Illustrator T. Knyazeva

© C. Ioutsen, 2020

© T. Knyazeva, illustrations, 2020

ISBN 978-5-4498-1969-7

Created with Ridero smart publishing system

Remains of Rain

 
Soaked in morning dew
– remains of rain.
 

Alone in a Daydream

 
Absorbed in a daydream
– a young frog
alone by the leaf.
 

The Coming of Dragons

A very long time ago, when the world was still young and closer to the stars, whose light was strong and whose song could be heard in the deepest of caves, when the waters were still warm and not yet quelled, washing the formless shores, when many things were in their infancy, only to become great ages later – at the inception of all there came the dragons.

They came from beyond the borders of the world, where they had been traveling long and far, through regions of the void filled with nothing but ever-fading light and cold and emptiness, where time itself was running at once forward and backward, and space was incomplete and inconstant.

Exactly from how far away the dragons had come or where else they had used to abide, it was not known; they did not speak of this, neither among themselves nor to the wise. It had always been known that whenever the time would be about right for all lights of the world to fade, then the dragons would depart and be on their way, and never come back. It was said also that the dragons alone were aware of when it was meant to happen and were prepared.

Although the dragons traveled together, they preferred to dwell in solitude; upon coming each dragon chose a place to his liking and settled there all by himself. Some favored dark holes and bottomless pits, and some – mountaintops and gliding clouds, while others scouted for caverns on a seafloor, for wild woods and open fields.

Then again, some dragons were inclined to move with the world and went everywhere, observing the young things mature and occasionally having a word with their kin. Indeed, all the dragons watched keenly the world age; they marveled at the brevity of life, and remained the same and did not die, nor weakened. They never intervened with the common order of events, unless it was their fate to do so, and each dragon recognized his fate quite well. Not that he necessarily would accept it, for sometimes even the dragons were tempted; that, too, was their fate – to produce an example of lesser wisdom, without which true wisdom would fail to exist. It was rumored that some dragons became so corrupt they finally perished, but the wise had never shared such ignorance, as they understood that a dragon could not possibly perish – he could cease being a dragon. And that is what might have transpired.

The dragons looked patiently at the children of the world and were content, and waited. And the children sensed their presence and their vigilance, and there was no fear among them. Now and then someone brave enough and reckless enough would seek a dragon to ask for aid or advice, and could gain either or both, if one’s wisdom was equally sufficient. Many did not return, and those that did could not always put a dragon’s favor to a good use. Nonetheless, the dragons were talked about and revered, and sought after. And while they cared for nobody and nothing, they did not mind to act benevolently at one moment, as they did not mind to be cruel at another. They saw good and evil being invented; it was not them who invented either.

Of all those that dwelled in skies and seas, upon the earth or beneath it the dragons were the wisest and most beautiful, yet their wisdom and their appearance were not of this world but of somewhere beyond; it marked them as distinctly alien, and everyone around could feel that. Some dragons resolved to retain their demeanor, while others it pleased to assume forms more adjusted to the constraints of their new surroundings. Some dragons fancied to veil themselves with an exterior of neighboring creatures, among which they could walk unnoticed, for their own amusement, however ill-suited it might have been for a dragon to forsake his habits and powers for a long while.

The accounts of those that had actually glimpsed the true form of a dragon varied considerably; even so, several features seemed to be prevalent, relating, admittedly, not to the visible shape itself but to the impression it conveyed upon a spectator. At least one thing could be safely agreed upon – the dragons never presented themselves in a way they were expected to, and neither did their words nor doings.

No hierarchy or any kind of outward order was known to exist among the dragons. Freedom was their natural state of being, and although every dragon behaved as he saw fit for himself alone, his wisdom, both inborn and acquired, kept him from being troubled and troubling. Dragons never practiced any bondage with each other, nor could they see why so many of the lesser creatures were unable to live without it. In fact, the more sophisticated creatures were becoming, the less able were they to survive on their own; they united themselves in races and all sorts of co-habitation, while only the simplest were solitary. When united, some made up a whole lot of different illusions as a shelter from the world; soon they forgot they had made it all up and believed it, and dismissed everything else. In their blind pride and ignorance these creatures deemed themselves potent and omniscient; they meddled with both the ways of the world and their own fortune. This the dragons witnessed and wondered, though never involved themselves – the best action was the one not taken, and it was not their custom to alter the course of events.

The time passed. Many dragons grew weary and lost their interest in mundane things, and hid themselves from eyes of mortal creatures, and unmade paths that led to their places. They fell asleep and did not see the world save in their dreams; it was reckoned by the wise that the world itself was just a dream of the dragons – it would end when the last of them would have awakened. But it was not assumed with any certainty, nor may have been proved. For all that, many dragons stayed alert and continued to live as before, flying around, conversing with other creatures and contemplating essence of the existence, and waiting.

Not much more was to be learned concerning the dragons, whose wisdom and wont were not meant to be reflected upon; as one dragon was reported to have said, the sole way to learn was to unlearn. Hence, he that knows more than says should now hold his tongue and not speak whereof he should be silent.

