Discover more from My Gaia
The Little Wind
This tale is a departure from the normal My Gaia fare. It is a simple fable, written for children. I hope you'll like it...
Once upon a time there was a Little Wind who lived by a sky-blue lake in the mountains. He was a busy Little Wind. Every morning he swooshed through the woods, leaping over fallen logs.
If he found an old drift of leaves, he pounced on it and woke it up to play. He searched the branches of every tree, and he knew where all the birds were nesting.
One sunny morning he was in a restless mood. He tickled some dandelions until their seeds went floating across the meadow. Then he blew down to the lake and set the cattails dancing in the shallow water.
As he breezed along the shore, he happened to overhear the weeping willows whispering together as they gazed into the water.
“Sky, oh sky and sun,” they whispered. “Bird songs in my branches. Roots, drink deep in the lake of clear reflection.”
Now that made the Little Wind curious. You see, he knew all about the sky and sun. He knew also of birds and where they rested. He was old friends with lake and roots and branches. But here was a word he had never heard.
“What’s a reflection?” he asked.
The trees replied, “It’s your own self, looking back at you.”
“Where?” the Little Wind asked, looking all around. He had never seen himself, and he thought that must be a fine thing indeed to see. “Please tell me where to see my reflection.”
“In the water, of course,” answered the willows. “We were all enjoying our reflections just now, a moment before you came by.
They seem to be gone for now, but they’ll be back. Reflections come and go.”
All that day the Little Wind searched the lake, and he looked and he looked for his reflection. But he saw only ripples, ripples and waves.
“Maybe my cattail friends can help,” thought the Little Wind, and he breezed toward the shallow water. The cattails bowed as he reached them.
“I don’t suppose you’ve ever seen your reflections, have you?” he asked.
The cattails nodded, one after the other. “Yes, naturally,” they answered. “Quite pretty they are, too, our reflections. Lovely things, most delightful.”
“Well, where are they?” asked the Little Wind. “And how do you see them?”
The cattails replied, “You have to look when the lake is still, completely smooth and still. That’s the only time you can see yourself in the water.”
“Smooth and still! I’ve never seen the lake like that,” said the Little Wind. “Waves and ripples, that’s all I see. How do you make the water still?” The Little Wind gave a great sigh.
One cattail laughed, and then the next, and then another, until they all bounced with mirth. “Oh, we wouldn’t try to make the lake be still. But sometimes that’s the way it is, as quiet and flat and still as can be. Then we see ourselves. We simply look, and there we are. There’s nothing to it.”
Now the Little Wind was all the more determined to see his reflection. He hurried from place to place along the shore, looking for still water.
And do you think the Little Wind found a place with no waves, where the water was quiet and he could see his reflection?
No, every place he went, he found ripples noisily lapping the shore, and he could not see himself anywhere. “Shhh,” he said to the waves. “Shhh, shhh, SHHH!” But the ripples kept right on rippling.
Out to the middle of the lake he blew. Waves and more waves splashed below him. He shouted to the lake, “Be still!”
The lake did not seem to notice, for wave after wave continued to rise.
“Perhaps I can blow the waves away!” the Little Wind said, and he blew down hard on the water and tried to smooth it.
But do you think that made the waves go away?
No, they grew higher and higher, and the Little Wind could not see himself at all.
Then the Little Wind blew round and around the lake as fast as a wind can blow. “I’ll frighten the waves away,” he said. The trees swayed, and their branches creaked, and the leaves flew off in swarms. The cattails rocked back and forth in the water.
But do you think the water became still?
No, it grew ever wilder and roared all the louder.
Through the night the Little Wind blew and he stormed. By morning he was tired, and yet the lake was rough with waves.
“Whatever shall I do?” the Little Wind asked himself. “How will I ever see myself in the water?”
Just then the golden sun began to rise over the eastern mountain, and that gave the Little Wind an idea.
The Little Wind blew up to the top of the mountain. “Oh Sun,” he said, “you are the oldest and wisest of all. I know you can answer my question. I wish to see my reflection in the lake, for my own self is one thing I have never seen. But wherever I look, and no matter how hard I try, I see only waves. Tell me, how can I make the water flat and still?”
The sun answered. “Some things are not done by trying. Just take it easy. The lake will become quiet all by itself.”
The Little Wind looked down at the lake, far below, and indeed it did seem to be calmer than before. “You’re right!” exclaimed the Little Wind. “Look! The waves are going away already. This is my chance!”
Up jumped the excited Little Wind, and down the mountain he rushed. He leaped to the shore and looked for his reflection, but quick as he was, the water broke into ripples the moment he reached it. The Little Wind raced out over the lake.
And what do you think happened to the water?
Little ripples grew into waves below him, and there was no reflection anywhere to be seen. The disappointed Little Wind did not know what to do.
Then the sun smiled, rose fuller and brighter, and said, “Remember what I told you. Many wonderful things happen all by themselves. Buds open into flowers, leaves turn to gold in fall, and morning comes every day.
“Don’t worry about the waves. Take it easy. Take it as it comes.”
Those simple words of the sun made the Little Wind feel better. For a little while he stopped trying to see his reflection. He settled down over the lake, enjoying the warmth of the sun.
“How pleasant it is to rest,” he sighed. As the Little Wind became quieter, he noticed the waves were settling down too. While he watched, the lake became calmer and quieter until it was completely flat, without any waves at all.
And then, what do you think he saw, reflected in the water?
Something clear and blue. Something bright, and so big it seemed to fill everything.
It was the great unbounded sky.
“How beautiful,” he breathed.
And he wondered, “Is that what I am?”
The sun smiled down and said, “Yes, you are that.”
The Little Wind was so delighted that he began to laugh. When he laughed the lake laughed too, rising in ripples and waves. Along the shore the trees began to shake with merriment, and the sun smiled even warmer on the day.
The Little Wind blew joyfully about the lake and into the meadow. He made the flowers nod and bounce. He fluffed the fur of a baby rabbit. He blew a drift of leaves around in circles, and he blew all the clouds away.
That evening, after he had enjoyed himself all day, the Little Wind settled down over the lake again and gazed into the quiet water. Silently he watched the vast sky deepen to a richer blue and brighten with sparkling stars, and the Little Wind was very glad.
Utterly enchanting story telling, words and images both!
Awwwwww. Sweetness in ... ink!
When I was a young girl, my Mommy read the Old Mother West Wind books to me. Your dear story took me back in time, to the simpler days of my childhood, and I thank you for this, Diane. As I am a deep student of metaphysics, I always appreciate metaphors and allegories (are these the same?), so your story made it even clearer to me that one needs to be calm to see one's reflection! I believe that our thoughts and ideas are reflected in the ponds of our lives. I'll remember the Little Wind when I need to see my Calm more clearly! It's my Better me!! :<))