CHAPTER 4
THE SURPRISE
But when we step outside the city, we find that all the weapons of war—guns and bombs—have disappeared! The kings look at the soldiers, and the soldiers look at the kings. And everyone is beside himself with disbelief. The questions now arise: Who has taken the weapons? How would the weapons be recovered? Suppose the weapons are not found?
The kings now turn to ask either the winged-man in white or any of the angels. But none of them is in sight. And the seven open gates are now closed. The kings, not knowing what to do, sit down and weep. The soldiers, seeing their weeping kings, cry too. And their tears water the grass.
After what seems a long time of weeping, they dry the tears from their eyes and begin to think and reason as men do. They reason that it is the seven angels that seized the weapons and that there is no hope of recovering them since the gates of the city have been locked.
But why did they do this? Did the winged-man in white not tell the kings to destroy the seven devils? And would they use anything to kill the devils other than guns and bombs? Or did the winged-man mean for the kings and their soldiers to use their bare hands to fight evil spirits?
They could not find all the answers to their questions. The general view seems to be that the winged-man in white or the seven angels desire the war to end. So would they have to go home now without catching or destroying Inferno? What would the people say?
Would the people not call the kings cowards and make a fool of them? But they have no choice than to go and do the manly part—get the deadliest weapons and fight the seven devils to the very death!
The kings now rise and lead their disillusioned, but willing, fighting soldiers on their way home. We walk through several fields and forests.
Then we surprisingly emerge onto an open field called Dead End Passage. And we stand still, for what we see, stun us. For there before our eyes, are the very seven dangerous devils with all the weapons of war—throwing and catching the guns and bombs, and falling down with laughter, just as children do with toys.
So these very devils that were supposed to be killed by the weapons, are now in possession of them? And to think that the guns and bombs are like toys to them—mere playthings!
They continue to enjoy their game, ignoring our presence. In fact, they seem to be more excited at the game now that they have spectators watching them. None of us speak because we are bewildered. We only look and wonder at the ingenuity of the seven spirits and Inferno, their son. What is next now?
The kings motion the soldiers back into the forest. As we retreat, the devils go into a frenzy of excitement in their enjoyment of the game. The gloomy soldiers sit in a circle to listen to the miracle that their kings would propose to recover the instruments of war from the hands of the seven devils.
“Can any brave soldier come forward and tell us what to do to recover our fighting weapons from the devils?” ask the kings, standing in the middle of the circle.
They look around themselves, but no one ventures an answer. Instead, the soldiers begin to whisper into one another’s ears. The frustrated kings repeat the question, and look around a second time. Yet nobody says a word in reply.
And the kings sit and bow their heads in shame. It is a very difficult thing to do. For who has ever wrestled out a gun or a bomb from the hand of a devil? Unless he, too, is a devil.
Or living in a dream world. Because it is only in dreams that one performs such heroic deeds, as I have done before.
I remember when once I was in a dream, fell off from the Heavens, and continued to fall and fall, on my way to the Earth. I passed through all the stars and clouds of the skies, and I thought that I was falling into a boundless sea. Then a great white eagle with outstretched wings appeared from nowhere, and conveyed me home. I had headache for a whole week and dreaded heaven after that.
On another occasion, I was given an angry chase by a brood of vampires, intent on eating me up. Before they could get hold of me, I escaped by a hair’s breath, grew wings, and fled away.
But to my surprise, they equally developed wings and chased more menacingly after me. We crossed land after land, forest after forest, desert after desert, and ocean after ocean. When we flew to the edge of the Earth, they closed in, bared their fangs and clipped my wings. And I awoke from my sleep.
Then one night, I found myself on a 1,000-foot high tree standing alone on a plain inhabited by lions. I did not know what to do. The more I shouted, the more the roaring lions were attracted to the foot of the tree. And they waited anxiously for me to get down.
