and look for help between the dwellers of the plains at the East of Galwrst, but then again, the place was full of people devising their own bad actions, and nobody was ready to help him, since he looked as an old crazy man who thought that Fairies existed."
"Finally when he was in despair, and doubting his plan could reach any success, he found, under a heap of snow an almost death creature. It was a little red squirrel that winter had mistreated badly. He took her to his hut, made her comfortable and fed it. In time the little animal gained strength and was in good health."
"Taking advantage of the innocence in the squirrel, Urdomar convinced the little being in accepting the job to carry the acorns from Yggdrasil roots to the Wotdras House (the meeting place where, in a few days, Gwitnd Drwosten or the Flowers Seasons would be celebrated), it would pass as a token from Mkdwpls, the White Witch, to the Fairies."
"In exchange for this service Squirrel would be turned into a human being, daughter of Urdomar and heir of his power. Of course, Urdomar did not say what all that meant and if there was any truth in all those promises." "This is how Squirrel became the voluntary daughter of Urdomar and slowly was being infected by his evilness."
"In time for the Flowers Seasons, the two conspirators got back to Galwrst, it was a difficult operation since Squirrel was using some «real» cells, in her body yet, and as anybody knows, no one can get into Fairyland donned with that filthy, and decayed raiment."
It was so long that Elf was talking alone that I felt the need to answer his statement, so I said:
"No, I didn't know that"
"I know you didn't know, you cad! It was just a rhetoric question!" After shouting, Elf seemed feeling better.
"Well,as soon as Squirrel could walk on Galwrst, she and the sorcerer started to carry the acorns to the Wotdras House and decorate windows and doors with them" "When the work was done Urdomar and Squirrel sat hiding under a big fern near the door to see the spectacle."
I was so gripped by the story that could not stop to ask:
"What happened?"
"Hushhhh" answered Elf, "you destroy the suspense."
"I do not know if you are aware how things were created in the Universe". Elf went on with almost not change in his voice.
"Most things were created", he added, "as the consequence of an action which following the old order of equivalence produced a reaction that in turn gave the needed elan or need for the emergence of the thing created."
"Is that clear?" Asked the gnome with an innocent look in his face.
"I..." I was torn between believing the innocent look of Elf, and the urge to make a sailor knot with his neck!
"Now, you were telling me the story of Urdomar and the Squirrel! What in the name of all types of sociopath fairies that there are in the Universe, has this «creation digression»" to do with the tale?!"
"As a preface to your extemporaneous question", Elf spoke soberly, "I must tell you that there are no sociopaths, psychopath, or any other misfits created by humankind between our ranks in Galwrth. All us, in Fairyland, are perfectly normal, even witches, orcs, or any other supposedly evil creatures, and not in the sense you human beings give to the word «normal». Also, if you tried to think, instead of having a tantrum each time you are not satisfied with the development of things, you'd get the whole reason of everything in the world."
He was speaking reasonably, so I was bound to listen in silence. Although making a great effort to stop the tirade of ideas, and words that I got gathered in my throat.
"This point cleared", followed the sprite, "I am still asking you if you have understood how an action create a reaction in a different direction"
Fearing to open my mouth, and let the waterfall of words flood my mind, I just nodded twice.
"Very well", the imp looked satisfied, "now, this is what happened in our story!"
"When Meve bit the apple or whatever fruit she bit, produced, with that action, a reaction that cancelled all evil, true evil in Galwrth, and only left some curious stimulus needed to keep the stories born in Fairyland full of adventures and mysteries" "So it was, that at the moment Queen Titania, and King Oberon crossed the threshold of the Gate into the Wotdras House, all the evil instilled into the acorn reverted toward a song of peace, and the acorns, following the predicted reaction transformed themselves into beautiful golden bells tolling a new noel."
"While these things were happening in Wotdras House, the few acorn left hidden in Yggdrasil roots started to change into golden bells and the tree began to decay and rot very quickly, so it, with the Wild Oak created by Urdomar were sent to Niflheim (The Northern Darkness by Horror Realm) where they belonged, as a swift magic reaction."
"At the same time", Elf seemed oblivious of his environment, with a look of holiness giving a new light to his face. "At the same time, Urdomar was bathed in a dark shadow, marking him as the maker of a clear malevolence".
"While the fairies danced around the two rascals to see them better, Puck, the court jester, following a signal of King Oberon knitted a close spiderweb around both villains, who could not move in any way."
"The royal dyad had a small conference and then King Oberon addressed to Urdomar:"
"You, maleficent creature, who took advantage of all the good in Galwrth to destroy it, must be treated in kind".
"You cannot be exiled to the East of Galwrth since there is a major Evil over there and then it won't be a punishment. Neither can you stay in Fairyland since your evil is too big, so there is only a course of events we, the Queen and I, agree as fair to your behaviour".
"From now on you will be imprisoned into a Magic Mirror in Asgard until Loki started the Götterdämmerung, that is, The Twilight of the Gods, then you will be released to fight along with Loki in the Ragnarök, the last battle before the End of the World.
Your Fate, as those of all the Nordic Gods and Goddesses will be decided at that moment."
Then looking at the squirrel Oberon pronounced:
"You, little rogue, have not enough evil in yourself to follow your master, so you will be sent to the East of Galwrth trying to make all the fairies you find there to eat your acorn, but with not success, so, you will learn a lesson on useless bad activities".
