sábado, 7 de enero de 2012

Turning the Sun On

                                   By Fernando-x Arteaga

Once upon a time in The Middle Ages, an unremembered village existed in the area of the equator. It was in the Andean Mountain Range, where shadows didn´t exist. Most of the folks used to call it The Village of Xavier because a famous wise man named Xavier, who mysteriously disappeared one day, lived there. Those lands had the cleanest water in their turquoise falls and rivers among groves as if each tree was painted with shiny oil paint. Moreover, when the winds blew, they used to carry some melodies similar to Beethoven or Mozart where some white rabbits, colorful birds, green crickets, and multicolored butterflies danced happily.  

Once, the darkness of the night never ended and the days didn´t come back for good. Neighbors couldn´t understand why the sun turned off and they didn´t know how to solve the problem. Anon, a clever young gentleman, whose name was Moon, began looking for answers and he couldn’t find anything for many days. Suddenly, a bratty and young goblin, with shiny garbs of gold, appeared to talk to Moon.

“I know why there haven´t been days so far,” the goblin said with a high-pitched voice. “There is a secret road that goes to a mysterious place, in which a string links the sun with the Earth,” he continued whispering.
“I really don´t understand,” Moon replied.
The goblin softly told Moon, “If you went to that place, you would understand and the light of the sun would return.”
Then, they began that long trip to light the sun again. 
  
During their trip, the goblin opened a small bag, which had many interesting instruments. For instance, the bag had a bottle with all of the fragrances in the world. It held the smell of chocolate, mint, rose, lemon, and all imaginable odors. However, the most important instrument was a magic wand and the goblin taught Moon how to use it by casting a spell on everything because they must be prepared when they arrive to the enchanted lands.

When they were getting closer and closer to the mysterious place, called “The Doors of the Sun”, some aromas such as strawberries emerged from the earth as well as the sky turning immediately pink. At the same time, the weather was as cold as the ice from the North Pole while they had to cope with some magical threats on the road.  Moon used his wand to destroy hungry giant plants with white eyes, which wanted to eat them. Furthermore, Moon destroyed thousands and thousands of fatamorganas that tried to convince him to forget his purposes. At the end, he and the goblin arrived at “The Doors of the Sun.”

They both were astonished and said at the same time, “This is the string that links the sun with the Earth. It is a gilded string!”
“Keep your body just there! Don´t attempt to take a step otherwise everything will be destroyed,” someone warned with a cracked voice.
Then, they turned around and saw an old man approaching slowly.

“There won´t be light any longer. I am so tired of turning the sun on and turning the sun off,” the old man said angrily.  Also, he went on to say, “I came here to cure my little son, but I am trapped and I never see him anymore.   I can remember that a bird told me the cure is in “The Doors of Sun” when my son began disappearing, getting translucent. My dear boy could have been alive if he had drunk a cup of water boiled with that gilded string. However, when I touched it, the string wrapped around my hand strongly and a voice came from the sky and said that I have to control the days and nights eternally until someone appears to take my place.” 

So, the goblin immediately opened his bag in order to take out a silver book and he read a mysterious legend.

A few minutes later, the goblin replied, “The legend say that nobody can touch it, but the string could be cut using only one of human hair.”
“Yes, I know about that, now, but I was so desperate at that moment that I couldn´t think of the solution,” the man said sadly.  

“Nevertheless, you are the wise man called Xavier. You are the one who helped people in your village by curing everybody with your wisdom. Why couldn´t you cure your child at home?” the goblin asked Xavier and the silence overflowed that space.
They looked at each other and the senior Xavier bent his head down.  After that, Moon said that he would be the man to help him because he had learned a lot of useful spells before he arrived there. When all of them closed their eyes, as fast as thunder, Moon raised his hand and said, “The sun will be free.” After that, a rainbow appeared in the sky and a soft wind caressed their flesh and a brilliant luminosity blinded them.  From that moment, the Earth travelled around the sun while spinning, producing different seasons during the year. Finally, the two men and the goblin disappeared from the Earth, having an eternal life. Consequently, you can see these valiant beings everywhere in the sky because the goblin´s body transformed into the clouds, the young man called Moon is the celestial sphere that appears at night as the moon, and the wise Xavier is the North Star. So, the clouds, the moon and the North Star appeared in order for humans to remember the time when the sun turned off. Fortunately, normal days returned to the Village of Xavier and the sun won´t ever lose its light again.

Adapted from childhood story.