Creatures of the Forest
Once upon a time, when man was just a guest newly arrived, the Earth belonged to the creatures of the forest. By creatures of the forest, we mean gnomes and elves, fauns and faeries, goblins, ogres, trolls… They watched over it and cared for it, played, danced and sang, treated the injured, settled disputes between species and sat mushrooms discussed above issues of importance. Thus was the world where humanity was born.
Man discovered agriculture. With it, civilization flourished and expanded. Forests guaranteed wood supply, while the fields were used for crops and pasture. Mankind settled. At first, this was not a problem. There were not many people, and everyone considered it to be fair letting them those little acre to make of them what they wanted. Some even decided to help: Gnomes moved into the barns, helping with gardening tasks and many trolls felt that the piles of manure were a change for the better, and decided to stay around. The remaining creatures of the forest retreated inland. The domain of Mankind spread and the forests became smaller and smaller. The Creatures began to amass in the forests, whilst in civilization things were getting worse and worse. Farmers thought they could increase their crops, and by increasing production, they ended up killing the soil. Gnomes fled, and trolls remained. Nowadays there is very little virgin land even those fade at an incredible rate. There simply isn’t enough space for all the creatures of the forest. Where did they go?
Mankind traded its connection to Earth for deforestation with logging machines with sliding, turning cows into milk machines and chickens into egg factories.
We all feel that forests, creatures, spirits and wild landscapes are the reason why trees, stones, rivers, streams, birds, snakes, bears and frogs no longer talk to us, as they did in the old tales of Native Americans, Hindus, African people or in the Bible stories? It is because we are no longer there to reply. Each deforestation, every massacre parts us more and more from our dream world and the trees, making reunification all the more difficult, although it is still possible. Somewhere, not far from here, in the real world, forests of old still stand, the buffalo still roam the prairies, the sky is still full of condors, and the deer still play with the antelope.
Wherever there is virgin land in our dream world, there is still a strong connection, bridges, tunnels and portals. Occasionally, a traveler would get lost in the vastness only to find himself back in the real world, the next day or to find out that over a hundred years had passed, or not turning up at all.
There are also other fleeting connections such as in streams or waterfalls where you can still hear the voices from the other side, when you listen carefully. When they sit near these waters, they hear a ringing shrill and screaming. While our children may see their world in their dreams, their children will see our world in their nightmares.
Moreover, there is another connection: sometimes agents from the other side infiltrate our world in an attempt to hasten reunification. Believe it or not, they miss us. Sometimes, more often than you can imagine, they send souls to our world to be born as human babies. There are many of them out here right now… They are planting gardens, living with the indigenous people, running recycling centers, starting revolutions, corrupting the youth, writing poetry…
The transition from their world to ours is not easy. It involves rituals and enchantments. At first they might not have the faintest idea of what or who they are. They may or may not come to discover it. They know, however, that they are different from most. They know that this world is not theirs. They will remember, vaguely, something better, where everything made sense and everything worked as it should be, where love and magic had the power to heal.
They see things that others may not see, hear things others may not hear, feel things that others may not feel and know things that others may not know. They will love humans individually, but they will have a tough time with mankind as a whole. They will have a handful of close friends, but often be alone.
Due to their memories from the other side, the world to them would looks like a fantastic steam organ with only a few teeth left on the gears, and because of this tiny defect, the music is all out of tune, the horses collide with each other and the children are scared, pained and crying.
The solutions will seem obvious but no one else can hear them.
They will spend a lot of their time with children and animals.
They will become drunks, drug addicts, organic gardeners, carpenters, madmen, magicians, jugglers and clowns, lunatic physicists, painters and designers of scribbles, travelers and vagabonds.
They will dress themselves with bright colors, frumpy sweaters or all black.
They will smoke too much or drink too much. They will eat only macrobiotic food.
They will often be accused of living in their own fantasy world. They will be great lovers (even the trolls).
They will spend too much time making love, or thinking about it.
They will talk to inanimate objects.
They will have eyes brighter than all the others.
They will expect for their magic to work in this world and for their love to heal and they will be crushed by that same world (often unexpectedly).
They will visit those places where the connections still exist: the waterfalls, the mountains, the ocean, the forest. They appeal to all the power they have and sometimes the magic happens. Everything will be wonderfully easy and the children will bring forth laughter and songs with sticks of cotton candy. While the rest of humanity is busy finding new and more efficient way to dump garbage on Earth by the pressing of a button, they are ate the ones saving it, bit by bit.
They share the common conviction that they are the only sane beings in a crazy world.
José Cordeiro, Marlene Moleirinho, Maria João Rebola, Tiago Simões, Maria Martins, Bruno Dias, Teresa Furtado, Leah and many other creatures…