"This verdict is effective as of now". As soon as King Oberon said the last word, Urdomar was seen entering the Magic Mirror and stay in there as a reflection of nothing, and the squirrel disappeared from sight.
The Royal Pair ordered to start the celebrations and everybody had a very good time. "So you see", Elf went on with a sigh, "the squirrel you have on your knee is no other than the rascal daughter of Urdomar trying to give her acorn to me"
"She wont be successful, as the sentence states". Elf was amused, and added:
"Look at the acorn she hid under the blanket on your legs"
I raised the blanket and before my amazed eyes I could see a Golden Little Bell tolling a noel never heard before.
The music is Rachmaninov's Paganini Rhapsody, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra led by Claudio Abbado, and Stephen Hough as solist in piano.
For the first time in aeons, even if aeons was not an understood word in the kingdom since, as we all know, there is no time to measure them, or any other thing, because the time arrow had curved into itself and do not proceed into eternity.
Now, I must make a digression here to explain, not too clearly of course, since we do not know the right explanations, all this oxymoron:
As I wrote above, there was not the feeling of running time in Everlastingland, this place cannot be contemplated from outside since there is not outside from it, nevertheless, the inhabitants on its grounds live into a general globule that let them be eternally in the same spot of time together with the development of events as a flowing sense. This may sound crazy, but I can tell you all that stranger things can be found in the Universe, and we cannot explain any of them except from acknowledging their existence.
Coming back to our story: grapevine had spread the news that there was a special visitor to come into the realm, it was rumoured this person was carrying news of wonderful events to be displayed on the face of reality.
The Royal Family
The Royal Family had all the Castle refurbished and covered with banners and flags, and decreed a Festival to honour such important guest.
All people was holding a mental meeting, that is, they were mentally connected with each other and "attending" the meeting if not physically, with their "core", or maybe you will visualize better if I say: "their immaterial self".
They were, including the Royal Family, in an state of awe waiting when in the middle of the big hall there was a spot of light and without warning a majestic figure materialized from thin air.
The Sorcerer
Everybody, including the Royal Family, fell on their knees looking in veneration to the apparition.
The mixture of mist and haze dissipated, and the figure of Sorcerer Malung could be seen, the most important Sage of the country who had spent his life studying the way that the time loop could be opened.
He was slowly spinning on his feet when he said, addressing to no one in particular and to everybody at the same time:
"Some events ago, and following my guide, Her Small Highness Dharma, with the unsuspecting help of her nanny Ubby, created a special space-time, which, by the normal development of physic was condemned to disappear because each particle has an anti-particle created at the same time, and when all of them combined, they dissolved into a big eruption of energy."
"It was not my intention to let this happen," -he was still rotating but in this moment he stopped and addressed directly to His Majesty the King, said, "-I was not in possession of all the mysterious laws of creation, but now I know how to restrain the disappearance of that new environment."
"After I leave here, you will send your best scientist to this coordinates I am leaving with you, and will give him the precise instructions written in this paper for him to perform." The Sorcerer made a pass with his hand and a glowing box appeared at the foot of the throne.
Glowing Box
"Be sure the man you sent understands clearly that he will approach a big release of energy, just a thousandth of second after it exploded, that is, it will be as if he is in the exact moment the explosion started, so be sure he is using the protective suit in the box with these instructions, and as soon as he is there he must take into the empty box you received one-sixth of anti-particles, and leave the place quickly."
"In this way, the small amount of particles greater than anti-particles will broke the symmetry, will not be destroyed, and will help to create an Universe where the time arrow will flow into Eternity."
"Do heed and obey me, O King, and be part of the Creation of a new, and different Universe"
While the Sorcerer was pronouncing this words his figure started to vanish into lighted mist and haze until it disappear from the place.
Big Bang
The King followed the orders of the Sorcerer exactly as was commanded, and so, even if nobody was a real witness of the facts, he was a helpful part in the Creation.
After several years of writing and displaying many stories and tales under my rights of ownership, and under the martial compulsion of my energetic sprite I am bound to expose some facts to keep my self in the clear. All this essay was compiled, revised, edited and approved by Elf himself. That fact liberate me from any critical opinion from those who disagree with the supposed fact stated here.
Elf
To my traditional readers will be a clear fact that neither the rhetoric nor the style of the writing is mine whatsoever. So, please, be advised that this text may be somewhat pedantic, coming from the quarter it comes: Elf.
You are warned. Any reading past this line is your entire responsibility.
oooOooo
When it rains the stories get wet, and then the sentences of one side are mixed with the sentences on the other side of the matter that support the text. The best instance is a wet newspaper page.
Even if it may seem creepy, this situation is not, like most things, without its good side. In some cases untold playful stories are found in these entertaining thoughts splashed everywhere, in other opportunities impossible concepts are reflected that cannot exists in the ordered universe of Literature.
And sometimes, I rest in the hope that, somehow, there remains asserted the veracity of that ideal inconsistency which raises the possibility that if we let a monkey or a primate with a keyboard, it may, in the course of time, create sonnets as valuable as those of the Immortal Bard.
I must admit that nothing like this last observation have occurred to me yet (adverb, which seems to display the subtle hope that it really can happen, but the odds are pretty meagre, given my total lack of knowledge about "sonnetic" structure, but I base my confidence, perhaps, in my sharing of this unawareness with the monkey), and if it occurs I would be the first to cry "plagiarism".
