His cloudy emotions were distracted by a sound, like a melody on a piano. "We celebrate the winter solstice, my dragon friend. The shortest, darkest, coldest of days. The beginning, the new cycle of the turning earth… From today the days grow longer, the earth regenerates." The sound of Jena the fairy godmother's voice shone like sunlight on mist, lifting his feelings.
But not completely. The dragon looped-the-loop, and whined. "I need some longer days now, good fairy!"
Jena's eyes sparkled as an idea magically formed into a reality. "Why don't you fly to see the boy-child? In his part of the earth the days are long and warm. The southern solstice celebrates the coming of summer today…"
The dragon hesitated. "But the solstice has passed a few hours ago. By the time I fly to him…"
Jena cadenced his sentence. "…he will be celebrating a feast called Christmas, for the first time in his life."
The dragon knew he had two days time, so he lazily flew south, from England, over Biscay, Spain and Gibraltar… Over the Atlas mountains, where the great dragon lay beneath the red rocks… then left to the pyramids of Egypt, and south-east to the Taj Mahal and onward to the Indonesia archipelago… over the empty deserts of the great southern land… until finally he reached a house on the side of a mountain, near a city by a river.
At 12 o'clock the sun was high in the sky. The warmth and the feeling of the earth baked by long summer days nurtured his soul. He hovered, hearing the sounds of a Christmas feast, waiting for the right moment. The feast was so different to celebrating the solstice. People ate, drank, gave gifts, shared stories and songs and love. But no thanks for the gifts of the earth and sun, no harmonizing with the delicate balance of the shifting season. The dragon found humans strange, more so at times like this.
The right moment came after the eating and drinking, when everyone slept. He felt a deep resonating feeling rise as he called gently, "Ryn."
The soul of Ryn floated like light up, up, up, onto the dragon's shoulders. They would do no sightseeing today. No loop-the-loops or other air gymnastics. The dragon flew out over the ocean of peace, beyond the sight of land.
He knew the boy child may not understand, but still knew what he must say. "The sun is our source, that transforms us just as it transforms the earth. The sun is a star, the earth is stardust. You, me, and every living thing in nature, we are made of stardust."
The dragon was absolutely correct. Ryn did not understand a word. All the boy-child felt was a wondrous harmonious love of the sun and the earth and everything on it.
They flew home, and the dragon watched as Ryn's soul descended like light into his body.
Chapter 11: The new moon of the new year
No comments:
Post a Comment