ANASTASIA GOSTEVA

PETER PEREVEZENTSEV

A U T H O R

I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y

BIG

BANG

AND TURTLES

Institute of Tolerance

"RUDOMINO" Publishers

Moscow, 2007

O T H E R

O T H E R S

OTHERWISE

ISBN 5�7380�0258�X

© Lyudmila Ulitskaya, Project, 2006, 2007

© A. Gosteva, Text, 2006

© P. Perevezentsev, Illustrations, 2006

© B. Trofimov, Series Design, Book Design, 2006

© UNESCO Moscow Office, 2007

This publication was prepared by the Charity FoundationInstitute of Tolerance (Russia) with the help of theUNESCO Moscow Office

Translated by Boris Meshcheryakov

Concept, Compilation of the Series: Lyudmila Ulitskaya Art Manager of the Project: Andrey MarkevichDesign of the Series: Boris TrofimovDesign of the Book: Boris Trofimov

The authors are responsible for the choice and the presentation of thefacts contained in this publication and for the opinions expressed there�in, which are not necessarily those of UNESCO and do not commit theOrganization.

This publication is intended fora non�commercial distribution

United NationsEducational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation

Published in cooperation with the UNESCO Office in Moscowfor Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, the Republic of Moldova and the Russian Federation

Dear reader, please, meet this book’s author –Nastya Gosteva. She is a writer. She has already writ�ten two novels, both very interesting. Before becoming awriter, Nastya graduated from the Physics Department ofMoscow State University. Nastya loves to travel all aroundthe globe, but her favourite places lie in the Orient. Manytimes she has been to India, to Nepal, and even to the tinykingdom of Mustang, which only a few people know about.She visited the Dalai Lama and they spoke about Buddhism.Therefore, it is none other but her that I decided to ask writ�ing a book on cosmogony. As a physicist, she knows wheremodern science stands on the Earth’s origin, as a personinterested in philosophy and world religions, she knows ofsuch things that real scientists usually brush off by saying,“Oh, those are only myths and legends. In other words –fairytales!” Nastya thought long and hard on how to tell youabout both scientific theories and myths in the same book,and finally came up with this wonderful fantastic story,which beautifully combines two approaches – scientific andreligious.

Ludmilla Ulitskaya

About author 5

CO

NT

EN

TS

The Supreme Coordinator 15

The Secret Room 9

The Operation “Successor” 61

The Timbrel of the Overworld 29

The Secret Room

9

he house stood on a hill, almost completely hidden behind thetrees – a large, three�storeyed one, with a red�tiled roof, featur�ing a quaint turret, and a chimney, which pretty often emittedsmoke. Only from the driveway could one see above the fence achrome yellow facade with darker window sashes, a porch abat�jour with a large old�fashioned lantern and the top portion of thegarage doors. Most of the trees in the garden stood bare and cov�ered with snow, while others still had leaves, which seemedabsolutely unbelievable for the Moscow region in the end ofDecember, even though there had not been real frosts yet.

Everybody in the neighbourhood knew the house belonged tosome oddball professor who studied either dead languages or livereptiles. The neighbour’s Tadjik watchman Rustam swore uponhis honor of having seen with his own eyes a huge eagle circlingabove the house, but that piece of evidence was generally disbe�lieved and attributed to Rustam’s poor knowledge of the Russianlanguage. Somebody said that the professor, when still a youngman, had traveled across almost the entire world and made anenormous collection of various oddities. Sometimes, cargo vanswith foreign license plates came and parked at the gates, and peo�ple in bright overalls unloaded cartons and boxes into the house –but nobody had the foggiest idea what were inside those.

The oddball professor never appeared in public, and was gen�erally reputed as a most unsociable type, who even ignored com�munity meetings. He had neither a housemaid nor a gardener,and everybody wondered how he coped with almost a ¾ acre gar�den on his own. Even the professor’s looks were reported differ�ently. Some locals said he was bald, tall and stringy, and – like a

T

The Secret Room

10

Canadian lumberjack – always wore jeans and plaid shirts.Others, on the contrary, claimed he looked like a typical nuttybookworm – of medium height, with a potbelly and a disheveledmane of gray hair – who wore a suit and tie even at home.