Hardly feeling my face blush, I speak of "my" stories as if I could claim any rights over them. Of course, in any human court there would not exist the slightest doubt of such property rights, but if we let the facts speak for themselves, many of the stories told by me are the product of conscious or unconscious germination of my most beautiful nature, and at the same time my heaviest misfortune, which was given to me by the Fates: Elf.
I have come to expect, more like a justification than an actual belief, that several of the topics that do not relate in any way to Elf are my creation, but I've had tangential evidence that many of the "suggested" ideas in my mind can not be entirely attributed to a dubious thought process of mine needed to give life to an interesting text.
In short, since I first entered my mind with the malicious intent to start the engine that makes it work, I found a pair of pointed ears that locked as in brackets, the most curious entity, in the sense of strange being, with amazing ideas that I can not, in all honesty pretend they are my property. Although, if I keep the same honesty, I must say that it is so long that Elf "pollute" my ideas, that I do not know what thought comes from whom.
In the early days, believing that there was some imbalance in the dovetail joint of my neurons, and following the advice of several people I trusted, I consulted a therapist who immediately diagnosed, in full against the activities of, and disagreeing totally with, Elf, the development of a mental disorder from a mismatch, or alteration of cognitive and affective processes of development and could be considered abnormal when compared the subject (that is, my humble self) to the social reference group where the individual was coming from, given the inability of the patient (again my humble self, even if it seems too egocentric) to recognize reality, or adapt to normal life.
The comment of Elf after reading the doctor's diagnosis was: Bah!!
This way to react of my elf told me that somewhere there must be some mistake. I based this argument on the recognized logorrhea that ails Elf, and the lack of emphasis to despise the work of a professional. It must be something so self-evident that exempted the imp from incisive arguments so cherished by him.
The next step was, after paying the professional fee, in contrast with Elf's opinion since he considered it a flagrant offence, but accepting Elf's suggestion, to change the power of the lamp that lit the small file that I have as mind. As soon as I did that, my present changed radically, as the file looked bigger and better lit, I began to find small groups of words that suggest a story, or let me end with a juicy discussion with the dwarf.
Needless to say I did that change of light power a custom, with the outcome of finding more and more stuff to clutter the simple and free life of people by meddling in it. Largely using unhealthy and very complicated stories full of unwelcome situations that forced the defenceless and innocent reader to wring their axons in an attempt to follow the reasoning proposed by these improbable yarns.
For the same reason stated above, unable to maintain the pressure that these stories or injunctions, which were generated in my daily life, put on my psyche, I began to write them to download the psychological pressure. In this way began the adventure of my daily education, as I was informed by Elf in his first oratory exchange with me, that is, improve and make a good person with the unpromising material that was entrusted to him, otherwise said: me, myself, I, yours truly. Not my intention to make important these pronouns, but seems to be something ready to emerge in the passage of this issue intermittently.
After years spent in selected interaction with the hopelessly embedded mental intruder, the consequence is a sly symbiosis that has only served to arouse greater doubts about the rationale behind the idea of the mediation of this strange being in my internal affairs, but there is no way to support the version that there is the slightest doubt about its real existence, nor that its appearance was due to "the development of a mental disorder from a mismatch, or alteration of cognitive and affective processes of development, etc. etc.", or either that the interaction with my own resources were not true, due to the astonishing and disturbing fact of his ability to effectively parody my whole self.
Faced with this situation that lessened my personality I decided openly confront the goblin with questions that make clear the reason for his ignominious task.
Given the complexity of such a task the result obtained in this work must necessarily be the subject of another essay, which convert all this gibberish in a pompous preface.
I have tried to preserve the logical meaning of the work presented here in an attempt not to give life to an unrepentant rigmarole, and although in a second reading I guess I found the goal achieved, I can not be sure, given the inevitable intervention of our known, intrusive visitor and permanent resident in my being.
I beg you to preserve your place as readers to join me in the journey that awaits me in front of the Cyclops, Scyllas and Caribdys that I would find, but do not hesitate to tell to whoever might be interested what will be going on in the future because I want to be completely honest and give you all, my dear readers, the opportunity to flee in a stampede of other tirade like this, as long as you have persevered reading and got here, which would surprised me very much since I left this reading for the last several paragraphs behind this one.
Having arrived on autopilot at this point and in total ignorance of how to make an effective close down of this ranting, I opt for an inelegant, but effective ending.
I was sitting in the bay window, letting my eyes and mind roam over the cliffs.
The high clouds of a slightly overcast sky let the slanting rays of the sun come over from the horizon while the day announced in this way the slow decanting of the last minutes of its existence.
It was so quiet that the soft lullaby of the ocean waves on the rocky bottom of the cove reached my ears as a deadened sigh.
Peace reached into my soul and I was carried away by the subdued feelings of angelical fingers caressing my self...
It was too good to be true, and long lasting.
A sound of fast footsteps came from the inner hall of my mind and Elf appeared, short of breath, and spat several sentences as if they were just one letter long.
"-Quick, quick, arrange your face as if you haven't seen me, and if somebody asks for my person just say you don't see me since noon!"
"-Are you telling me to lie on your account, little one?" -I asked with sarcasm, irked by his interruption.
"-Oh stop the pretense, what can a little fib do to a human being in the vast sea of lies they are used to swim daily!"
"-Now you are calling me a liar, adding injury to the insult!" -I didn't know why, but I was not angry. Moreover, I was amused seeing the desperation in his countenance.
