- A Short Tale -
The Man and the Medusa

- I can hardly move my feet now, but for some strange reason I just know that it must have been a long walk. It is already dark, and I’m starting to shake. Those trees around look tall but it’s even harder to see, not just for the dark, but because they are so close like if hey are breathing each other’s air. Oh boy, I’m getting tired of climbing this mountain, but I have to move on, it won’t really help me getting stuck in here. Good, at least there are these few rocks were I can put my feet, although the little plants are on the way. My hand feels scratched, strange because I don’t remember falling or leaning anywhere. It’s too dark to see my hand anyway, but it’s bizarre thought.-
The man was feeling already tired. It was a December day on one of the mountains on the Western Balkan peninsula, somewhere around 1800m off the sea level. Mountain Tomorri known to represent God in its height in Illyrian mythology is really cold and windy during the winter. Because of its rise in a pointy vertex, it had always attracted the local people whom have always considered it a sacred place. On summers thousands of pilgrims come to visit it and to get purified because the place is known to contain some kind of a mysterious power, some kind of mana that no one can explain.
[the man] - I think I should stop and rest for a while. Ouch, my head, I really can hear the heart bit pumping in the veins of my head. I don’t know what’s happening to me. What should I have done, I can hardly keep my head up as if the neck must have got hit on something. Maybe I’ve been moving too much. It’s freezing with this snow around but this air is too fine and clean. My cloths are starting to reap apart and I don’t know how long I must sit in this rock. I can hear the creatures moving all around me as if they’re looking at me, but I can’t see anything so far.-
The sun had already past across the other side of earth, and some clouds where up in the sky like little friends that where gathering around Mountain Tomorri for a midnight talk. It was hard to notice where they were fading with the top because the mountain was covered with snow and it looked like if someone had used the same white color to paint the clouds and the snow. The clouds seemed to be doing their business now, talking about what they would have seen during the day, just to join the atmosphere, the light of the full moon kept them awake. It had been snowing for some days, but the snow had just stopped today. The trails around the mountain had been blocked and there’s no village around that altitude. As seen from the city of Antipatreia down in the foothill, the mountain had already faded in its heights. The low clouds, as to guard the meeting, had blocked the view and cut off the higher portion of the mountain. The little clouds on top looked like they were deciding the fate of the weather and it all depended on them to what was going to happen next.
The man was tired and desperate right now. Along with the dark of the forest, his heart was beating in a speed that he was able to hear it like if it was the sound of a marching band. The trumpets were rolling on in the silence of the forest.
[the man] - I think it’s time now. – He gets up and starts moving. - For some reason I’ve fallen in this melancholic feeling – As he grabs a tree with one hand to hold himself, he puts the other hand in his head. – I don’t remember what I’m doing here, where I come from, and who I really am. These strange feelings are guiding me now like if I’ve been walking forever in these woods. I reassemble some visions that seem to me very familiar, I don’t know if they are dreams that I had, or maybe what remains of my past. I wonder where I am, oh God what must I have done! -
Sometime passed, and the man did not know where he was, neither where he was going, but he was living these moments like if it was a dream. Unfortunately it was not one.
He had gone quite high and he was almost close to the top of the mountain. On every step that he made, another thing felt closer like if he was reaching some sacred place. An owl singing was the only companion of that night, lighted from the moon. The fog that was part of the clouds stood as the incense smoke of the hypostyle halls that fades between the tall and endless columns, creating a lost atmosphere, which in this case were the tall trees surrounding the man.
[the man] - I can see something in the top of the forest, right there at that hill, looks like the lights or the stars, maybe it’s the top I hope, Ouch! – he steps on a rock that moves and the man falls down. He couldn’t get up for a moment but then he took one breath and stood up his body. Like a soldier in a war he was carrying his body with his feet to defeat the speed of time, maybe time that he had lost, or something similar to that, but only himself knew about it all, or maybe just not.
[the man] - I’m there now, it shouldn’t be very far, oh my head, come I should make it. Come on I can make it.-
A gentle blow of wind started to move, clearing and moving the fog, and as quite as it can be, the branches of the trees started rattling. Though he couldn’t hear it because of the noises, something on top sounded to be moving closer and closer.
[the man] - I feel a little bit dizzy, let me see behind. Good I can see the traces of my passes.-
He turns his head back and at the distance he notices a shadow walking down from the top.
[the man] - What was that?! – The man thought in terror. – Maybe it’s my imagination. I don’t think there’s anyone else in the forest at this time. Let’s just keep on going. -
In the meantime his heart started to rattle again. The trumpets were announcing the event to come. The wind was cheering it, and the tree branches applauding it. The moon was now enjoying the reflection of the light that she was borrowing from the sun to light that night, and she was rotating to find her brightest side.
