Winter Tale 1. - Sophia
Updated: Feb 19, 2020
Once upon a time there was an old huntsman living in the mid of the wood with a widow and her daughter. He owned the title of the 'Greatest Huntsman', but in real he owned it by spreading fear and greedy. Even the widow and her daughter was afraid of him.
One day when he went to hunt bear, his fellow huntsmen disappeared behind. Because of his ego, he went forward alone and attacked the bear and the bear killed him.
His daughter, Sophia went to search for him since nobody else wanted to go deep into the Wood where the famous Great Bear lives. She found her father's body and she saw the injured Bear next to him. She buried his father and settled down in the grass far from the Bear.
The Bear was in deep pain and roared loudly. She stayed sitting and waited till the end of the roaring. She found some plantain among the grass and started to collect it and slowly moved a bit closer. The Bear roared again with a terrifying laud tone. Sophia was shaking but did not move an inch. When the roaring was over, she gently moved forward...And the bear roared again...
It started to get dark and she needed to decide if she goes now to reach home safe or she stays and spends the night in the dark. She decided to stay.
She moved forward inch by inch and when the Moon appeared on the Horizon, she was within reach, and the Bear looked totally exhausted. She encouraged herself and managed to place some of the plantain to the top of the Bear's wounds. The Bear opened its eyes but its wounds were so deep that there was no roar heard anymore. It looked at the girl and in its eyes the girl saw something she has never seen before. She saw a whole universe, galaxies and stars with the greatest constellation. She was gazing in that look and more and more details appeared for her about history, life and death, lights and darks, and thousand miracles and mysteries. She understood the value what the Bear held. Through its eyes she found the connection to that universe, which holding all of us together. She saw planets, orbits and she stayed in its presence to discover more and more till the first shine of the morning sun.
But when the sun rase behind the mountains, the bear closed her eyes and exhaled one last time.
Her hand was still resting on the top of the wound giving a final comfort. She was sitting there and spent a whole day in that field with her father and the Bear. When she stood up she understood that the great battle was over between the huntsman and the Great Bear and she could not save neither of them. But when she stood up and looked at the sky, she saw something new. The same exact constellation, which she saw in the eyes of the Bear, was just above her head and was shining so bright that it was able to show her way back home.
A3, marker pen drawing
photo source: unknown