"-Please! Please! there is no time to argue! Just help me! It is important" -With this he vanished into the shadows of the dimly lit Archive.
I was startled by this rapid exit. I didn't believe it was serious, only I guessed Elf was representing another of his usual pranks.
I was still trying to recover when a new set of step sounds were coming from the hall. This time they were faltering, heavy steps, as if the coming being was not sure of his, or her ground. Besides, this time the feet seemed heavy with spike heeled shoes.
A few seconds later there appears in front of my stunned eyes a little dainty figure with flaming red hair and emerald eyes full of a promising mist!
Elkad
"-Elkad!" -I said, or thought. I am not sure what I was doing.
Do you remember the Lady Elf who looked at me some time ago and surrounded my "I" with a comfortable green mist Elf called "Shreenury", or something? I wrote about this in my post "Second visit", in case you do not remember the event.
"-Oh, that's you!" -She, I was not sure she was a female, or if Elf was a male, for that matter, but as soon as she saw me, she took a very feminine pose, and the aspirated way to pronounce vowels was so attractive, she was really cute! I didn't know why she tried so hard to be so charming, I made a mental note to ask Elf about that.
"-I thought I was on known ground, but could not recall who was the owner!"
She sounded as an out of breath bimbo. Made me remember Marilyn singing "My heart belongs to Daddy". Now, wait, I am not saying Marilyn was a bimbo, far from it, she was a great woman, only saying Elkad sounded the way Marilyn singing that song. Remember?
"-Where is he?". -She asked absently, looking around without any interest, it was as if I were not there, or if I were a mere answering machine. She was ignoring me deliberately, and that stung my Ego!
I put a similar absent face, and said, looking around as if I didn't know my whereabouts:
"-Who?"
"-Gee! Stop aping my strategies! Tell me where is your so called Elf. It is funny to name somebody by their nature instead of using a normal name! He IS an Elf, you cannot christen him with that name!"
I was stopped short! She was right, and talked as if she had read my mind!
Well, of course she read my mind! She was inside it! I realized I had no chance to mislead her.
"-Now, stop fooling around, and tell me where is the scoundrel!"
I was amazed and disappointed, I had a nice and sweet memory of this lass, full of green and soft feelings.
Now, she was shredding all that with her way to speak! I can barely believe my ears, and wouldn't have believed if I had no been there to hear it.
Elves are strange creatures, to say the least, I felt I was in front of my own Elf and having our normal nasty bickering.
"-So...?", she was pushing ahead, "-Have the mice eaten your tongue?"
Ah, good heaven!! "Have the mice eaten your tongue?", can you think such a silly sentence? Well, I decided to give it a final push.
"-Look!", I was already making fist with my mind-hands, and thinking in her neck, but not to kiss it!
"-Look, Elf is not here, and I do not know where is he! Why you need him in such a hurry? Wait and he will appear in his own good time.
She seemed to sense my anger. At least, she proved to be better than Elf, who never cared about my frame of mind.
"-OK, OK", she said with a big smile in an effort to disarm my rage. "-Just tell me where is he?"
"-I do not know", I repeated, "-he was here some time ago trying to make himself scarce. Do you know why? You know, he is very sociable, and it was very strange to see him trying to hide himself!"
"-I will tell you why, but promise you will help me to convince him to comply with his duty!" -She was entreating.
"-OK, but only if it is not against his interest."
"-I promise you it is perfectly right!"
"-Well, tell me." -I was truly curious.
"-When time is ready in Galwrst, the Goqhgwun tree presents its flowers in full bloom", Elkad started her tale with a reminiscent look.
"-What are you talking about?, what has these flowers to do with all this conundrum?" -I was too much used to argue with Elf so I could not stop myself from interrupting her.
Elkad raised her emerald eyes towards me and while a velvety mist covered my mind, she said softly:
"-If you love you mind, sqklrty, it is better for you to keep your trap closed!"
Later, I learned that «sqklrty» means «my preferred pet» or something to that effect. At the moment I was barely shocked by her crude remonstration and swiftly losing myself in a wonderful mixture of heavenly feelings.
In that precise moment a pail of cold water fell on my body and I was harshly taken out from the velvety mist. I awake trying to catch my breath and afraid of being totally drenched, but to my surprise my clothes were dry and I felt badly cold.
That's when I heard Elf's enraged voice saying:
"-Stop that, Elkad! Stop that this minute! You will be at odds with the Queen if you hurt this human!!"
"-Ah! Here you are!", Elkad's voice was triumphant. "-I knew you would try to save the apple of your eye, sqklrty, and if there is somebody who would be at odds with the Queen shortly, it is your darned self!"
"-You are a kwhgjil, Elkad!!
Elf sounded resigned to give up his hiding. Afterward I learned that «kwhgjil» means a scumbag. I was surprised to hear Elf use this kind of language. He is always a very composed being.
"-Yes, sqklrty, that I am!" Elkad was unruffled by the insult.
"-And you must come back to Galwrst with me right now, there is no time, we must prepare the next Drwost, my superstitious friend!"
Elf looked subdued and ashamed.
He addressed to me looking to the ground:
"-I'll explain all this, soon. Now I must go!"
"-Yes!". -Elkad said, "-why don't you tell him you are a triskaidekaphobic creature, sqklrty!?"
"-Shut up, you... you..." -Elf seemed lost in his confusion.
