The Little Light
​It was too much winter and it was too cold. And the lake water was dark. Nobody knows why it’s darker when it’s cold, but it’s not clear like in spring. In some parts, ice had even formed and its smell was like ‘don’t talk to me, leave me alone’. Doc and Quack were playing, swimming and diving underwater. And when they came up, they shook their beaks. They were two ducklings... And when he tried to come up, he couldn’t. On the lake’s surface, ice had formed. Like a hard and transparent door. He tried to break it, but it was too strong for him. Quack saw him behind that icy glass and jumped on it to break it. But she was too light. And she counted the clouds. Because when she was nervous, she counted anything.
Holes opened in the dark sky, from where the light escaped. While the river carried the egg where everything is lost. And it floated straight toward a rock. But a fish leaped out of the water and after a twirl in the air, dove in front of the egg. Two old carp, one black and one silvery, followed it closely to protect it from anything that could hurt it. They were save-all carp. They were born to save. They saved everything. Even what didn’t need to be saved.
On that shore of the lake, everything felt like it was between the sky and the earth. Nearby was a stream, her favorite spot. It became so after she saw a cork with a paper sail on a toothpick. And because it made a sound like a sponge rubbing the ear... She only had to watch out for one thing: the wind... Before dying, her father gave her a tiny lantern, saying not to worry about the light, only the lantern. Because without a lantern, how do you carry the light? And he said: “Keep it always with you, so... if it’s night, you won’t fear.”
Only an empty darkness remained. Everything had vanished: sky, stars, turtles, birds. Even things the duckling had never seen, like dragonflies... He was a warpo rat, who chose to live in the darkness. Yes, warpo, not warped, to stand out. In reality, he was a very ordinary rat craving admiration. But since being ordinary isn’t a reason for great admiration, he had convinced himself he was deformed. And crafted a life around this... his purpose was to stay in the dark and invent something special. And somehow, he had succeeded. That empty darkness was his kingdom. And he could rule over it all. His most important activity was collecting fragments of stars...
But the wind wanted to take her. The duckling saw her struggling but didn’t know what to do except jump around and flap his wings. And the wind pushed him into a sunflower and tore her off. But she managed to grab onto the duckling’s feathers as he jumped right into her path. And they were on the ground, somewhat sheltered from the wind that seemed to hunt her. They felt it swooping low among the sunflowers that protected them. And they sought more and more protection from the wind, moving where the sunflowers were thickest. Then the wind stopped at once, as if someone had switched it off. And now the sunflowers were everywhere. Like a sea.
The Flying stone
Everything’s good for a puppy to play with. And to jump on. Even a wasp nest. But a wasp nest is full of wasps. And wasps don’t like you jumping on them. So when that puppy jumped on that nest, the wasps came out and stung him raw... The captain took good care of that puppy. He healed him of everything... And called him Argo, because it was the only dog name he knew... And Argo found him. And didn’t know how he got there. And the beetle told him how he had escaped everything. And that his name was Ulysses. But he preferred to be called Nobody.
Between two rocks there was a little beetle. And it ran to one and then to the other. And for a beetle it went real fast. It was Mozart. Son of Mozart who got there from the sea... He was getting ready for the race. His village was already celebrating... In the village’s center was the banged-up tin box... It stood in a circle of white stones. It had become their sacred monument. And nobody could go inside. Only the beetle with a green back. This box had been empty since they came fromthe sea. The Brazilian beetles knew sacred things must stay empty.
It was already sunset. And there was that light that makes no shadows. The birds in the trees chirped like crazy before going to sleep. And there was the smell of a wet towel from the pond nearby. And all of a sudden the sound of a carnival horn scratched the silence. And he saw the stone with wings again. It went real fast. It spun on itself and then vanished down to the ground. And as it vanished, it made a noise of stepped-on leaves and little twigs snapping. Flamo wanted to see where that flying stone went. And he jumped down from the tree. With his hurt wing he couldn’t fly, only slow his fall. In that state if there was danger, he was done for. And he walked toward where the flying stone went. First he saw the wings. One on his right on the ground. And another in the bush in front of him. And farther on, on a pile of leaves, there was the stone.
It was already sunset. And there was that light that makes no shadows. The birds in the trees chirped like crazy before going to sleep. And there was the smell of a wet towel from the pond nearby. And all of a sudden the sound of a carnival horn scratched the silence. And he saw the stone with wings again. It went real fast. It spun on itself and then vanished down to the ground. And as it vanished, it made a noise of stepped-on leaves and little twigs snapping. Flamo wanted to see where that flying stone went. And he jumped down from the tree. With his hurt wing he couldn’t fly, only slow his fall. In that state if there was danger, he was done for. And he walked toward where the flying stone went. First he saw the wings. One on his right on the ground. And another in the bush in front of him. And farther on, on a pile of leaves, there was the stone.
The ship went around the world. And in every port they recognized it by that flag. Whoever saw it wondered what it was. But knew there was a story behind that flag. It wasn’t just a drawing. And kids who saw it copied it on sheets of paper. Now they knew even a stone could fly. If you try hard enough. And some kids took stones and made wings for them. But only a few could make them fly. Because enough is only as far as you can go to do it. Not until you can’t anymore. And those who couldn’t, thought they didn’t have the right stone. And looked for other stones. But they couldn’t make any fly. Because no stone is born right to fly.