Foxland. Alexey Rybalko

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СКАЧАТЬ of the water. He was carried away by the state of weightlessness, and he didn’t notice how imperceptibly he rose above the surface of the water. Didn’t you forget? After all, he was in a world where much imagination decides, if you can use it right.

      And he sailed, lying on his back above the surface of the water, until he dozed off. The reality gradually turned into a dream… And a flock of clouds appeared in the blue sky. This time they were snow-white and fluffy, like cotton wool. The soft murmur of the water cradled and calmed down, and the clouds grew lower and lower… Imperceptibly a small cloud has separated from them.

      “Probably this is the Cloud, which is my friend,” Fox thought with a smile on his face.

      “Maybe a friend,” came the velvet male voice in Fox’s head. The cloud became lower and more and was taking the form of a human face.

      “Who are you?” thought Fox, he already understood that you can communicate mentally.

      “Look and answer yourself,” a voice answered with a friendly note in his voice.

      The human face became gradually more distinct. Before Fox appeared a gray-haired Chinese with gray long brows and a long gray beard.

      “Are you an old man?” Fox asked in surprise.

      “Ha-ha-ha-ha!” The image in front of him laughed softly. “I’m the White-browed Taoist from the Transcendental Huashan Mountains. My name is White Cloud.”

      “It’s strange,” said Fox. “Now I start to have ‘cloudy’ friends. The last time I talked with White Cloud.”

      “It was me.”

      “But how? Why?”

      “I was the same as now, but your consciousness was not ready to perceive me, that’s why you saw me in the image of White Cloud.”

      “It’s amazing! But why now do I see you as I see you?”

      “Ha-ha-ha! You have experienced a changed state of consciousness, and it expanded, revealing to your mind the formerly hidden. No one can see more than he can realize.”

      “Why are you here, hermit?”

      “I’m here because you are ripe. Haha.”

      “How did I ripe? I hope I’m not a fruit or a vegetable?”

      These words amused White-throated Daos. Fox was like a little child.

      “You matured in order to see more than you saw before. I’m here to show you the Path, so you will not get lost. I will teach you to use your imagination so that you can make the world around you better and more beautiful, so that you and your loved ones were always happy. I will teach you to be IN HARMONY WITH YOURSELF…”

      The image of the hermit gradually disappeared in the air, and echoes in the head continued to sound fading: “In harmony with yourself… In harmony with yourself…” Gradually, Fox woke up and lost his weightlessness from surprise. He thumped himself into the water, plunged into it with his head, and after emerging from the water he saw the ordinary world. A world where there was already no Golden Autumn Forest, a world where nature played with natural colors, where everything was real. The world which wasn’t empty, and which was inhabited by completely familiar creatures: animals, birds and people.

      Episode IV

      Reflections

      He who returns from a journey is not the same as he who left.”

Chinese proverb

      …So, our red-haired friend returned to the world familiar to us. And what do you think, where could he get to? Heh, to his native land! Just imagine! In some strange way! Having taken his hat that floated beside him, Fox went ashore and after catching his breath, was surprised to find that on the bank of the river his native forest was coming to an end! On the opposite shore, already began the fields with human settlements in the distance.

      After he got back his breath, Fox looked around.

      “Brrrr! What is this? Some kind of delusion!” he couldn’t help himself and said aloud.

      He bit his paw to make sure he was not asleep right now.

      “Ouch! It hurts! – Fox again exclaimed aloud, – I do not sleep, that means, now it’s real. I hope I have not lost my mind.”

      “Ha-ha-ha-ha! Those who are in the right mind do not talk to themselves!” – came a piercing voice with a touch of arrogance. At the top of the birch, the Magpie observed what was happening.

      Fox jumped in fright and looked around, but after haven’t noticing anyone, he pricked up his ears.

      “Who is it? Really, haven’t I waked up yet?” He tried again to bite his paw. This time stronger. It became even more painful. – Oooh! What kind of dreams are those where the pain is felt when you bite yourself?”

      “You are clearly crazy!” the Magpie instructively said.

      “Aaaaaa!!! – Fox clasped his head, – stop talking! Where are you?”

      “Stop panicking!” I’m here, upstairs! Here I look at you and think: “You have become too strange”. Once you were asking about gold from me, and then disappeared from the forest. All the animals now and then whisper about where you could go. Some say that people allegedly caught you in a cage; some say you found gold mines somewhere. The other day Jackdaw brought news on the tail. She says so and so, he found Eldorado. The mysterious country of gold and wealth. If you haven’t died in cells of people, then, therefore, you should be rich? Huh? But, apparently, your wealth drove you crazy.

      “Eh! Magpie, you scared me badly! Such a thing happened to me! Here you will not believe, as if in a fairy tale I has got! – and our hero told everything that happened to him after he asked advice from Grey-haired Raven.

      “Well yes! Come on!” – blurted Magpie, having heard the story of Fox, “listen to that old raven more! He’ll tell you! Yes, he doesn’t remember his name, probably, and you are asking a piece of advice… Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Fool!” Magpie laughed arrogantly. “Well, why I’m here still with you, there’s no time. I need to fly faster and tell others that you finally showed up in the forest,” and Magpie flew away without even saying goodbye.

      Such insolent behavior would enrage Fox that he would have climbed the tree behind her, although he could not climb trees. But not this time. For some reason, there was peace and self-sufficiency. Feeling of lightness and carelessness. How wonderful it is! Probably everyone would be envy him.

      Fox lay with his red back on the soft green grass, biting a blade of grass in his teeth. He looked at the blue sky with his clear fox eyes. Rare pinnate clouds floated across the sky. The blue, bottomless sky further emphasizes the state of rest. It seemed so bottomless that you are drawn to fall. Fox even began to catch himself that, with a long glance at the sky, his head began to spin, as if he were looking not upwards, but on the contrary – down from a great height. He was struck by how, at that moment, he was far from the world’s distractions, from everything that had never given him rest before, from everything that could seem a matter of life and СКАЧАТЬ