"-Let's go", I will explain all this to you later!" -He said it fiercely and ran towards the Archive.
Elkad smiled her sweet smile and blowing a kiss in my direction, turned on her heels and followed Elf.
To say I was stupefied is an euphemism.
Did Elkad really tried to hurt me? Or was it all a ruse to make Elf leave his hiding place. Did Elf come to save me even if he exposed himself doing that. Am I that important to him he prefer to risk his, I do not know what he was risking, instead of letting Elkad do, whatever she was going to do?
I clearly remembered a pail of water fall on me, but I am not wet... How come?
What called her Elf? a triska...whatever, creature? what in the name of all Fairies is that?
Elf seemed shamed by this accusation!
Well, I could not answer any of all these questions, so I decided to go back and sit in the bay windows and wait for Elf...
Then again, he said he would explain, but if he do not come back! This thought scared me no end. I do not want to lose my Elf!
He said he would be back... No, he didn't say that, he said he would explain everything... Well, to explain he must come back... or not, he can send a note!
"-OK, OK, shut up", -I addressed my anxiety. -Just sit in the bay window, look at the cliffs and wait. Have faith! Elf won't leave you forever, you'll see.
.................
The song was a sweet lullaby, I was swinging slowly in its melody. I walked sleepingly into my mind and could see an open window facing the most beautiful place ever thought of, trees singing a song I could "listen" with my eyes, and I could taste a mixture of colors from some flowers sending their overpowering flavor into the soft breeze.
Then a solid shape was coming into my mind from the window, and making a small sign with the hand closed the gorgeous image leaving the dark wall of my mind in its place while the solid shape resolved in the figure of Elf.
"-Hey!", -I said waking suddenly, "-hey! dont close that window, please!"
Elf turned surprised, and spluttered: "-Wha... what are you doing here!"
"-I live here", -I answered somewhat foolishly, and added even more foolishly: "-This is my mind". "Can you open the window again?"
"-Oh, by sheer goodness, did you see me coming throught the portal?"
"-Yes!, -I am eager to see that landscape again!" -I sounded as a little child asking for candies.
"-My, my, my!" -Elf was really distressed. He looked painfully at me, and taking my hand made me sit on a noun while he seated on an adjective, and using his eyes as anchor for mine said in such a serious voice that I felt concerned by his suffering.
"-My friend", -he sounded in pain and scared. "-This is a serious matter, so please, please I beg you to leave that childish position, and take what I am going to tell you very seriously because my head depends on your attitude.
"-I was very careless letting you to peep out into Galwrst; if the Fklutny learns I committed such a mistake, my life values nothing, I will be exiled into Bkwpqo at the care of the Mkdwpls, and nothing will be known of my being, even in Eternity."
"-What?" I cried, upsetting him, but I could not understand half of the words he had said.
Despite his worries, he realized he was making a mix of languages and repeated, this time clearly:
"-I was very careless letting you to peep out into, eh, eh Fairyland (Galwrst) [remember he hate this word hence his hesitation], if the Discipline Agency (Fklutny) learns I committed such a mistake, my life values nothing, I will be exiled into the White Kingdom (Bkwpqo) at the care of the White Witch (Mkdwpls), and nothing will be known of my being, even in Eternity. So, please, please, I entreat you to forget about this and think you were dreaming while you could see into ah, ah Fairyland!"
He was so serious, so intense, I could not think he was playing one of his prank again. I promise to make my major effort to follow his cues.
He smiled sadly, and told me:
"-You major effort is not enough, you must be completely convinced, or you will betray my mistake, mon ami!"
"-OK, OK, I'll do it for our friendship and for you!" -I told him being very sincere, and never metioned (or thought about) this until the law of prescription let Elf out of the hook.
He was very grateful, and said:
"-Well, I will explain now that scenes you saw between Elkad and me a few time ago."
"-I want to apologize for her manners", -Elf started with a shy smile, "-She is not usually like that, but she was angry at me and could not hide it"
"-You surely remember", -he went on "-she was telling you that when time is ready in Galwrst, the Goqhgwun tree presents its flowers in full bloom. That's the time when we celebrate the Gwitnd Drwosten or Flowers Feast which starts the flowers recollection season. If you have good memory you'll remember we use those flowers called krwmton to creates Elves, and they are males or females depending on the mead we mix them with. Strong mead delivers males Elves, and of course, Soft mead produce female Elves."
"-This was the 13th Feast, it does not happen often", -Elf seemed somewhat shamed, "-and all fairies decided that I should be the emcee or master of ceremonies to lead the procedure. I didn't want to be this time emcee...eeh... I do not like the number 13. Oh, I know it is a nonsense but sometimes I cannot help myself.
"-Trying to avoid the job", -it was evident that Elf had to make an effort to go on, "-I decided to hide myself until they could choose another person. What I didn't know was that when Titania, our Queen, knew I was selected by my pairs, She make public a writ appointing me to the emcee work. She is a very thorough Queen and likes to make everything officially decreed!"
"-Oh, well", -I said trying to make him comfortable. "-You could not know this fact, so you are not guilty"
"-Wait", -he said sadly, -"it is not that easy. When nobody could find me, they got scared and nobody dared to inform, neither King Oberon, nor the Queen, I was missing. So, everything was arranged as if I were present, my posters, and my speech were prepared, as the date became nearer they all felt I was guilty, and for a stupid reason, of the bad things that could happen to them for not complying a Queen's writ!"
