Once upon a time, there was a cave. The cave had been born in the side of the mountain and loved its simple life. It loved watching the trees of valley grow and fall. It watched the lifetimes of animals, rocks, and streams.
One winter night, the snow and wind raged outside the cave. The trees readied themselves for the balance of bending and standing firm. The little animals curled into their shelters to wait out the storm. So, too, the cave settled in to watch and to wait. The storm lasted through the night and the following day. Then, a remarkable thing happened.
An animal stumbled into the cave, covered in the various furs and hides of other creatures. Ah, the cave thought, A human. Well, it’s not every day I get a visit from one of you. The human shook off the snow from its head and arms, and stomped a few times in the cave. “Well,” it said, “it’s not every day I find myself in need of your shelter.”
The cave was taken aback. It is very rare that one of the creatures that enters a cave can hear its voice. The curious cave delighted in the opportunity to talk to the human. The human stayed in the cave through the winter. it was a particularly harsh winter and the mountain passes had become to treacherous. The human and the cave talked and grew to love each other very much. The cave guided the human to streams of fresh water and wood and food stores left by previous visitors.
As the first signs of spring appeared, the time came for the human to go. It gathered wood and prepared what it could for the next humans who might come on a harsh winter’s night. It packed its furs and tools. Finally, in the last days of its stay, the human placed a hand on the wall of the cave. “Cave, I have a secret I have been keeping from you. I have magic, which is why we’ve been able to spend so many days understanding one another. I am so grateful to you for sheltering me through the winter. I am glad you are my friend and I would like grant you a wish.”
The cave thought and decided that it wanted to experience the joy of movement like the animals. The human asked which animal the cave most wanted to be. Of course the cave could not decide on just one animal; they were all fascinating. And so, the human and the cave laughed and designed their own animal from the attributes it liked best.
The cave would be a creature with the leathery wings and teeth of the bat, the smooth armored skin of the snakes and lizards, the horns from the mountain goats, the claws from the bear. One attribute that did not come from the animals was fire. The cave remembered the fire of the mountain when it was young. It remembered the forest fires that swept across the valley, and even the small fire the human had used to keep warm through the winter. The cave became a dragon.
The dragon thrilled at the sudden ability to move as quickly as the animals. It could bask in the warm sun and dive into the deep lakes of the mountain, within and without. As the eras passed, more humans began to settle into the valley and it became common for the dragon to see explorers in the mountain. In the beginning, there was peace.
The humans explored for shelter, for food, and then for curiosity. The cave had loved the humans for their curiosity, because it understood the wonder of the unknown. One day, the humans discovered that deep within the mountain there beautiful gems and gold. The gems could not feed the humans or keep them warm, but they could sparkle in the firelight. The soft gold could be shaped into images of gods and eventually, coins.
The dragon watched over generations as a curiosity became an obsession in the humans. They gave the gems and gold a name – treasure. The humans began to search more and more desperately through the mountain for more gems, more gold. They began to fight and sometimes die in pursuit of the precious items. They even began killing each other in wars over the mountain. The dragon decided to save the humans.
It began collecting the treasure that the humans molded from the mountain. The dragon worked tirelessly to block entrances to the mountain, and guard the gold within the mountain. It had seen all the ways animals behaved to protect their young or themselves. Get big, show your teeth, show your fearsomeness. Occasionally, new explorers and adventurers would attack the dragon with their cruel weapons in an attempt to steal the vast store of treasure. The dragon fought valiantly, and wept when it felt forced to kill a human for the sake of humanity.
But one day, the humans defeated the dragon, whom they assumed had been greedy and cruel for hoarding the treasure all to itself. Upon its death, the dragon’s spirit floated in the space that is after the Now and before the Next. It heard a voice whispering into the nothingness that surrounded it, the familiar voice of the human it had loved so long ago. “Well, Beloved, what is next for you? Where would you like to wake up?”
“Please,” said the dragon, “Please give me my place on the mountain again. Please let me be myself again, where I can offer shelter but do not have to protect them. They will never understand.”
And so, the dragon was once again the cave and in its grief, the cave wept. It wept for the humans who had died and the ones that were sure to die. It wept for itself and the loss of all that was beautiful about being a dragon. Eventually, the tears of the dragon would slow and the cave would learn how to feel joy and love again. But the scars of grief stay, even when you’re a cave.
Scenes from a Daydream 