THE IVORY CITY ON THE MOON
by Max Reif
continued from page 1
When
Eva opened her eyes it took a little while for her to remember where
she was. Around her people were animatedly talking and laughing. Some
of them drank from long-stemmed copper goblets. While she had slept,
the sky had darkened. The courtyard was now all ablaze with fire from
torches hanging on the walls.
Suddenly, a loud, heartpounding sounds
shot through the night air and repeated their staccato rhythm,
over and over! Eva turned her head to see a tall, dark
man across the courtyard pounding the skin of his long, graceful drum.
A blonde lady in a bright green gown,
standing across the courtyard from the drummer, began to play on her
flute. Within seconds, everyone was playing an instrument
or dancing or singing. One lady walked around blowing colorful
soap bubbles as she danced. A golden bird with an enormously
long tail perched on a tall woman's arm, warbling heavenly songs.
A man in a clown costume juggled fiery torches that left trails like
Chinese characters in the sky.
Eva watched in awe. And then—just
as suddenly as it had begun—the dancing and singing and merriment
all stopped! All except for the high-pitched trill of the flute. Somehow,
Eva knew that it was now her turn to dance.
But how could she dance in front of all of
them? They were so beautiful and talented!
For a moment, Eva thought, "I can just
wait here on the edge of the circle, and no one will ever know." She
realized, though, that in some mysterious way deep down, everyone
would know—but more importantly, she would
know.
Years
afterward, Eva could never remember the exact moment she had jumped
into the center of the circle. But once she did, she didn't even have
to tell her body what to do. Her arms, her legs, her head, her torso—each
part of her became an inspired dancer! The flute leapt high, and Eva
leaped toward Heaven, to fly in its enchanted stream of sound!
At the very top
of her leap, Eva's thoughts seemed to stop. Everything around her
disappeared. There were no guests, no music. She floated free, without
thoughts.
Then a tiny voice in her head said,
"Who am I?" And she realized that she was no longer
a little girl, but had indeed become the Princess. She felt her large
form, her long black hair flowing in the wind. She was a woman,
lovely, inspired—everything she had ever dreamed she might become.
Eva came down from her
jump. She knew she was a little girl once again. But that didn't matter.
What mattered was that she had been shown: things would
work out! It was more than just being lost in the woods. She had been
afraid of growing up! But yes, she saw now—everything
would be all right.
"You
know..." Eva began later, when she and the Princess were alone.
"Yes," said the Princess, smiling warmly.
"I do know all that happened to you tonight! There's no need
to tell me in words."
The two of them fell into one another's
arms.
"And now, my darling," the Princess
whispered, "I must take you back." And before little
Eva's eyes, her friend became a bird again.
Little Eva hopped on the bird's back. The
lovely, blue-white Earth washed the little girl's eyes in soothing
colors as the nightingale flew toward it. The planet grew, as the
moon had before, until it practically swallowed them up.
The nightingale took her to the right path
in the forest. The bright, sunny morning was filled with lovely songs
from many kinds of birds. Eva easily found her way to Aunt Lucy's,
got the yarn Mother had sent her to pick up, and the next morning
skipped all the way home. The forest felt like an old friend.
Eva
grew up and became a beautiful dancer. She had many friends with whom
she shared priceless, musical moments. And when, as often happened,
her heart grew full of gratitude for her happy life, Eva would look
up into the night sky and remember fondly the long ago meeting with
her grown-up Princess Self, in the wonderful ivory city on the moon.
C 1990, 2004 by Max Reif