"-That was not true!" -I could not stop myself, -they were guilty of anything that could fall on them. They should have told the King and the Queen you were missing!
"-No!", -he said soberly. -"It is very difficult to own our mistakes, I know!"
"-Meanwhile, I felt safe here in the Archive of your mind". He looked ashamed again. "-I was incredibly selfish, and I had to apologize to everyone of my brothers and sisters individually. What I didn't take on account was that our redhead females Elves are extremely smart."
"-Elkad was worried, as everyone else", -now he seemed a little more at ease, he even had a shadow of a smile, "-she remembered I had told her once that I hated the number 13, also, she remember her visit to your mind some time ago, remember?"
I nodded.
"-She added two and two", he showed me four fingers, "and starts to look the way to your thoughts. She didn't remember clearly the path but as I told you, she is very smart, and finally she did arrive to you following my vibes."
"-As soon as she enter your mind she knew I was there somewhere, making a fool of myself, so she got angry and started to being rude herself. When we were back, she even apologized to me for being such a rogue, calling me a triskaidekaphobic creature. I had to recognize that I am rightly defined by that horrible word."
"-Can you tell me what does it mean?" -I asked curiously.
"-Oh yes", Elf seemed amused by this, "It isn't anything as wrong as it sounds. All that are Greeks words meaning: tris = three; kai = and; deka = ten; phobic = afraid of. So it means: a creature afraid of number 13, which as I told you above, I am!"
"-Once I was doing my work, I defeated my misgivings, and everything came out very well. Then I apologized to everybody, and endure the jokes and pranks of my pairs about being such a stupid fellow. finally I was forgiven and everything went on as usual".
"-After a while I decided to come back to you to explain all these things that may have been strange and difficult to put in perspective for you."
"-You can say that", -I said keenly. "-There are some other items I did not understand at the moment, not now, either"
"-Yes, tell me". To my joy, Elf was slowly becoming his old self again.
"-First: I am sure I received a shower of cold water when you appeared, but I was not even wet, and I could felt the cold embrace me for some time after the shower! How come?"
"-Oh, that" Elf was abashed again. "It was when Elkad was 'shrewt' at you, I was afraid she could hurt you badly, she said to you "If you love your mind" and I thought, (now I am ashamed of having thought Elkad could do it, she is to much of a Lady to do so, I was wrong and asked her to forgive me, which she gallantly did). In that moment, I was scared, so I sent over to you a wave of 'reality' that you felt as a shower of cold water. That broke the spell, but left you cold!"
"-Oh, yes!", I said, "I remember you did it once when the Ladies were visiting me.
"-Now I also remember", -I added. -I was meant to ask you why Elkad is always trying to be so charming when she is here?" -I asked, erasing the mental note I had made.
"-Well, I do not know, but I guess she cannot help herself, being a Lady!" -Elf sounded as if telling a great truth, but he could not keep a small mischievous tilt out of his voice.
"Now, can you tell me why you did that to save me, since I am just a human being, not important to fairies, as you told me several times in the past?"
"-Well", Elf looked embarrassed, "well, it is not so, now after a while. I got used to you and your ways so... so... I... I... well, I like you, you know!"
I do not know why, but I felt a warm feeling in my heart, so I said:
"-Yes!, I like you, too, Elf. I am so used to your presence that I was terribly afraid you would not come back again!" "-Oh , no! I will always be with you, even in Eternity." -Elf sounded really earnest!
So, we ended this adventure, for the first time in history, with a big hug!
I was enjoying the evening on
the cliffs. I want to be in this place. I know it is bucolic and somewhat
provincial; also, it is cosy and friendly.
Because my work, I am wandering the world, you
know, but even in the best places, the big cities or the best scenery, I always
remember the easiness, the peace, and the splendour of Cornwall cliffs.
While I walked the stony ground of the little trail,
I was thinking about a new essay I was asked to write about “Fantastical
Creatures”.
I was having
a quickly review of some of them in my mind while I tried to imagine a way to
describe them and be entertaining at the same time when, out of the blue, came
the well known voice of my midget and punisher:
-I see you
are having delusions again, my pet!
My pet, he said! What is running into the sprite
self to call me my pet? If anything, I am pet of nobody!
-Oh, yes!
There you are my petty mauler! –I retaliate
viciously; -I will thank you not to call
me “pet”, privately or publicly. By the way, what do you mean by delusions?
OK, - his voice was sparkling with sarcasm, -my grown up, and smart-alecky friend! -I will stop showing my affection for you, privately or publicly! By
delusions, I meant your biased thought about what a fantastical creature is,
and what it is not!
-Will you
stop having this two ways conversation, please! Just explain what you mean by
biased thought. -I was fed up of having my brain
divided into two arguments at the same time.
-You started
it, -retorted the fairy, and went on:
-That is an
easy task, my… err, sorry! -It was evident he was
pulling my leg, but I let it go, I wanted some help from my critical busybody
about my Fantastical Creature essay.
-Let’s see, -he put a very serious face as if thinking deeply, I felt the need to
kick his inner ear.
-You were
thinking about fantastical Monoceros, I saw the image in your mind, but if
there is no mythical creature, it is a Monoceros! -He finished the sentence
and looked at me slantwise, and I knew he was waiting for my reaction. I didn’t
let him wait too much!
-Monocero? -I almost bit the word! -What,
in your impudent world, is a Monocero.