During summer, Cyril, with his buddies, once tried trackingdown the suspicious geezer. Everything was done most clever�ly – having set their mobile phones to silent mode, in case theirparents should decide to call at the most inconvenient moment,the boys, well�provided with snacks and soft drinks, cordoned offthe whole perimeter of the fence. Even the binoculars weren’tforgotten. But after having sat in ambush till dusk, they had toleave empty�handed. Still, Mickey had discovered a secret gate,behind which one could see a path leading, through raspberryand nettle thickets, straight to the back entrance. And Lennyclaimed to have seen a large bird of peacockish type with shinyblue feathers, after looking at which he was dazzled for a while.But the others attributed all this to Lenny’s shortsightednessand his habit of reading too much Harry Potter before sleep.

Later, the boys were really close to finding their way into thesecret garden on several occasions, but each time they kept get�ting distracted by some more important things.

And now, six months after, Cyril had decided to make his solorecon outing. There was not much to do at the dacha in winter�time. All his friends had gone to various holiday resorts withtheir parents, and only his mother for some reason chose to go tothe dacha.

– I’m sick and tired of celebrating the New Year under thepalm�trees, – his mother said. –I want to have snow, fir�trees andcross�country skiing.

But, in fact, she went out for skiing only once or twice, whilethe rest of her time she spent at the computer typing some scien�tific paper. Cyril, of course, would have preferred to go on a solotrip around the world instead of exploring somebody’s garden,but, like most of his peers, he didn’t have quite enough pocketmoney for that.

11

And now, almost waist�deep in snow, he was sneaking alongthe fence to the place where the secret gate had been discoveredin summer. The gate was not too easy to find – everythingaround was covered with deep snow. Cyril pushed it almost with�out hope, but suddenly the gate yielded, creaking on rustyhinges. He pushed harder with his elbow and, shifting snowaside, finally squeezed his way in.

The garden appeared rather neglected – the trees stood soclose to each other that their crowns in many places formed adense canopy, impenetrable to sunlight. Near the gate there grewa huge ash�tree with rough bark. By looking around, Cyril couldsee many homey trees – birches, oaks, and firs, but others lookedquite unfamiliar, quite foreign. Suddenly, a crow cawed fromupper tree branches, and a cow bellowed from somewhere not faroff. But most importantly – the backdoor stood ajar!

Cyril looked around again – there was nobody in sight – andin few steps covered the distance from the gate to the open door.The door led to a small and dark wind�porch, behind which therewas yet another door. This second door opened into a poorly litpassageway, resembling a narrow museum hall. Along its wallsthere stood some odd vases and sculptures depicting people, ani�mals and altogether fantastic creatures, as well as shelves bearingbooks and strange objects, half of which Cyril could not evenname. Some, however, were provided with tally cards, but thecaptions on those weren’t made in Russian – some hieroglyphs,signs, and cuneiform characters.

Cyril reached out to touch one especially impressive mask –red�orange in colour and having everted African lips – but hishand unexpectedly ran into some invisible and slippery protec�tive wall just a fraction of inch from the mask. Cyril staggeredback and only then noticed that the walls were glowing withsome inner pulsating dull light. At the same minute, he heard aheavy flapping of wings and had barely enough time to press hisbody in the wall recess as a large snowy owl flew past him with,hooting loudly. For a moment Cyril doubted whether he should

go any further but then decided that his buddies would laughhim down if he fled now just because of some silly owl.

The passageway ended in a large resounding windowless hall,which had a mantelpiece, its high ceiling was barely visible in thesemi�darkness. Along the upper floor level there was a gallery,towards which led a wood staircase. The gallery was alsocrammed with bookcases and sculptures; its walls were hungwith paintings in heavy gilded frames, diagrams and mapsmarked with little colored pin flags. The hall had several doors.Cyril pushed the closest one and found himself in a library.

Behind the second door, he saw a commodious study. On a mas�sive oaken desk, covered with greencloth, there was a portablecomputer with a large�screen LCD monitor attached to it, severalpaper�folders, and a calculator; next to the wall – a leather couch,two armchairs, and a coffee table. Through the window lookingout onto the garden, both the driveway and the gigantic ash�treeat the gate were clearly visible. Cyril thought that he saw a livedeer standing between the trees, he blinked and – saw nothing.“Just an apparition”, – he said aloud to calm himself down.

