TWELVE FLYING TALES AND A FALLEN POEM
by
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Bernardo Pani was born in the prosperous city of Bologna in 1054. That was the year when the final break between the Byzantine Empire and the Roman Catholic Church occurred. His father Pietro was a skilful potter who had his workshop not so far from the Piazza Maggiore.
Since the age of twelve, Bernardo showed interest in helping with the family business and he did it with a lot of enthusiasm. His still childish eyes stared in awe at the potter’s wheel spinning. It was not only because of the magnificent bowls and pots that were produced with it, but because of the concept of symmetry that he was learning in an intuitive manner. He could be watching for hours how objects of different shapes and sizes were molded with the use of that wheel. It was like magic to see his father moving his hands in order to produce a new piece.
One day, when Bernardo was fifteen and had already become a neat apprentice, his father received a special visit. It was a monk who acted as a tutor for a nobleman’s children. His name was Carmelo and they say he was so wise that even the Duke himself frequently invited him over to get some advice.
Carmelo wanted to buy some bowls for the monastery. He said the cook had been using more and more spices to season his dishes and it was becoming more complicated to organize the kitchen. Some of those dishes turned to be a delicious surprise, but some of them had put the monks out of action for days. Anyway, the cook was very likely to be affected by the others’ opinions so it was better not to mess with him.
When Carmelo sat to explain the sizes and shapes of the bowls required, he put a book on his lap and Bernardo noticed it at once. It was a beautifully bound sample of the Elements, written by Euclid around 300 B. C. When the monk saw the kid’s amazement, he opened a page at random and showed it to him.
Bernardo asked permission to hold the book and Carmelo accepted gladly.
A whole new world appeared before Bernardo’s eyes. All those dots, lines and geometric definitions emphasized the intellectual pleasure he had felt when he saw the potter’s wheel working for the first time. He realized that there was an explanation for the way the wheel was made, there was an explanation for symmetry; his life at the workshop could be understood through the strange language contained in the monk’s book.
Carmelo realized that Bernardo’s curiosity was unusual; hence, he decided to invite him to join the monastic school that he was presiding on the outskirts of Bologna. Pietro Pani hesitated to give his consent. On the one hand, Bernardo’s help had become very valuable in the workshop, and on the other, he didn’t know what his wife Constanza would say about the kid leaving home for this type of adventure...
Having visited the British Museum, Mr. Hans Velthuys began strolling around London. He had plenty of time before taking the train to Harwich where he would take a boat back to Holland. He had gone to England in order to close a deal for the transportation of Indian merchandise to Dutch territory. It was the beginning of the year 1876 and though Western Europe and North America were experiencing an economic depression, Mr. Velthuys had seized an opportunity to increase his wealth due to his unquestionable touch for business.
He had been walking in the surroundings of the Tate Gallery and without noticing it he ended up on a small street not so far from Vauxhall Bridge. There, he saw a shop window that drew his attention. It was a toy store with all the typical items one could expect to find in such places: there was a collection of tin soldiers that represented Napoleon’s defeat in Waterloo; there were also dolls, a yellow hobbyhorse and some puppets.
The center of the window was occupied by a model of tiny characters that were representing a strange scene: it was a group of fairies and elves, as well as other finely decorated figures performing something like a strange dance. Mr. Velthuys could not resist going into the store to ask about the origin of that flamboyant set of figures. As soon as he entered, he was received by Mr. Boyle, the toy maker and owner of the shop who just few days before had finished the model that attracted Mr. Velthuys’ attention. Toys had been Mr. Boyle’s passion since he was a kid, so when he had the chance to start a business, he went for it with such determination that he had forsaken the idea of starting a family.
-Good morning, he said.
-Good morning. I’m sorry to disturb you, but… I was looking at those little figures that you have displayed in your window. They are so marvelously detailed.
-Oh, thank you sir. Would you like me to show you the model?
-Well, no, I mean… that is not necessary.
Mr. Boyle took the model to his desk anyhow and then he invited his guest to have a seat.
-You are very kind, Mr. Velthuys said.
-And now, let the show begin…
With great enthusiasm, Mr. Boyle wound a mechanism that put the little figures in motion.
-Oh, Mr. Velthuys exclaimed, it’s a clockwork model!
-Yes. Isn’t it a beauty?
-Remarkable work indeed. And, all these tiny figures… What are they anyway?
-Well, this man here is the Patriarch. And these are Oberon and Titania, the fairy king and queen. Then we have fairies and elves… and these are the ballerinas. And, most important of all, here we have the Fairy Feller…
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About the Book
This is a collection of stories where every piece is part of a different universe. The only connection among them is that they all pay tribute to classic literature of all times. One of them is a reference to Shakespeare’s Venus and Adonis. Another one is inspired by Hermann Hesse’s inner search philosophy; there is also a story where a timid student poses a question of how misanthropy is viewed by authors such as Edgar A. Poe, Dostoyevsky, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Henry Miller. The book is a sample of voices of different times and geographies, from Medieval Italy to the Wild West, from modern cities nowadays to a visit to future society. Like an odd epilogue, the collection closes with a fallen poem.
About the Author
Arturo Gudiño has been writing for more than thirty years. He has written six collections of poetry, five novels and five books of short stories, an essay on pop culture, two books of theater plays, and a collection of short stories for children. Of these works, he has published the compilation of poems, Moods of the Year (Trafford, 2006), the novels Moliendo Café (Grinding coffee, Stonehenge Books, 2008) and The Weeping Woman (Trafford, 2010), as well as a collection of poems in prose called La impaciencia de Orfeo (Orpheus’ impatience, Stonehenge Books, 2009). He is currently working on a novel.