He looked pleased by my reaction. -Monoceros, my little ignoramus… Monoceros,
with a beautiful sibilant, and curved “s” at the end! It is a Greek word, you know,
and they liked all those curved things as you can see in their sculptures.
-Stop
lecturing me about Greeks, -I hate when he digress
only to show me how much I do not know.
-OK! -he seemed satisfied teasing me, but clearly I was wrong!
-Monoceros is
the Greek word for our “Unicorn”, you see, mono (one); ceros (horn), as in
rhinoceros or horn on the nose. You understand? -He could not be more offensive!
-Elf, -I spoke slowly, you are very
near to cross the narrow line of being assassinated!
-I used this word, instead of ‘killed’, just to
show him I knew words with Latin roots.
-He seemed to take this seriously, -OK, you’re right! Anyway, the Unicorn is not
a fantastical creature; it only is a somewhat carefree being, which, by lacking
of understanding, happened to be tardy to its appointment.
-It was tardy
to its appointment? -Now it was my turn to draw on
irony. -And what has that to do with
being a fantastical creature or not?
-There we go! -The gnome enjoyed these lectures having me as audience and
sufferer!
-Many, many
eons ago, when it was time to leave the birthplace by human beings, a lot of
animals and plants had to follow suit and leave the place as well. -I never cease to be admired by the change that overcame Elf when he
thinks he is teaching something that will make me a better person.
-Then, Elf was recounting with a dreamily looks on his countenance, -we, fairies, were directed to change the name of the Garden to Galwrst and let men, women and their lot to go living to the East side where things were a little bit harsh than what they used to be.
Ah! -I do like to interrupt the dwarf when he becomes academic. Therefore, it was then that they, Unicorns, were late to join the caravan! Right?
-Wrong! -He smiled while saying this. He does like to contradict me!
-Both Monoceros -he went on satisfied to having fended off my attack, -were very pure and pleasant creatures, but as
I told you above, they were, and are, wild and carefree. So much so, only
virgins can tame them. Vestal human females, those of the kind you cannot find
in Galwrst anymore.
I could not let this pass by. -Oh! -I said feigning surprise. -You
have not virgin vestals at Galwrst anymore! What happened? There
was some kind of bacchanal in the last century?
He didn’t even smile. -Being a wise-cracker does not suit you, my little pet! I was referring
to human female vestals -Evidently the joke was not to his like.
I put a rueful expression on my face, so Elf went
on:
-I was
telling you the way Monoceros are, carefree and wild, so passed some eons and
everything seemed “on going”, even if humankind were not very well, but that is
another story.
One day, -Elf was using his remembering face again, -The Monoceros couple disappeared from Galwrst, and Titania our Queen, sent
a fées patrol to look for them.
They found Monoceros and his partner capering into
the Petrified Forest. When asked what were they doing, Monoceros stated they were bored
and decided to go out to see the new world, but it has been raining for a long
time and they took refuge into the Forest.
They knew it was a minor mischief, so when the
summons to go into the Ark came, they hid into
the inner Forest to avoid being punished.
So you see, -Elf opened his hands as if showing a picture. -Since they were not aboard the Ark,
they did not enter the “real” world and stayed in Fantasy World, as so many
other species.
I was dumbfounded! Can you believe such a story?
Elf always finds a way to surprise me, his explanations about how things
happened, and why, are forever astonishing.
The best is, now I have a good tale to develop
about Fantastical Creatures. I must recognise that in this case Elf’s help is
invaluable.
Dawn awaked slowly, as if sunlight was stretching out the nightly laziness before starting its daily routine to bring life
to the rock that revolved around the bright star.
The high forest trees made pergolas reaching out anxious to be the first to receive the caress of the warm rays coming down from the sky.
Far below on the loose dust around the feet of the giants of wood and leaves, an infinite world of life began changing from nocturnal creatures for daytime ones.
Giant lizards also showed signs of life, some of them seeking sustenance in the juicy leaves of large ferns and other scanning the air in the perennial search for prey, their early breakfast.
Further below, in hidden caves, and millions of tunnels, still in their last nap, mammals swarmed the tiny hollows beneath the surface of the earth.
They were young, full of life and with a special quality. Without developing a sense of personal and external perception, they had the first glimmer of understanding when developing ideas. They could not yet link two ideas produced in series, their recognition of reality was as if facts were illuminated by a stroboscopic light with intermittent flashes, and any conceptual sense was born, reached a maximum meaning, and then ebbed out of the mind leaving place to the next thought.
This apparent 'cacophony' of lights and shadows seemed unproductive, but it was not so; as the outcome of these fixed feelings gave them the possibility of developing a tight and successful community.
Among the large presence of them was a copy, a little male, who for reasons that would have pleased to discover to any paleantropologist, this little male had achieved a position that could be called of a leader, but such idea was too well advanced to have roots in the existing clans.
This little leader, whom for convenience we can call Primi, was in the process of convincing Llambi, a little lady in their environment, it was convenient to have offspring to continue to keep the species on the ground, or rather underground.
Given the stubborn nature of Primi, all signs pointed to a success in his mission to get a family.
At the time we found him trying to put all his qualities in a head wide awake, fleeting instinctive thoughts indicated the need to get some groceries for himself, and for Llambi, so as to show his devotion for her.
