28
PARABLES
“Not sleeping,” God replied. “Since dawn I had been thinking how best to
act so that the holiday would come out wonderfully well. I saw how some of
you, going to the holiday, were too lazy to wash with pure water. What
should I do? They would spoil the holiday with their look. So I decided first
to wash everyone and then scatter the clouds and let the sun’s rays caress
your bodies.”
“Well, all right, if that’s how it was,” the man agreed, stealthily brushing
a crumb of food from his whiskers and wiping the cherry stain from around
his son’s mouth.
“Tell me, God,” a man, an elderly, thoughtful philosopher, asked God.
“There are many stars above us in the sky. What does their fanciful pattern
mean? Can I, if I choose a star that pleases my soul, when I grow weary of
earthly life, settle there with my family?”
“The drawing of the heavenly bodies flickering in the dark tell us about
the life of the entire Universe. A relaxed and collected soul will allow you to
read the book of the sky. The book of the sky does not open up to idleness
or mere curiosity but only to pure and significant intentions. And you can
settle on a star. Each can choose a heavenly planet for himself. You must ob-
serve just one condition. You must become capable of creating better cre-
ations on the star you choose than on Earth.”
A quite young girl jumped up from the grass, tossed her dark blond braid
over her shoulder, raised her little face with its little snub nose, set her
hands impudently on her hips, and suddenly told God, “I have a complaint
for you, God. For two years I waited impatiently to express my complaint.
Now I will. There is something wrong, something abnormal happening on
Earth. All the people live like people, fall in love, get married, and make
merry. So what am I guilty of? As soon as spring comes, freckles come out on
my cheeks. There’s nothing to wash them away with or color them. Did you
think them up for your amusement, God? I’m demanding that in the new
spring I not have a single freckle again.”
“Oh, my daughter! There will be no freckles, no flecks on your beautiful
little face in the spring. But I will call them what you want me to. If you con-
sider freckles such an inconvenience for yourself, I will take them away next
