Bedtime Story

by Isabella Nativ

The Piper could not sleep. For many nights, he tossed and turned in his bed and paced back and forth in his garden. His mind was blank, his heart was empty. No melody came to him, and he was afraid. He knew that in a week he would need to perform a big concert in front of the great and beautiful Queen. He did not want to disappoint the queen. Not because he would lose his job and his head, but because he felt that he would let her down. He felt that she would never look at him with the same eyes again. In her disappointed gaze, he would fail. The more he searched for the perfect melody, the more discouraged he felt with the nothingness he created and his heart hung heavy in his chest.

The morning before the concert, after another sleepless night, he started walking to work. Unexpectedly, his legs took him on a new path. They took him to poor and deserted part of the city: A place where even the most courageous knights of the kingdom would not set foot. Suddenly, he felt something or someone pulling his coat. He turned his head and saw a little girl holding a handful of crayons in one hand and the right sleeve of his coat in the other. She was staring blankly at his hand. The Piper said angrily, “What do you want?” She didn’t answer but kept on holding firmly to his coat. She looked like a ghost in her white gown. Her face was pale from lack of nourishment. She had little gray eyes and dirty black hair full of mud. Her body looked frail and tired, but she kept on holding him tightly with the determination of a bulldog. He waited a minute and then said sternly, “Look little girl I don’t have the whole day, so what do you want?” She was unmoved. He wondered, “Why is she looking at my hand? Why is she holding so tight to my coat?” Then he noticed she the insides of her eyes were pure white. She was blind! He could not move. He was glued to the ground. He tried to open his mouth but could not say a word. Then, after he overcame his fear and embarrassment, he tried again, this time softly, “How can I help you my child?”

“Hey Mister, can you help me draw a picture of the city.” said the little girl. The Piper was confused by the request. After a moment of thought he said, disheartened, “I don’t know how to draw. All I can do is play the flute, and even that I’m not sure anymore”. The little girl smiled sympathetically at him and then said, “You don’t have to actually draw. All you have to do is describe the city to me and I’ll draw in my mind.” Without hesitation the Piper responded, impatiently, “How can you do that. You cannot see”. “But I can feel the city. I can hear it through the tune of your voice; I can understand it through your words and sentences; and I can sense it through the blood pulsating in your veins when I’m holding your hand. In a way, I can see more than you can think. I can see through you very clearly without been able to physically see. For instance, now I can see that you are very afraid; I can see your worried face; I can see that something is bothering you”. Surprised, the Piper said, with an uncomfortable voice “How can you tell?” He knew she was right. She didn’t answer. After a moment of silence that felt like an eternity, embarrassed, the Piper asked, “Where do you what me to begin?”

“How do the city roof tops look like?” the little girl asked with a smile. “Well, they’re Red, conical, with shingles that looks like fish scales.” He responded, quickly. A moment of uncomfortable silence had pass. Then, with a curious voice the girl asked, “What is Red?” “Red is a colour” the Piper responded impatiently, occupied in his own thoughts. With a kind look, she kept on smiling at him in silence. He felt uneasy. After a moment of thought, he tried to explain Red again, this time in a soft voice: “Red is the colour of passion, of pride, of being in love, of desire; and of anger. It is the colour you feel when you hear the sound of the cathedral organ played on Sundays. It is the colour you feel when your heart is bursting out of your chest when you’re in love. It is the colour you feel when your veins swell in your head when you’re angry. It is the colour a father feels when he sees his child succeeding.

After he finished explaining Red, the little girl pause for a moment and, then, asked “What about the houses’ walls. Are they red too?” The Piper thought for a minute. His faced turned gloom when he thought of this colour, and after a pause, he said, “No they are Grey.” He paused again and then said, “Grey is the colour I dislike. It is the colour of hopelessness, of sadness, of despair. It is almost always followed by darkness, which invades the city like hostile army, marching slowly like an imminent storm. It is the colour women feel when they are watching the stormy sea, thinking of their husbands, who left shore months ago and may never return”. The Piper paused and then continued “Grey almost always leads to Black: The colour of death, of fear, emptiness, and of the uncetainty. It is the colour explorers see and feel when they are boldly sailing to explore an unknown land.” It is the colour of the night sky as well. He stopped, and then continued, this time with a more optimistic voice “However, like the stars in the night sky that illuminate the darkness, White is the colour that conquers Black: White is the colour of ultimate purity and ultimate emptiness, the colour of balance, of kindness and of wisdom. It’s a colour that is brave at heart and persistant, only the ones who shine their own light can feel this colour.” The Piper looked at the little girl’s face. She was smiling at him with a big smile and her face was glowing, radiating from inside the light of a thousand candles. He sensed the warmth of her hand and this warmth made him feel peace and tranquility that he had never felt before.

Suddenly, the little girl asked him “What is the colour of the hills that are surrounding the city” He looked at the hills and responded in a confident voice “Green! Green is the colour of nature, of vitality, of life, of joy, of bloom. It is the colour a mother feels when she sees her child for the first time. It is the smell of the city streets after the rain or of freshness of the ground after the farmer finished ploughing his field. Although Green is the colour of life, it cannot exist without Brown: the basis of all life, the colour of the earth. Brown is a very powerful but very shy colour, it frequently camouflages itself with Green” As he described Green and Brown to the little girl, his heart was filled up with joy. As he was looking at the Green hills, he sensed an internal power rising inside him and giving him strength. He felt the girl’s heart beat pulsating, in his veins and he felt alive again. With a big smile on his face, he turned to gaze at her but she was not there. He looked around with surprise, but she disappeared in the same mysterious way that she appeared. Suddenly, he felt something in the palm. He looked at his palm and smiled. Finally, he understood.

The little girl left a flower in his hand: A flower with a little blue-purple petal. She left him a Violet. As the Piper looked at the flower, he heard the little girl’s voice blowing in the wind, speaking softly to him; caressing his face; soothing his wounded sole; quenching the thirst of his passion. “Dear Piper, you’ve known me all your life although you’ve never met me. You always felt me when you’d played a melody; you’d saw me whenever you’ve watched the children play in garden, you’d sensed me when you painted a picture; and you’d smiled at me when you were inspired. You know my name and always knew it but always took it for granted and I always forgiven you. With your lips you spelled my name, spoke it in almost every conversation, but did not understand its meaning. And now I know you’re ready: ready to understand me, to feel me, to embrace me, to love me. So, I came back to help you. Dear Piper, my name is ART and my favorite colour is purple: the colour of beauty, of grace, of complexity and of simplicity, of inspiration, of creativity, the colour of the soul. So, go back to your home, dear Piper and play my melody; think of me; feel me; feel my colour; I will not let you down anymore.”