Metis

Their once was a very wise man who knew and understood the natural world very well. He spent all his days studying nature and speaking with animals. His favorite creature, out of all those that he spoke to, was a beautiful butterfly whose name was Cindy.

 

Now, the wise man spoke to Cindy everyday that he would see her. She would flap around him and speak to him swiftly in her butterfly language. He was very fascinated by the beauty of this butterfly. He was so close to nature that he could see past the fact that Cindy was an insect and he was a man. He wanted more than to talk with Cindy; he wanted to see the world thru butterfly eyes. He wanted to see and have Cindy the way a man sees and has a woman. Never the less, the wise man knew it was unnatural for a human to be with an insect. He knows butterflies can only be with their own kind.

 

          Cindy’s speech and her butterfly language seduced the wise man. All he wanted was to have wings and be with Cindy in her butterfly form. Now, in that land where wisdom was like a pendulum; which swings from one extreme to the other, there was a conjurer with a different kind of wisdom. In the winds a fell voice spoke of his powers to grant wishes not according to the law of God. The wise man searched for the conjuror and went to him. Blinded by the love he held for Cindy, the wise man abandoned all wisdom and asked the sorcerer to animate his wish. The sorcerer saw that the wise man had fallen in love and took advantage of his weakness. Then the sorcerer gave him these instructions:

 

 “take a jar of clay, fill it with water, slice your flesh and imbue the water with your crimson essence. Take a healthy butterfly and submerge it in the jar. Sip the water, go to sleep and remember not the present.”

 

          The wise man did as the conjuror explained and he lay down on his bed to sleep. He lay there for a long while thinking only of being like Cindy. Two days later, where their once lay a normal man now was replaced with a cocoon. Out of which came forth a butterfly with fully stretched out wings, as if awakening from a long sleep. So the love stricken butterfly, which resembles not a once wise man, rushes to show Cindy what he has done out of love for her. Cindy the butterfly is so surprised to see her love now to be of her own kind.

 

          Shortly there after, the not-so-wise man realized that his new life with Cindy could only last but two days. As they both quickly started to decay, he noticed that his love for Cindy was unnatural and he gave up all he was blessed with for two days of love with Cindy the butterfly. At the point of death, before they die, the conjuror traps the butterfly pair. The sorcerer takes them to his lair and dips them in clear wax and puts them on his wall for display.

 

          Since then he tells the story of how he caused the fall of the wise by using the weakness of the flesh against the very blessings that are given to man.

Reviews

[Ngon'e]

Great story Ati, what comes to mind after reading it is,
"that which we desire with much passion often truly transforms"