If, at this time, it had been possible to fly above the planet's atmosphere, it could have been seen a picture of terrifying proportions. A huge chunk of cosmic rock approaching at high speed on a collision course with the world inhabited by our heroes.
Within minutes, the well-known landscape vanished in a cloud of debris and waste torn down by the impact and a wide black cloud covered all corners of the world bringing death and destruction to all things that dwelt on the earth's surface.
In an incredible display of levity, Nature, let the small mammals covered by the caves to survive, and in time, to repopulate the planet.
The Coronation of Sucolbitl, lord of all the land you can see, was culminated with a party that lasted for many days but before the celebrations, the sovereign commissioned the elders scholars of the kingdom to find Sucolbitl lineage to the first parent, and so prove to the eyes of the world his nobility.
The sages devoted to working following all lines of heraldry that found in the libraries of the realm, but could not pass the sixteenth ancestor records for lack of more information of those so distant times.
What they could not know is that if many centuries before there had been the possibility to know the DNA, and the background of its processing, with extreme surprise had they discovered that at some point after the cataclysm that changed the owners of the planet, Primi and Llambi were Sucolbitl earliest ancestors, an important man on earth now, who had inherited genes from that emerging leader that lived in our simple Primi.
For once in a blue moon I looked for Elf instead of avoiding his presence.
The reason was easy enough, I was preparing a job about the interaction of brain and mind. I was trying to test my ideas with another being, and I felt reluctant to talk about this pseudo-scientific subject with other human beings since it was probable that they considered me as a freak.
When I told all this to Elf, his expected answer was, of course:
- Which you are!
I let the remark go unanswered, I was asking advice not trying to start a skirmish.
Seeing I was serious about the topic, he hide a smile and asked with perfect composure:
- What have you in your mind?
-Not in my mind, mind you, I said trying to show him I am as good a punster as he is, - but in my brain
And I started to explain to him the theory that "the mind" is a kind of effluence of the active processes which start in the brain and are determined by many variables, such as experience, health, feelings, et al.
Where I envisioned a difficult task, it was not so. Elf posed as a royal guy, listened to my explanations with a look of attentive stance on him.
I explained the modern theory of mind from brain, developing a good defence of the ideas sustained by important scientific men as Robert J. Sternberg, Roger Penrose, Stuart Hameroff, and other eminent men in the study of this theme.
As I progressed in my lecture, and seeing the gnome was not interrupting me as is his whim, I grew in confidence and talked about the experiments that proved the way the ontological mind emerged from the brain (all with those spiky words as "ontological" which I was not too sure I understood its meaning, designed to impress the imp).
When I finished my serious speech, Elf turned on his heel, and without a word lost himself into the Archive.
I was stunned, I didn't know if he was showing his contempt for my work, or if he felt insulted, or what...!
I was just starting to walk out of my mind, and look for another audience when he came back from the Archive with a piece of paper in one hand, and a dark blue crayon in the other.
Still baffled, I asked him:
- Why a dark blue crayon? I was almost sure there was a dark reason to use that color
He looked at me with that expression of commiseration he uses for all my questions, and shaking his head answered slowly as if he were doubtful of my understanding capacity, he said:
- Because, as incredible as it may be, this was the ONLY crayon that I could find in the box!
Looking at me askance, he started to draw, after a while he looked his work putting the paper far from his head, added a point, or a line, here and there, and then show it to me asking:
-Do you know what is this? I looked at him first trying to find if he was ironic, but could not find any trace of irony in his voice.
Then I looked at the paper:
- Yes, I was laconic, not knowing where he was going.
The picture was of a human arm with a hammer in attitude of hitting an iron nail into a wooden block.
When he was satisfied I have seen the drawing fully, he asked:
- Where is, as per your understanding, the will to hit the nail? In the arm? or in the hammer? Just forget about the rest of the human body for a while.
Still confused, I tried to answer my best option:
- In the arm , it was a guess, of course, but the arm was at least human, while the hammer was not! So it stood to reason that he arm could handle a "will", and the hammer did not.
- Right, answered the sprite to my relief. And then added, destroying my relief, -Partially
- Now, which one is the brain, and which other is the mind? asked my Nemesis, adding bewilderment to trepidation.
- I... I... it seems as if the mind is the hammer, and the brain is the arm. I was so perplexed as an African camel in a fog! I tried to associate the arm to the brain since both are in the same body, so I was left with the discomfort to pair the mind to the hammer.
- Exactly wrong, Elf said this with a smile so it does not looked as an insult! But, I was not sure!
- Look, the idea came to the mind, the brain accepted it, and they both hit the nail... But, and mind this big, big BUT, if the brain is damaged, the mind will still want to hit the nail (you can see this in handicapped persons wanting to do something but prevented for the lack of instrumental body), so which one is the master and which one is the instrument?
- If... if you put it like that... I was so much flummoxed, I could not but speak hesitantly.
- There you are, now, where are those "brainy" ideas of so famous scientist about the mind being exuded by the brain? What they forget is René Descartes simple postulate: I think, then I exist.
This is a simple way to say I am the mind, then I can use my brain (the instrument, or the hammer in my drawing) to express my mind needs and desires in this reality.
Did you understand this little puzzle?
Before I could collect my scattered brain cell to express my mind ideas, he went again into the Archive, and I could hear him mumbling something about "this poor humans, always taking reality by the tail".
I promise I could not understand his whispers, but his voice was full of pity.
The music is a fragment of "Mindfulness" by Hans Enrik Bay.