On the shelves of a glass cabinet, just as in the passageway,there were many objects arranged in accurate rows: variousbronze, stone and wood figurines; two spherical earthenware pots,each of which was decorated with a strange spiral: one made ofred copper, the other – of white metal; and a multitude of eggs ofall possible sizes. On the wall, Cyril saw a circle consisting of twointertwined fluid drops – black and white, the center of each dropcontained a little disk of the opposite colour: black in white, andwhite in black. In a spacious terrarium, a gigantic turtle basked inthe warmth emitted by a bright lamp. And in the corner, on a lowwhatnot Cyril noticed a large transparent cube, made of somedark glass�like material. Inside this cube, in its pitch�black center,millions of tiny sparklets flashed, eddied and throbbed. Thelonger Cyril gazed at this cube, the more it seemed to him that thedancing sparklets were gathering into definite patterns… but thensomething alive and heavy moved just above his head.

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Cyril looked upwards and froze with terror – right in front ofhim, at arm’s length, there dangled from his cobweb a giganticspider about twelve inches in diameter, with fat shaggy legs andsmooth glossy shell. Two black eyes looked at the intruder point�blank. Cyril’s tummy seemed to shrink away with loathing, hestarted moving back, ran into something unseen, which fallingmade a dull thud, and looking back the boy saw two halves of abroken garden�pot, betweenwhich lay a ficus tree with succu�lent leathery leaves. The spideragain moved in his cobweb, andCyril was ready to swear that thehairy beast was trying to movecloser, evidently harbouring evilintentions. The boy rushed outthrough the door and tore awayalong the passageway, grazingagainst the bookcases and nearlyoverturning a China vase withpeacock feathers.

Once on the other side of thefence, Cyril immediately dasheddownhill speeding towards hishome. Reaching at last the deargate, he stopped to catch his breath, looked back and thought ofhaving seen several forks of lightning, slashing at once the skydirectly above his house.

The rest of this day Cyril stayed indoors. For some reason hefelt terribly ashamed in his heart. He was really guilty of trespass�ing, playing havoc and running off with it. Having suffered till itwas time to go to bed, he pledged his honour that tomorrow heshould return to that house and eat humble pie before its owner.From childhood, his mother taught him, firstly, to bear responsi�bility for anything he committed, and, secondly, to confess anywrongdoing as promptly as possible to get it off his conscience.

15

The Supreme Coordinator

t was very early when Cyril wokeup. Winter sun was inundatingthe bedroom with its brilliance. Ablack cat named Espresso lay lan�guidly on the computer monitorgazing into space, in an evidentattempt to outdo in motionlessmeditation those Tibetan monks,who had recently been shown onTV. Mother was out. Her skiswere missing, too.

At night, Cyril had had mostunpleasant dreams – in one, he,like hobbit Frodo, was flouncingdesperately and helplessly, withhis hands and feet immobilizedby sticky nasty cobweb; in anoth�

er, he fled for life through some infinitely long tunnels, with ahorde of ferocious dwarves chasing him with hatchets, and whensalvation was almost at hand, a blue�black raven flew frombehind the corner and pecked Cyril right on the pate.

Cyril poured himself a glass of milk and switched on the telly. Ahostess of the morning cooking show was demonstrating the bestBeijing roast duck recipe. Suddenly, the picture was replaced with aspecial news caption card, after which a news anchor solemnly said:“We interrupt our programme to bring you special news.Thousands of people have died as the result of a powerful earth�quake, which happened today at 3:58 Moscow time. The epicentre

I

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was registered to be in the northern part of the island of Sumatra inIndonesia. According to different sources, the magnitude of today’searthquake was 8.7 on the Richter scale. This earthquake has seri�ously affected six states of the region: Indonesia, Sri�Lanka,Thailand, Bangladesh, India and the Maldives. Several under�ground shocks have caused huge tidal waves called tsunami, whichflooded many coastal areas. According to the latest reports, severalthousand people are dead, while dozens of thousands are woundedor have lost their homes...»

– No way! – Cyril said to himself, – and I have always dreamedof visiting Sumatra.

He switched off the TV set, slipped into his warm clothes andwith resolute determination set out for the mysterious house. Toreach the entrance did not take Cyril long, but then he had tospend quite a long time walking in front of the gate while tryingto pull himself together and enter. Finally, he opened it and at afast gait (so as not to change his mind) approached the porch andrang the bell. A minute has passed. Nobody came to open thedoor for him. Cyril breathed again and was about to go backhome, as the door suddenly swung open as if from a gust of wind.Behind the door Cyril saw the yesterday’s owl, which slowly flewinto the passageway as if inviting him to follow.

The door of the study was half open. A low mumbling, heardfrom inside, slightly resembled a domestic altercation. One of thevoices definitely belonged to an adult man, while the othersounded too guttural and cracked to be human.