Instead, I continued to climb to the topmost part of the tree. But when my hand grabbed a small branch, I lost balance, and fell.
I saw the open mouths of the hungry lions, which were jostling for vantage positions under the tree, as I fell. But to my relief, I fell into my bed!
Those were the only dreams I had that are close to this very one. One thing with dreams is that not everyone would believe your dream.
And I even wonder if they have meanings. Who for instance would believe that we were searching for Inferno, destroyer of nations, but that we are now faced with the deadly option of dispossessing devils of weapons of mass destruction?
Now, there is a shout of applause, for a soldier ventures to speak.
“Your Excellencies! It is a shameful thing for us to return from this war, defeated, and without our weapons. I have never heard of such a thing in all my years in the battlefield.” There is another applause.
And the soldier continues: “I suggest that your Excellencies go to the devils and beg that we be allowed to join them in their play. It is only in the course of playing together with them that we can seize our weapons, and shoot them to death.”
There is a prolonged applause for the brave soldier’s suggestion. In fact, it does not matter whether he spoke sense or not, being at least the first person to come forward to offer a solution. It now falls on the kings to go to the armed devils to make the request. But the kings cannot brave it. “Would you go?” King Sunrise asks King Sunset. “Would you go?” answers King Sunset in reply. And the soldiers laugh.
Then another soldier comes forward to propose another solution.
“It would be foolish on our part, comrades, to allow our kings to walk into the hands of armed devils. I think that a better way is for us to keep vigil at night. Then when the devils are asleep, we would go, dispossess them of our weapons, and fire all of them.”
There is a thunderous ovation, and the kings tend to favor this latter option instead of the former. So the soldiers agree to storm into the open field at night in order to carry out the plan. And to while away the time before the operation, the kings propose that the soldiers entertain them with great war stories.
A third soldier, therefore, steps forward to tell the incredible story of a warrior who flies in the air, cutting off enemy soldiers’ heads with a great sword.
“Before the warrior goes to battle, he eats the roots of a certain tree, squeezes the leaves of the plant with his palms, and drops the liquid into his eyes,” he says. “With this, he could see and fight even demons.” The soldiers roar in applause.
When he is asked the name of the tree, he simply says that it has three roots, three branches, and three leaves. And the soldiers applaud again as he goes to sit down.
It appears that every soldier wants to tell the best war story. Because another soldier comes forward to tell the story of a giant warrior. The warrior—with a boiling cauldron on his head and a great basket upon his shoulder—singularly fought and conquered many lands.
“This warrior is a keeper of vultures,” the soldier continues. “So a great vulture follows him to battle. As he slaughters his opponents, he keeps their dead bodies in the big basket. And when the basket is full, he hands it over to the vulture who flies it home, empties the contents for feeding the vulture family, and returns with the empty basket for another run.” His comrades cheer him.
“The burning pot on
the warrior’s head is for keeping enemy bullets which he catches with his hands, and which serve as his food,” he concludes.
And the soldiers applaud for the story of the bullet-eating warrior!
That is not all. Because another soldier comes to tell of another great fighter. This warrior goes to war with a great rope and multiplies in seven’s with each shot of the enemy’s bullet—leaving the shooter to wonder whom to fire. “Then the duplicated warrior ties his entire enemy soldiers alive with his rope, which is fastened to his waist, drags them to a river, and drowns them,” he concludes.
Another storm of applause for this storyteller.
These stories galvanize the soldiers for the great task ahead. So at midnight when they think that the devils are asleep, the kings lead the soldiers to recover the weapons. We march quietly through the forest toward the open field. All is quiet now—except for the chirping insects—suggesting that the seven devils are having a night’s rest after their games.
We emerge onto the field made bright by the full moon. But what we see terrifies us to a standstill. The seven spirits are standing on one leg and sleeping with eyes wide open, while the weapons are all lying about. But no soldier on this Earth can proceed an inch to touch the weapons. Because countless numbers of seven-headed fire breathing dragons are guarding the sleeping devils and the weapons!
