This first story in The Pegasus Project is about another mountain, but here the rock is already awake,  alive, shimmering, calling out to the depths of those who can hear . . . .

The Goddess had always been there.  These were her mountains, the Urals, rich in copper and  malachite, a greenstone marked with frozen waves that seem once to have surged like the seas that covered this land long before humans came.   She was known by many names -- the Goddess of Copper Mountain, Mistress of Malachite, Lady, Fairy, Spirit, Guardian.   She could take as many forms as her stone itself.  She lived in the stone as its music, its soul.

She wasn't confined to her greenstones however.  She could shapeshift into the form of small green lizards, slithering into hidden places, watching with bright eyes, seeing everything, but unseen herself.

And, of course, she could also appear as a towering Goddess dressed in green robes, crowned with malachite, her face sometimes benign, sometimes fearful.  She loved to watch humans, seeking those who had in their hearts the ability to hear the song of her stones.  To these, she taught the secrets of carving her stones into forms of wonder, forms that would sing even to those who could no longer hear her.

As the world changed around her mountains, fewer could sense her presence, hear her voice, and so she spent more and more time searching for those who could still convey the magic of her secret places.

Watching one day, she heard the sweet sounds of a flute soaring on the wind.  Seeking the musician, she found a young herder, Danila.

Yes, she thought, this one will do.  His flute, unbeknownst to him, already sings the song of the world around him, the animals, the trees, the rocks.

And another also listened to his flute  -- his friend, Katya, a young woman who had known Danila since childhood, and had long loved him.

Both Goddess and mortal woman watched Danila, each for her own reasons, each loving him, neither realizing yet that their purposes were the same.

As he herded his flocks, Danila often carved small stones he found in the mountains.  He had a gift, which others soon noticed, and before long, he found himself apprenticed to an old stone carver.  The youth worked hard and diligently at his new craft.  When Katya, who was feeling neglected, brought her friend a flower one day, he lost himself in wonder at its frail beauty.  "If only I could capture this in stone!"  he thought.

He set to work at once.  In his desire to carve a perfect stone flower, he forgot everything else, Katya, his friends, his life.

Weeks and months passed......

When the flower was finally complete, Danila showed it to his old master.  "It's very fine work," his master said.

Danila heard an unspoken criticism.   "You don't like it, do you?" the boy asked.

"I do like it, I do," the other responded too quickly.

"No, you don't."  Danila felt angry.  He had spent many months working on this piece and he had expected generous praise from his master.    Neither man noticed that the goddess, in her lizard-dragoness form, was watching them.

 "Yes, I do" the old man said.   "It's just that --"  And he felt silent.

"Yes?"  Danila prompted him.

"No, it's nothing."  He turned away, unable to face the other's eyes.

"Tell me, please tell me!"  Danila pleaded.

The old man sighed.  "Your work is fine," he admitted, "but it lacks life.  It's brilliant, but it's cold --"

"But it's a perfect copy --" Danila protested.

"No, let me finish, my boy.  What you've done here is far, far better than I could do -- but making a perfect copy isn't enough.  You need to seek Her, if you would really learn to carve a stone flower."

"Who?"

"The Mistress of Copper Mountain.  The Goddess, the Spirit.  Only she can teach you, if she wills."

Days passed as Danila pondered the words of his master.  He felt angry, frustrated, confused.  Sometimes he imagined that he felt the presence of the elusive Lady speaking to him, calling him, but then the feeling would pass.  His reality kept shifting around him.

Only Katya remained steady.  She sensed his troubled spirit but she was too wise to say anything.  More weeks passed and they grew closer together.

They were married that winter in a celebration filled with feasting and dancing.  In the midst of the festivities, Danila again seemed to hear the voice of the goddess calling him.  Slowly, he moved towards the sound, out the door, out into the snowy night.  No one realized he was gone until it was too late.  He went to his master's hut, smashed the carving he had made of the stone flower, and then hurried off through the snow toward the Ural Mountains.................

 

This excerpt from a Russian fairy-tale is taken from
the first story in
THE PEGASUS PROJECT.
It will be animated in Russian lacquer-style, narrated,
and feature traditional Russian music.

Note: for the complete story of the Stone Flower, I wrote another version (under the pseudonym of Kathleen Hommer-Olson) for Russian Sunbirds.  If you click HERE, you'll be connected to it.  Please be patient -- it loads slowly!

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