– I am telling ya, that was them kids, – said the second voice.– The neighbours’ whistle�head had been hanging around thefence for the whole day, almost stepped on the dragon’s eggery. Itwas high time long ago for installing video surveillance system,and you’re still pinching pennies on it. Being penny�wise anddollar�foolish, that’s what you are. How are you going to explainwhat had happened to Supervisory Board, heh?

– Oh, shut up, please, I am already sick of it. Are you able tounderstand that so soon as I install cameras and electronic secu�

17

rity, we will have three times as many adolescent intruders? Nowthat every other school kid is either a cracker or hacker, breakingand crashing into something is meat and drink to them.

– Nonsence! Hackers do not break into real doors, you slow�coach! These kids just love miracles!

– Modern kids do not believe in miracles. What they believein is Superman and The Incredibles. So if you show the BurningBush to them, they’d say it’s all special FX. There’s no better wayto attract such kids than filling this house with hi�tech gimmicksand gadgets.

– But why? Do you still remember that British girl, whocrashed us way back in 1975? She was so distressed about hav�ing to wear her brackets. Only once did she come, but now she’s abest�selling book author. Writes fairytales about some four�eyes.But no serious stuff at all.

– Oh yeah, I read some of her Harry Potter pulp – it is noth�ing but fantasies, not a word of truth. She made our Owl intomail carrier. And after we had shown and explained to her somuch that she could have become a famous scientist...

Cyril pulled at the door handle and entered the study. At thedesk, with head pillowed on his hands, sat an aged man – strong,sunburnt, and resembling not a professor, but rather a sea cap�tain; he wore olive�coloured corduroy pants and an old turtle�neck sweater. Right in front of him, perched on top of the flatLCD monitor, was a large blue�black raven.

– Morning, – Cyril managed to say. – It was me who yester�day, not on purpose, well, kind of, but he... – all the words of hisrepentant speech, prepared the previous evening, now complete�ly escaped him.

– See, what did I tell ya! – the raven cawed in triumph. –Don’t expect anything good from human babies. That’s him whodropped Nunusaku! He is the only culprit. Now, let him take allthe beating from the Council.

The man looked at Cyril. Cyril just froze in awe.– Well, what’s your name, young man? – professor inquired.

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– Cyril.– I am Camael Georgievich. Pleased to meet you. And that is

Y’el’, – he nodded indicating the raven. – Did you hear the lat�est news, Cyril? – Cyril confirmed this by nodding. – Do youknow about tsunami? It happened because yesterday you haddropped the World Tree.

No�no, the World Tree I did not, – Cyril babbled. – I droppedonly the ficus, but the Tree – it was someone else...

The ficus is the World Tree or Nunusaku. It gave birth to alltribal primogenitors of Eastern Indonesia.

Cannot you but explain it properly, Camael, these humanbabies are dumb and don’t know a thing, – the raven again inter�rupted. The man became thoughtful for a while.

– I’m afraid it cannot be explained that fast. You’d better askUlyana make us some tea, – he turned to the raven. The ravendisappeared behind the door.

What would you say about some herbal tea with honey, Cyril?And in the meanwhile we will talk about what should we tell theCouncil.

The spider scared me, – Cyril said and squinted to the cornerwhere the yesterday’s monster sat motionless in his cobweb. –He wanted to attack me.

Professor burst into laughter.– Anansi? Attack? He wouldn’t hurt a fly, our Anansi. But no,

I’ve been too hasty with that fly remark. Anansi just wanted tosay hello. It looks like your fear was of bad service to you. Youshould know that our fear of something alien or just unknowncauses about half of our problems. A great many wars or disasterscould have been prevented, should people have less fear of any�thing new and strange.

– Anansi? The spider from a cartoon? – Cyril was amazed.– Well, to some extent, from the cartoon, too, – Camael

Georgievich smiled. – Only in the cartoon he was much changedand simplified by the authors. Nay, our Anansi is not only a spider.He is the impersonation of Nyame – the Supreme God of the

Ashanti people – who having woven the cobweb of this world sat inits centre sensing the slightest oscillations thereof. Ashanti live inthe African state of Ghana. According to their beliefs, Anansi is theoldest creature on the Earth. He is clever and cunning, and wins inevery dispute. There is no creature equal to him in the whole forest.Sometimes, Anansi is called the Son of Nyame.

– But I don’t understand, – Cyril interrupted. – You aretelling me of a fairytale character. How can he sit here in the cor�ner? And what this World Tree is all about?