These fiery, roaming dragons are all of two kinds—the red dragons and the green dragons. And what is more? The red dragons are fighting the green dragons! And we shudder!
The kings motion to us to return quickly to the forest in order that we are not spotted and eaten up by the rampaging dragons. Before long, we are back in the forest, each one too surprised to utter a word.
This search for Inferno has been presenting surprise after surprise. Now I have seen devils that stand on one leg and sleep with eyes wide-open, and seven-headed dragons spitting fire. What else will I see in this dream?
The kings command all the soldiers to look for favorable spots to sleep. And they soon fall asleep. But I begin to ask myself: Suppose the fighting dragons roam into the forest and discover us? Would that not be the end of all of us? So I refuse to sleep, but instead find a shady tree, and hide myself there till dawn.
In the morning, we all gather in a circle as before. Then the kings send some soldiers to spy on the field so as to know what is happening. They soon return to say that the seven devils have resumed their play with the weapons and that the dragons had gone.
Then we come to know that the dragons are the guardians of the devils. But as to why they were of two kinds and why they were fighting among themselves, we cannot tell.
Since the night rescue plan for the weapons fail, the kings now call for new ideas. But ideas are not forthcoming. In the end, they say that the operation should be repeated. If the dragons are still present, they would then decide either to confront the armed devils or the fighting dragons. After that, the soldiers are asked to entertain the audience with dragon stories, till night.
I hear many bizarre dragon tales. The first soldier speaks of the time when the whole Earth was inhabited by dragons of five different colors. Then one day, a fight broke over boundaries. And as a way to mark permanent borders, the five dragons tore the Earth into five parts—separating them with their saliva, which formed the oceans—with each dragon color group living in each part of the Earth.
The soldier says that those species of dragons are long extinct, but that they are still remembered for dividing what we call the five continents today. He gets a chorus of applause for his wonderful story.
Then, a second soldier tells a story of a dragon that swallowed the largest ever-built ship with all its passengers, and traveled to another part of the universe to found a colony of humans.
All of us look at him in disbelief. He even says that the dragon is waiting for the construction of the biggest airplane on Earth. That on the plane’s maiden flight, the dragon would come to swallow the plane and all its passengers to add to his growing human colony. We all clap for him for his fearful story.
After that, the last soldier before midnight tells of the time when the fire from the mouth of the dragon reached the heaven. Because of the discomfort it caused the angels in heaven, he says, God cursed the beast so that the fire did not leave the Earth.
Wonderful story. And we give him an equally wonderful applause. It is now midnight, and time to launch another recovery mission.
So we move as quietly as possible again to the edge of the forest and look out into the field. There again we see the seven devils standing on one leg and sleeping with eyes wide open; while the red and green dragons engage one another in a fierce fight, as the war weapons lay scattered about.
We retreat into the forest to sleep and wait for sunrise in order to decide whether to confront the armed devils or the fighting dragons.
I was still sleeping by dawn (for I slept last at night) when I was awakened by a terrible noise. We rise to run, but where can we run? There in front of us, is Hatred and the other devils, without the weapons.
After surveying all of us, he now speaks in a thunderous voice: “You mortals have visited our lands in search of our son, Inferno. You have not seen our son, yet you destroyed our lands and killed our people. Should you not now return home in peace?”
The fearful kings murmur something to the effect that they would like to return. “I know that you would not like to return without your weapons,” continues Hatred. “For you have made two vain attempts to recover them.” He now asks, “Would you like us to hand them over to you?”
It is an unexpected question. And all of the soldiers find themselves answering yes. But to our amazement again, the seven devils laugh at their affirmative reply.
After they finish laughing, we now discover the reason for their laughter. Hatred says that the soldiers are to take the weapons directly from the mouths of the dragons. He says that the beasts have been told to do no harm to the soldiers. Only that the Oriental soldiers are to collect the weapons from the mouths of the red dragons, while the Occidental soldiers are to collect theirs from the mouths of the green dragons. And they vanish.
