The Appointments

Celestial

This is a myth about three important appointments.

Long ago there was a woman. She was not beautiful, and that's not important. What is important though was that she carried with her a bag. In this bag was all the greatest wonders that the world had ever seen. So, what is really important is the bag and the fact that the woman was old and soon to be for the grave.
For as long she could remember she had kept the bag safe. No one had stolen it, though people had tried. She had not lost or forgotten it, even the the world was large and dangerous.
One day she realized she could no longer keep the bag. It was heavy, almost too heavy. She had collected too many wonders in the bag, and knew that she would keep collecting so that the wonders would never be lost or forgotten. Sometimes when she was in darkness, she would look into the bag to remember the wonders she had collected. Boxes of brilliant light and darkness. Disks of rain and cloud. Animals frozen or turned to metal and stone. And, of course, magical blades of sound and light. These were some of the wonders she had collected in her travels.
So, the old woman stopped looking for wonders and started looking into the eyes of those whom she met. For she needed someone to help her carry the bag and the burden.


One day, she was standing on a cliff looking out at the ocean. She was watching the sea-birds dive and hunt fish. An elf of little stature walked up to her, and asked the old woman who she was. For the elf it was rare for people to come to the cliff and stay. More common, it was they would come and jump.
The old woman turned to look into the eyes of the elf and saw profound sadness as deep as the ocean. And, deep below the cold stone of relentlessness pain. She stood confronted by the erosion of all things.
"I am the bearer of wonders, and if you look upon me, the weight of yourself will be lifted," said the old woman to the elf. And, the elf looked closer, and was it so.
"What do we do now, old woman?" asked the elf?
"We leave like all the others who have come before us," was the simple statement of the old woman.
So they did.


One day the old woman was walking amongst a great forest. The trees reaching far into the sky, a citadel casting shadows on all who live among them. She watched all the other animals as she walked, and saw the order of things and that it was good. The old woman stopped to rest and a dwarf sat down beside her. He had been living in the forest for many years and rarely saw other people stop, and if they did they almost always devoured. He was familiar with the tricks of the shadows.
"Who are you that would come under the forest shadows?" he asked.
The old woman turned and looked into the Dwarf's eyes. She saw an iron forest thick with resignation whose roots weaved through rich loam of reason, but tainted with the poison of anger. An anger that was slowly twisting the forest.
"I am the bearer of wonders, and if you look upon me, the anger of yourself will be lifted," said the old woman to the dwarf. And, the dwarf looked deeper, and was it so.
"What do we do now, old woman?" asked the dwarf.
"We leave like all the others who have come before us," was the simple statement of the old woman.
So they did.


One day the old woman was staying at a traveler's house, an inn. Rarely, did she do this, preferring the solitude of the uncivilized world. The common room was full of the people, and the silent murmur of those who have dis-satisfaction and lost hope in their bones and blood. The bartender, who was human, approached her and noted that the old woman was new to the inn.
" Who are you that would drink in a stranger's house?" the human asked.
The old woman turned and looked into the human's eyes. She saw the foundations of innovation crumbling to dust as its caretakers slowly forgot to leave. And, she too felt despair for the loss of the future and the dreams of thousands. She reached out and took the human's hand.   "I am the bearer of wonders, and if you look upon me, the despair of yourself will be lifted," said the old woman to the human. And, the human looked longer, and was it so.
"What do we do now, old woman?" asked the human.
"We leave like all the others who have come before us," was the simple statement of the old woman.
So they did.


The old woman wandered many years looking for those to share her burden. She met many people, but finally she knew that it was only those three appointments that were significant meetings. And, so she took the three out of the world with her to keep the bag of wonders safe.