A story of Black and White
Once upon a time there was a man; one day he left his home to walk out into the big wide world. He wandered through the woods and meadows, drawn towards the mountains, until he found himself in deep valley. At the end of the valley there stood a magnificent mountain. Under its shadow he lay down to rest and fell into the dream time.
There he heard a desperate call coming from the inside of the mountain. Following the sound, he came to a woman, who was so tiny that he had trouble to even see her. “Why are you so tiny?”, asked the man, “And what do you wine and moan about?” – “Oh”, said the woman, “I am imprisoned in this mountain. The lord of the mountain, a wicked giant and despicable man, is sitting on top of me and he put a curse on me, so I shall stay this small forever.”
As the man heard that, he woke from his dream, girdle his loins, took up his sword and set off to redeem the tiny woman. It wasn’t long before he found a cave and entered the mountain. He walked in until he encountered the giant, who sat fat and wide on his throne, the tiny woman squished under his weight. The man stood tall before the giant, drew his sword from the scabbard and challenged him to battle. The giant started to laugh, he laughed and laughed and laughed, and the more he laughed, the more he blew himself up, becoming bigger and bigger and bigger pressing the man with his huge belly down unto the floor, he grew and grew until he became as big as the whole mountain. And then a very strange thing happened: in growing that much, his skin became thin and tight, stretched like a drum. As quick as a flash the man pricked him with his sword – and with loud bang the giant burst into a thousand pieces. Now the man could see the woman, but still she was as tiny as in his dream. And now also the whole mountain was permeated by the remains of the giant, like pitch stuck in the stones, oozing and steaming from the cracks. He knew it was on him to clear this poison out, so he continued into the mountain´s innermost.
He wound his way through the long and dark passages, till he finally arrived at a chamber of radiant white light. He stood and looked into the glow of its shining light. Outside the chamber were miners, carrying luminous white stone slabs out of the chamber, heaping them on to wagons, to transport them to the outside on rails. Yet the workers were dirty and covered with the old grime of the giant. The man spoke to them: “Don’t you see that you are making these slabs dark and dirty, as you are taking them out? They are losing all of their lustre! You shall not take out the slabs alone – but also the shining light shine around them. Only then will they glow forth even outside of the chamber!” And so he did, he heaped the slabs onto the wagons, and none of the grime would stick on them anymore. And whereas the workers had to effort much to move the slabs, for him they were light to carry and he did it with ease. Eventually there remained only one single white light slab, way bigger than all the others. Try as he might, he was not able to carry it out.
Looking around, he spotted an opening next to the chamber. He climbed through and found himself in a grotto, and in the grotto was a hot spring. He undressed and walked into the steaming warm water. On the other side, watching over the pool, a good round woman sat. She was the Mother of the Spring. She lovingly greeted him. He swam towards her. On his way through the pool, from the left and the right, her two daughters came to him, bathed him and caressed him. Reaching the Mother of the Spring, he bowed before her and received her blessing. He felt nourished, well and warm. She showed him another opening, beside her, through which he may ascend again. Inside this passage was a rock face, up which he climbed. Crystal clear water streamed over his naked body, refreshing and reviving him. The higher he went, the finer and lighter the water flow became, making him also finer and lighter and pure. His flesh was made anew. And the running waters began to weave clothes on his body. Finally, he stood in a majestic garment, once again in front of the light chamber. He entered the chamber and sat down on the big light slab. And just on its own, it began to glide out of the chamber. Along all of the pathways he had moved through before, the slab floated. The flight gained speed and momentum; faster and faster it went, relentlessly thrusting forward. When it reached the place where the cursed woman was, the slab smashed and blasted the whole mountain, till there was but a heap of rubble left. The hero placed himself high on a rock and called out: “Oh Woman! Redeemed One! Show yourself – rise from the ruins!”
And a woman of exquisite beauty came forth from the devastation, and walked towards him. They stood in front of each other. In between them, however, there was a deep black pond. “Take care”, said the man, “so you don´t fall into it alone!” So they went around the pond to each other, and she took his hand. Thereby it was ensured that they shall only fall into the abyss together. They went back to stand on opposite sides of the pond, facing each other. He asked her to take off her garments, and did so himself, till they stood with just their underclothes on. They looked into each other’s eyes, and in the depth of their gaze, they jumped into the abyss, deep into its dark waters. Down and down they sank, and even their underclothes fell off. Their bodies found each other and united. Interlaced into each other, their bodies spiraled down and sank to the very bottom of the pond and right into the ground, down into the root of origin. And they became this root. Their bodies merged into the base of all, before all being. In each other they became the nothing. Their forms dissolved in the eternal dark. They vanished in the Black.
Out of this, a fountain shot high into the sky – and from the white droplets of its sparkling water, as it fell onto the earth, the bodies of the man and his woman formed anew and rose again to life. again. They appeared in the White.
With their arms around each other they walked out into the world.