All of us stand and wonder. Is this a favor? To collect guns and bombs from the mouths of fire-spitting dragons? But if the beasts would do no harm, then the seven spirits have committed a grievous error. For the soldiers would dare the dragons, collect the weapons, and bomb the seven devils and the beasts to death.
With this in mind, the soldiers regain their composure and begin to joke about the coming deaths of Hatred, Oppression, Frustration, Injustice, Mistrust, Fear, and Enmity. Having vanquished the seven devils, they would then have Love, Peace, Freedom, Justice, Equality, Dignity, and Trust in their lands, according to the winged-man in white. But the idea of confronting the dragons is still a fearful one.
The kings, however, have an idea. They call forth the soldier who had told the story of the warrior that flew in the air and slaughtered thousands owing to the power of roots and leaves. Could the tree be in this forest? they reason.
Kings Sunrise and Sunset now command the soldier to take his comrades in search of the tree. Then if they find it, all should eat of the roots, squeeze the watery leaves into their eyes and go to challenge the dragons.
The soldiers accordingly comb the forest in search of the magic tree. They hear the laughter of the seven devils playing in the open field with the war instruments. They search all morning without success. Then they rest.
At noon, they disperse again in search of the wonder tree. But this time they find one that has three leaves, but lacking three branches, and three roots. The kings pray and wait patiently.
At night, however, there is a roar. The trees have been found in a portion of the forest so thick that they were concealed. So all the soldiers dig and eat the roots of the magic tree that has three roots, three branches, and three leaves. Then they squeeze the watery leaves between their palms and drop the liquid into their eyes.
When they come back, the kings do not recognize their soldiers anymore. For they are charging and flying in the air like devils. They are so anxious to go and get done with the war that the kings even beg them to tread softly.
Now it is time for them to go to recover their weapons from the mouths of the fire-spitting dragons. And before the kings could say a word, they are already in the open field.
The seven-headed dragons are there in two groups—the red dragons on one side and the green dragons on the opposite side. The beasts are all standing still with guns or bombs in their fire-flaring mouths, waiting for the soldiers. But the seven devils are not found.
Where are they now? the charging soldiers wonder. Would it not have been double victory for them to pick the guns and bombs from the mouths of the dragons and finish both the dragons and the seven devils at the same time? the soldiers think. Perhaps, the devils are nearby. Let them get the weapons first.
So the Oriental soldiers face the red dragons, while the Occidental soldiers face the green dragons. The kings and I are fearful, not having eaten the roots of the wonder tree, nor put the liquid of its leaves in our eyes. We, therefore, stand at the edge of the forest, and watch.
Now the kings give a commanding cry. And in a twinkle of an eye, the soldiers fly at the dragons—the Oriental soldiers at the red dragons and the Occidental soldiers at the green dragons—collecting the guns and bombs from their fire-spitting mouths. And in the same instant, the Oriental soldiers change to red dragons, while the Occidental soldiers become green dragons, and they begin to fire and bomb each other to death!
The kings and I do not believe our eyes as we watch the seven-headed human dragons pounce at each other’s throat. And die!
Suddenly, the seven devils appear and begin to laugh and cheer the fighting human dragons to their end. Death comes quickly, for soon no human-dragon is alive. Columns of their dead bodies bloody the field. All the soldiers on both sides die! And the devils cheer wildly.
What is the meaning of all these? How did soldiers of two nations in pursuit of a common enemy now turn on each other? Why?
And both kings look at each other without saying a word. The only sensible act that they perform is to run for their dear lives. And I run after them because my life is dear to me, too.
We must have run over dozens of fields and forests, for the vegetation keeps flying by. We do not even consider whether we are being chased or not. Then we start to see humans, buildings, and automobiles. We have reached home!