The Boy of Locked Gardens
and The Woman Spread Thin
There
once was a boy who had many beautiful gardens. He would spend hours
and hours in his gardens, joyfully frollicking amonst the flowers and
leaves, saturating himself with the scents of earth and blossoms.
There was a problem with his gardens, however. He was the only one
that could see them. He tried many times to show his friends and
family the gardens he had grown, eagerly gesturing past the main gate
to the treasures within. And many times they left shaking their heads
in confusion or anger, shaming him for what they thought he had
imagined. The boy became discouraged and lessened his visits to the
gardens. He soon stopped visiting at all. The gardens grew unkempt
and soon impassable. The boy found one day, when he tried to return,
that he had even lost the key to enter the main gate. He had been
careless in his pain, unable to share his pleasures with others.
Then
one day, while the boy walked along the crumbling outer walls of his
gardens, longing for the halcion days he once spent inside their
confines, he noticed something new. He felt something or someone
nearby, but could see nothing. "It's like trying to find a
candle in the dark" he thought, "except you don't know if
the candle is really there." Little by little, a form
materialized in front of him. It was a woman! She stretched out over
the whole valley, over the horizon even and the boy could not see the
end of her, though she was spread so thin that there was hardly any
of her left to see. "How come I can barely see you?" he
asked. "I have had my pieces spread out far and wide, stretched
many miles until I am nearly a ghost, invisible to most people who
look upon me," she replied. "But how'd you get that way?"
the boy persisted. "A great many of my pieces were taken from
me, those who did not have enough body of their own would steal some
of mine and run far away with it. Sometimes I would give my pieces
away to those that needed it more than I. Thus my body would become
stretched thin and taut," she answered. "Like not enough
butter over too much bread?" asked the boy. "Precisely,"
she agreed. As the boy and the woman became friendly and learned of
each other, the boy came to understand that the woman had given quite
a bit of herself up to others, in fact, it seemed as though every
moment she became more tangible with the gaining back of some piece
of her body, some other part of her would slip away just as fast. He
found it much like watching fog blow into a room through a door and
then out again through a window.
She
in fact gave some of herself to his gardens, as he always found his
flowers more upright and less wrinkled, brighter and less dull after
her every visit. Soon he found he had vibrant gardens once again.
They had not yet risen to their former glory but they were too strong
now to lapse back into their former state, excepting for seasonal
changes of course. With the woman's help, the boy took down the gate
to the garden so he could never be locked out again.
This
continued for some time, the woman visiting the boy and his gardens
growing healthier and healthier, until one day he noticed the woman
let out a sigh. It was a painful sigh, one of much tiredness and
weariness. He then realized how awfully, dreadfully tiring it must to
hold oneself up so long over many miles, especially when ones legs
where not underneath. He decided then that he would go on a quest. A
quest to help her return the stolen peices to herself, so she could
be happy again and not have to strain so hard just to stand up. She
had done so much for him and he found that he cared for her so deeply
that he was compelled to help. As she was the first in a long time to
see his gardens and the beauty possible therein, so too did he see
her coporeal and majestic beauty waiting to be returned.
He
traveled for many days that became months that became years.
Sometimes he stumbled and hurt himself but the woman would appear and
lend him a part if he needed it. His gardens stayed beautiful
overall, tending themselves with open gates. Some people even began
to visit and love it and help with the tending. This brought the boy
and the woman much joy for his gardens truly were a wondrous place,
though the boy was often too bashful to admit it. He continued on his
quest, not noticing that not only did his garden grow and not only
did the woman become more solid as she walked alongside him during
their visits, but he grew too. One day he found that he had grown
into a man. Eager to show his friend, the woman, he waited in a
familiar grove for her arrival. Finally she did, and for the first
time, he saw all of her present and together. Speechless with awe, he
took her into his arms and held her close. She knew then that someone
saw all of her, even the pieces that were not yet there.
Together,
the man, the woman, and the garden all grew together larger and
larger, more beautiful than anything anyone had ever seen before.
Many people came to visit. Some were rejuvenated by the wealth they
generated, others left some of their own wealth for others. All in
all the gardens were a happy place, tended to and grown with love and
care for all to share and adore.
THE END
*Content copyright The Samnambulist, 2013*
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