On a Riverbank

The Dragon and the water rat were sitting on a riverbank side by side. The water rat was throwing stones in the water, and the Dragon was watching quietly, along with a few curious – and not so quiet – birds on the branches above. The water rat’s skill appeared to be considerable, for more often than not a stone would make several jumps across the water before sinking down with a splash. The Dragon was unimpressed, evidently deep in thought; his gaze followed the stones all the same.

«You ought to show a little attitude, if you want them to jump over the surface,» remarked the water rat smugly.

«No need,» said the Dragon. «I am just watching.»

The water rat shrugged and, shooting him a furtive glance, went back to attend to its stones, gathered in a small pile. After a painstaking inspection it chose the roundest, most polished pebble and launched it with one swift motion. The Dragon was half-heartedly expecting some stones not to sink in the river eventually, but they all did, making him feel mildly embarrassed. He was not in the slightest perturbed – it was just somewhat dull when things kept occurring in a similar fashion.

There was rustling in the trees, and a forest bird darted to the river, chasing after a buzzing mosquito and missing; it circled back, crying mournfully in frustration. The mosquito, as the Dragon saw, was lurking in the grass on the other bank, apprehensive and hesitant to get back in the open. The splash from another stone sent it fleeing for a better refuge.

«I cannot imagine,» said the Dragon. «Why all of them must go down?»

«What else could they do?» The water rat eyed him suspiciously and tightened its grasp on a newly picked stone.

«Well, fly around or lie there on the water or dissipate in the air.»

«That is not what the stones do. At any rate, they are incapable of doing anything on their own accord, and I cannot make them fly around or any of that.»

«Maybe you can, but they cannot.»

«Same difference.» The water rat swung its arm.

«Is it now?» said the Dragon. «You are rather confident about that.»

«I am. Everything must have a reason. In real life a thing happens because some other thing has happened,» declared the water rat.

«Which thing?» said the Dragon.

«Any thing! And it happens all the time.»

«How could you know that?»

«Look, I throw this stone and it falls down.» The water rat snatched up a pebble and threw it; the pebble did not get very far. «See? It falls down because I threw it!»

«Next time it may not fall.»

«It is highly unlikely,» scoffed the water rat.

«What do you mean, unlikely?» said the Dragon. «It will either fall or it will not, there are no other options. Therefore, both are equally probable, since any action can occur only once.»

The river was flowing by, not in the least affected by the argument, its current steady. The riverbed, illuminated by the afternoon sun, was littered with rocks and debris, lying there stock-still, probably heedless of their whereabouts. Splinters of light danced from spot to spot, bouncing unevenly, pulling at occasional water spirits.

«It will fall,» insisted the water rat after a pause, tossing another pebble. «It always does. That is the rule. And a good rule is an offspring of a good experience. It is well to have the rules and uphold them. Saves time and effort.»

«It is apt, then, for those who wish to save their time and effort. Although, why would anyone desire that, I cannot say.»

«Eh?» The water rat was busy with its pile.

«Nothing has invariable value. No rule has invariable use. Also, you realize that you learn whether the rule is good enough only after you have applied it.»

«After the rule has proved itself useful we know its effect before the actual application.»

«It is guessing, not knowing. And you are free to make a guess about anything.»

«Some rule is better than no rule at all, would you not agree?»

«That scarcely makes any sense at all. How can you conceive a better new rule without breaking the old one? And to conceive any rules you should have no rules. But do not take my word for it.»

The water rat brooded about this, turning the idea different ways in its rat mind, shaping and reshaping it. It did not fit. And twittering of the birds was of no help either, distracting the water rat’s wandering attention.

«Rules notwithstanding, there is reality,» protested the water rat.

«So, something that repeats over and over is supposed to be real?»

«Yes, because it means there is some order there.»

«What has order to do with reality? And why cannot unreal things have order?»

The water rat was lost for words for a few moments.

«What is your point here?» it asked, defeated.

«There is none,» said the Dragon. «Now, what would you make of that?»

He picked up a large boulder and launched it straight up. Both he and the water rat watched it getting smaller and smaller, until it vanished completely. It never fell down.

«It does not fall.» The water rat was astonished. «Is it all real?»

«Whenever I throw things, they always fly off,» said the Dragon. «Why, I have no idea.»

«Why?»

«I have no idea.»

«I have not seen that before!»

«You have now,» said the Dragon and walked away with an air of conclusion. After a few steps he paused and added over his shoulder: «Experience, you see, makes no mistakes, unlike our judgment, when it expects to find something that is not there.»

Stunned, the water rat remained motionless, still clutching a pebble. It examined the ground, doubtfully, then the water and then the stone in its hands. «He might be right,» it thought. «It would be so more entertaining to have things behaving in a more manifold manner. Only, would it not be also confusing, being unable ever to predict it?»

The water rat loosened its grip and let the pebble slip from its little fingers. It fell with a thud.

The Dragon meanwhile strolled alongside the river, passing a few bends, until he came upon a comfortable spot, much like the one he had left. He found a lump of rock of decent proportions, weighed it solemnly. With a fluid motion he sent it plummeting at full speed lengthways the river, in the direction he had come from.

The rock was building momentum, traveling above the water, practically touching it. An instant, and it was lost in the misty distance. The Dragon never saw it fall.

«I am growing superstitious,» he thought.