6. The Mysterious Book of Life.

Next, Fantasy told me the following story:

“Imagine a mysterious book with soft leather covers appears in the forest. Its hundreds of sheets of outstanding silk paper contain all kinds of stories, poems, maps, illustrations, mathematical equations, chants, and many more.

One day, a toad passes by and, upon discovering the book, jumps onto the cover and, fascinated by the softness of that leather, lies down there to rest. Once he has rested enough, the toad leaves as he came, happy to have found that beautiful treasure but unable to recognize any other use. Since the book is weighty, it is not worth carrying it around simply to rest on its covers. So the book is left behind.

On another occasion, a monkey passes by that place, too. Unlike the toad, the monkey can not only feel the softness of the book’s covers but he is also able to open it and delight in its illustrations. The monkey examines the book with fascination for a few days, but after some time, he too gets bored of looking at it and trying to decipher, without success, the meaning of those rows of strange scribbles that take most of the pages. As he does not know how to read, the magical treasure is abandoned again in the forest until a child passes by and picks it up with great joy. Well, this child knows how to read, and the stories that the book keeps for him are the most incredible ones he has ever read. But the boy does not understand most of the wonders kept in that magnificent book because he is too young to understand mathematics or poetry, nor can he read maps. However, instead of leaving the book in the forest, the boy takes it home to share the treasure with his family.

His father, an explorer, discovers maps that lead him to fabulous places. The mother, a biochemist, discovers formulas to make soaps, perfumes, remedies, and a thousand other things. The older brother, a poet-writer, enjoys the most beautiful and revealing poems; the sister, who studied foreign languages, reads letters and stories from people living in distant countries and learns about different cultures.

A healer aunt finds miraculous methods to cure many ills, until then without remedy.

Thus, each person benefits from the inexhaustible source of wisdom contained in that book of life to the extent of the efforts and knowledge they have gained through life. But even today, most of the book’s content remains a great mystery, requiring new efforts and a curious spirit to unveil its hidden knowledge.”

«Where is that book now?» I wanted to know, forgetting that it was an imaginary book!

«At Mrs. Curiosity’s house,» Fantasy replied, humoring me. «A millennial old woman, in whose eyes shines the enthusiasm of a girl, and whose body, covered with scars hidden among the deep wrinkles of her skin, preserves the vitality of a fifteen-year-old. In the company of her grandson, Astonishment, Mrs. Curiosity is determined to decipher every last secret in that book,» she concluded.

Finally, Hope, always willing to provide more information, completed Fantasy’s story:

«With the help of the three sage fairies Patience, Constancy and Perseverance, the grandmother and her grandson are learning forgotten languages, solving very complex mathematical equations, making all sorts of experiments; to reveal each of the mysteries kept there. And they’re having the time of their lives despite the endless work their research requires!»

I pondered that story for a long time until I finally looked at Fantasy, Lazyness, and Melancholy, and I told them:

«I’m afraid I won’t stay with you in this place. Not because I don’t like it! The butterflies’ clearing is a wonderful place, and you three are lovely. But Destroucho is right: it’s not my destiny to stay here and become a butterfly. I want wings that allow me to fly high and far. I wish to see all the wonders that await me beyond this forest, and I am willing to work hard to achieve this!»

They smiled and, far from being disappointed, seemed to be pleased with my decision. Then, as I stood up and went to say goodbye to them, Hope told me: «There is nothing wrong with stopping by and listening to Fantasy’s stories now and then. Many of them are inspiring and full of wisdom. Nor is it wrong to let Laziness and Melancholy caress you with their soft silk threads. Their threads have the magical power to relieve the pain of some inevitable wounds when you are growing! But don’t let Fantasy hypnotize you with her voice, nor let Laziness and Melancholy’s invisible threads entangle and paralyze you like a spider web.»

I nodded, and Destrouch warned me with his exaggerated tone of fear:

«And also be very careful with two other twin fairies you will meet in the forest one day: Resignation and Acceptance! Never listen to the first one. She is a liar and will tell you that the spirit of the forest is cruel and unfair and that he only benefits his favorites while ignoring the merits of the little bugs he doesn’t like. 

Resignation will tell you it’s not worth fighting for your feathers since the spirit randomly grants wings to whoever occurs to him. This sad fairy has never flown high enough to see the world from the sky. Therefore, she has a distorted view of reality and does not understand why the spirit of the forest does not always allow enterprising and brave bugs to achieve what they set their minds to.

On the other hand, Acceptance does fly high enough to know that sometimes the bugs insist on getting a feather that doesn’t suit the wings that the spirit of the forest has in store for them. That’s why she will tell you that you must not become angry with the spirit if you can’t reach one of your goals despite doing your best. When he does not grant you what you long for, it is not out of malice but quite the opposite. It is because he has something even better waiting for you down the road!» concluded the dragon.

I looked at him incredulously, without fully understanding what he was referring to.

Then Hope clarified it for me with an example:

«Imagine that you are putting together a huge puzzle with your little siblings. You are the only one who saw the picture on the box and knows what picture you are putting together. The others will only discover it as they put each piece in its place.

One of the twins may try to put a piece in the place he thinks is right, but the piece does not fit. Irritated and impatient, he gets angry and tries to make it fit in at all costs. You will look for a way to make him understand that the piece doesn’t belong there, but he, confused, may ignore you. Then, you’ll have no choice but to take the piece out of his hands to prevent him from ruining the puzzle.

The little boy will probably be angry with you and think you are bad and unfair to him. But what else could you do? Only when he finds the piece that fits in that place, or when he sees the image of the puzzle more clearly, will he understand that you were right. But if he gets angry and abandons the game because you don’t let him put the piece in the wrong place, he may never be able to see that he was wrong and will be forever convinced that you were cruel and unfair to him. Do you understand?» She asked me with her usual teacher tone.

«Yes, miss! I understand,» I replied mockingly.

We said goodbye to the fairies in the butterflies’ clearing, and I resumed walking with Destrouch and Hope.