617 - The fairytale of joy

N. Lygeros
Translated from Greek by Athina Kehagias and Theodoros Tsiamitas

A beautiful rosebush and a misshapen monster under the tree of the sun.

Rosebush: Could you write something for me?
Monster: Whatever you want, my dear rosebush…
Rosebush: I would like something joyful.
Monster: But, I don’t know if…
Rosebush: You? But you’re writing so wonderfully!
Monster: I don’t know how to write differently… I’m not making an effort… I’m just reporting my thoughts…
Rosebush: So beautiful thoughts in such an…
Monster: an ugly body…
Rosebush: Don’t say that… Since you know how much…
Monster: Yes, I know… But it’s the truth…
Rosebush: Don’t believe in truth… (Time)
Look only at the beauty.
Monster: (Looking at her) I’m only looking at her…
Rosebush: So?
Monster: Do you want a specific subject?
Rosebush: I don’t care about the subject, all that matters is for it to be something joyful.
Monster: Alright…
Rosebush: Did you think of something already?
Monster: I think I did…
Rosebush: (Impatient) Tell me, tell me…
Monster: I’m embarassed…
Rosebush: But why?
Monster: Because in this tale I’m beautiful…
Rosebush: It will definitely be a joyful one, since the beginning is funny!
Monster: Then listen to my tale… I was sitting under a tree…
Rosebush: (Pointing at the tree) Like this one?
Monster: Yes, exactly this! (He sits under the tree).
So I was sitting like this… I was quite like the rock and suddenly I’ve heard children shouting. They were playing together and they were happy until they saw me…
Rosebush: What happened at that moment?
Monster: My beauty provoked them…
Rosebush: This is truly unbelievable!
Monster: Yet again, they envied my clothes and they started tearing them apart. (Time) I was watching them laughing and my soul was enjoying it. (Silence) In the end I was naked like the sun…
Rosebush: What a pity that I did not see this scene! And what happened afterwards?
Monster: My body caught their attention… They couldn’t bear so much beauty!
Rosebush: This has never happened to me… (Time) And what did they do?
Monster: They began to throw rocks at me …
Rosebush: The children?
Monster: The children don’t know…
Rosebush: Right! (Time) But didn’t you talk?
Monster: No, I wanted them to enjoy it… First they make the sun bleed, but even wounded he was beautiful. They stopped throwing rocks only when he became blue and he fell.
Rosebush: You weren’t in pain?
Monster: Fairytale characters don’t gat in pain!
Rosebush: (Laughing) I forgot that it was a fairytale for a moment…
Monster: With the words you forgot my ugliness…
Rosebush: You are right, I’m silly… Continue on with your tale.
Monster: The children went away happy… They left the blue sun behind them, the broken beauty under the tree, which bent over me.
Rosebush: I didn’t know what the cost of joy was…
Monster: No one does, that’s why they seek for it!
Rosebush: Happiness was what I asked from you and you gave me humanism.
Monster: Humans didn’t leave anything else for the monsters…
I’m sorry, my dear Rosebush.