Meanwhile at the distance someone silently was approaching the man. He was walking in a steady speed, sure of every step, and he was coming from the top of that hill, right where the man could see the end. The man terrified about the shadow he had seen approaching, stood behind a tree, almost breathless.
[man in the shadow] - I know who you are, and so about you. – The man approaching shouted. His voice sounded like an echo on the man’s head. The man was frozen in a freighted terror.
[the man] - I should stay here, maybe I’m just dreaming. – thought the man.
The man walking in the shadow was getting closer, now very close, while the man was feeling him approaching, every step and every sound being very clear to his hears.
[man in the shadow] – I can help you find what you’re in search!. –
[the man] - Get away from me, I’m not looking for anybody’s help! –
[man in the shadow] - But I found what belongs to you! –
[the man] - Don’t get anymore closer to me, I can’t trust you. – While responding, he tries to walk behind, but he trips and falls in his back. He was too tired and weak to move, and so he failed to respond to the moment.
[man in the shadow] – I’ve heard a lot about you, and about your life. I can tell you some words that will describe you and the paths that you chose during your lifetime.-
The man seamed motionless as he was laying on the ground, and so he had no other choice but to face the man in front of him. It was too dark to see his face, but for some reason his voice sounded very familiar. The man was having hard time now trying to put words together to defend himself.
[the man]- No! Let me go walk through the darkness of these woods, where I’m going, in the top of the mountain. I’m too tired to listen to anybody! -
[man in the shadow] - I can see you clearly, although it is dark, and every man on earth has the power to do that, even those who are blind! –
[the man] - Who are you, and what do you want from me? –
[man in the shadow] - I’m someone you know well since your youth, but we haven’t seen each other for some long time. I’m here standing in front of you, as clearly as you can see, and I feel the reason to talk about you. I’m here to help you find the things that you’ve lost. For goodness sake have you ever seen yourself in a mirror? You are a freaking Medusa! –
[the man] – No! There are no such things as Medusas! – said the man which puts his hands unsteadily in his head to feel his skin, but he does not feel anything. Meanwhile the trumpets were rolling on and on.
[man in the shadow] - Every snake that comes out from your head is one of the things that you gave away and that you betrayed in your life. –
[the man] – No! I don’t believe you. Just go wherever you came from! – said the man that was terrified up to his bones.
[man in the shadow] - Now listen to me and on what I have to say so we don’t lose anymore time. It all started when you were a child. It came form your decisions that you couldn’t support anymore. And so you started to rely on your father for everything, and than one day you gave your judgments to him. From that instant it was hard for you to decide things because you had liberated your first snake from your head, then anything that your dad thought, you supported blindly. -
[the man] – My dad?! Do you know my dad? –
[man in the shadow] - I know him and so you therefore you must believe me!. –
The breeze was slowing down now and everything seemed quitter then ever. A few stars were showing up from the endless darkish sky, bringing a light now even more distant than that of the sun.
[man in the shadow] - Because you felt scared and weak, you decided to obey the gangs, and let them choose what to do with you. You started to act like a pet later because you gave the power that you possessed to them. This power belonged to you, it was simply the courage that you had, and it was that side of you that wanted to stand out for yourself. You puffed another snake from your head in that moment where the gangs played with you as they wished. But then you got older, and you married your wife. Suddenly your mom was not as bad as it been in front of your eyes. This image started to fade when you started to think that your wife was like mom. At first you compared your wife with mom, and then your mom was out of sight out of your mind. You unconsciously took that witch from your mom and gave it to your wife. Your snake did not have your mom to look at anymore so then it pointed to your wife with its hissings and devil cries. That witch that you see sometimes in your wife’s face is a feeling that belongs to you, and your snake creates it. But it is you the one who freed the snakes from your head, and your wife is a Medusa herself for some things too, like almost everybody else. Anyone in earth is, more or less, until they feel the snakes and realize them. -
The man was shocked, he could not believe what he was hearing, but for some mysterious reason he understood perfectly everything that the man standing in the shadow of the trees was saying.
[man in the shadow] - There are many more things that belong to you. Feelings, or hissings of your snakes that you gave away everyday. Have you ever wondered why you bargained to hate your neighbor so much?-
[the man] – No! –
[man in the shadow] - And you just can’t stop thinking about what you hate about him. Have you ever felt that? –
[the man] - But there’s nothing I can do. –
[man in the shadow] - There are some things, they are rightfully yours that you gave them to anyone you had a chance to. Well, it’s just a hatred that comes from what you’ve treated yourself, and that you think you’ve seen it on other’s faces and actions. You, not to blame yourself because you already gave feelings away, found excuses to put these feelings on other’s faces. –
[the man] - I don’t want to hear anymore. I’m tired of all the words! –
[man in the shadow] - Look! I’m giving you what belongs to you, the things that the snakes on your head are crying and hissing for, and that are putting on other’s faces. I can take out these snakes from your head, and the only way to do it is to get back these feelings that belong to you. They are part of yourself and if you kill or hurt one of them, you’ve killed your own self. They contain the poison of our minds, those wrong decisions that we make. God gave birth to them, and it’s him who wants them back. All of us are sons of this mysterious but well known force, and we shall not let this poison hiss each one of us for the rest of our lives. We have to eat these snakes, bite by bite, and day by day. It’s part of the truth for why you don’t know why you’re here, and that’s because of what you lost from yourself that you haven’t noticed yet. I’ve heard what happened last night, and also what you did with your life. They just happened a moment ago!. –
There was some moment of calm when both men were taking some deep breaths. More than anything the man was feeling very unsteadily now, got cut on some unconscious runaway.
[man in the shadow] - Let me hug you, and let me give you what belongs to you so then you don’t see any zombies on the streets anymore. –
As he started to approach the man that was still on the ground, the light of the moon, with her curiosity of what was happening, started to light the body of the man standing in the shadow of the trees. The man on the ground was feelings his presence even closer and closer, and pushed by his fear started to crawl on the ground from where he made his way to finally stand up. As he turned in his back, he avoided the man in the shadow that was now coming to light. He started to run very desperately, and strangely the man was feeling more powerful than some minutes ago. He passes the trees, than jumps on the rocks that were showing up in the snow, and then reaches the top of that forest in a very short time. Then he takes some breath, and without looking back, crosses on the other side of that small hill on the mountain. Jumping from one part to another, choosing open spots and forming a trail, he ends up down in a creek. Something from within his self was insighting him that the man was far now, suggesting he was still on the shadow of the forest, up where he came down from. He stops again to take some deep breaths, and observes around. He looked at the trees, rocks, whatever his eyes could fall into. He felt like if he was the only creature awake in that cold and dense forest.
The moon seamed satisfied now to be able to see what was going on. The clouds around mountain Tomorri where making their journeys out as if they had already agreed on what the fate was going to be. The wind was rubbing and tickling the mountain’s sides, changing the atmosphere around.
The man, while walking along the creek toward the height of the mountain, sees a spring on the side of a rock. He gets closer to it desperately.
[the man] - I should drink some water, I feel very thirsty, what happened was so terrible.- then he gets down to his knees and crawls to get some water. He did not believe what he saw…
[the man] - Oh God! No, no, it can’t be! – he was looking his reflection on the water. He finally saw some snakes coming up from his head, crying and hissing. – No! It can’t be a Medusa! – he puts his hands to his head but he couldn’t feel anything abnormal, although is very uncertain what he really felt. – No, no! What is happening to me! What are those snakes doing in my head! – he crawls in his knees to the side and starts crying out loud, looking like a wolf that was screaming under the light of the full moon.
Some lights turned on in the village closer to that altitude. Its screaming had been so loud that he woke up the villagers of those little houses, in a late night time. The man was knocked out, crawled from the cold, he had been asleep for around three hours. The sky was clear now, and mountain Tomorri was showing himself to the city of Antipatreia under his foot. It seamed quite and content, and it looked like if he was sitting in his chair enjoying the calm of that bright night. Tomorri looked like a grandfather who holds his grandson in his arms after getting hurt, smiling lovely and humbly to his sleeping grandson.
The man suddenly feels two hands grabbing him, while disturbing his deep sleep. Then something very heavy falls in his body. He stretched, turned, and whispered until he woke up in a sudden move, jumped by his fear, terrified up to his bone, while taking some strange looks around. Everything was alright in all the directions, and he did not detect anything that might have been moving. He sees the spring very close to him, and remembers what he had seen just a little bit earlier. He gets closer with an anxious shaking, and takes a look. He smiles with himself very delightedly, and sits down next to the spring to observe at the night lights of Antipatreia. He stares the light of the moon, which was reflecting the light of the sun very brightly, and enjoys the breeze of the cool wind that was hitting and rubbing his face. He observes the stars which were showing from the immense and eternal universe, and stares at the patterns that they form in the sky. His calmed soul and body was allowing him to fall deeply in the oblivion of this universe which made him realize what he had forgotten. He had never felt so much like himself before. Well, maybe the only time he could have thought was his first breath.

Drini Nosi
Dec 30, 2002