– Well, it is a good question, – Camael Georgievich nodded inapproval. – You see, Cyril, in all times people, gazing into thestarry skies, wondered: Who created this World, and why, forHeaven’s sake, did he need it? Was there anything before theheaven and the earth were created? Whence the first gods didcome, and why did they create the first people? Also our ances�tors tried to ascertain the laws controlling the Universe, – some�times, in order to tell the future, the behaviour of celestial bodiesor gods; sometimes, to predict the acts of nature – freshets,droughts, solar and lunar eclipses.

T H E B I G B A N G T H E O R Y

Until 1929, astronomers and physicists were in full agreement

with Buddhists and Aristoteles in regard of their belief that our

Universe existed and will exist forever. But then an American

astronomer, Edwin Powell Hubble, observed that most galaxies

were retreating from the Milky Way, and that movement was

orderly and equal in all directions. Thinking in reverse and trying

to imagine the past of these dispersing galaxies, Hubble came up

with his Big Bang Theory – 15 billion years ago allgalaxies were compressed into an infinitesi-mally small point in space – a sphere one

21

thousandth of a centimeter in diameter. Then

came the explosion and our Universe started quickly expanding.

For an infinitesimally small fraction of second it grows to the size

of atomic nucleus, then to the size of an orange, and so on. What

served as original impetus for this explosion and subsequent

expansion? Nobody knows the answer.

We know, when ancient people were composing their cosmogo�nic myths – that is the Creation myths – they usually proceededfrom what had had before their eyes. For instance, the Vikings, wholived in Northern Europe, on the territory of today’s Scandinavia,believed that the ice giants created the world. Ancient Egyptiansvisualized the newly created world as a fertile plain – not unlike thevalley of Nile – surrounded by desert. The Fon people from theAfrican state of Benin believe the world was created by a creatorGod, whom cosmic serpent Aydo�Hvedo carried in his mouth. Andit was the Serpent who brought the first people, a man and awoman, to live on Earth. The Ainu people from Northern Japanthink that before creation there existed only lifeless mire. But theSupreme God, named Kamui, ordered a water wagtail to create dryland, and the bird was so scared with this commission that it start�ed fluttering over the waters with its wings, trampling the sandwith its feet and beating it with its tail, until the patches of dry landstarted to appear. And the Ashanti people, who often came acrossspiders in their native desert, decided that their creator God alsowas a spider. Cyril looked around him.

– So it looks like what you have here is a museum of every�thing related to the Creation myths?

The old man shook his head. Anansi in the corner stirrednoisily.

– No, it is not a museum, and this makes a great difference. I havehere something akin to Mission Control Center. I am a planetarycoordinator. I maintain the global equilibrium. The point is that for�merly people lived in isolated groups, and therefore the gods of dif�ferent nations almost never came together in opposition to one

another. Some people believed the world started from the egg, others– from the raven’s manure, but nobody argued their point. But thetoday’s world is too small – Africans, Asians, Europeans are now liv�ing together very closely and still believe in their respective gods. Mytask is to prevent those beliefs from becoming the source of conflictsor even catastrophes. Sometimes, it becomes very difficult. It appearsonly on the first gaze that we do nothing but gathering moss, like in a

godforsaken provincial museum.Look at these pots, – the old

man approached a shelf stand andtenderly stroked one of the queerpots on its round side.

– According to mythology ofthe Dogon, a most unusual tribe inAfrica, their creator god Ammamade those pots in the very begin�ning of the Creation. The red spi�rals on the pot symbolize the Sun,which protects the Black people;while the white spirals symbolizethe Moon, protecting the Whitepeople. If pots are ever broken –the world will cease to exist. At thismoment, the owl and raven flew

into the room, carrying a tablecloth in their beaks. They put it onthe coffee table, and before Cyril could wink his eye, the tableclothwas set out with cups and saucers, bowls with honey and home�made jam, assorted chocolates and biscuits. Then the raven perchedupon his favourite PC monitor, and, inclining his head, fixed hisgaze on Cyril, and the owl landed on the backrest of an armchairand stayed put, half�closing her eyes.

– So you do really know how our world came into being? –Cyril inquired.

– Well, firstly, nobody knows that for sure. But what I do knowis what concepts and ideas of the Creation were adopted in different

22

times and by different peoples, such as the Neanderthals, ancientGreeks and Egyptians, Alaskan Inuits, African Dogons and yourancestors – Slavs. Also, I know what the modern science thinks of it.My task, however, is not to judge who is right and who is wrong, butto maintain peace and equilibrium on the planet Earth.

– So there must be as many versions of the Creation as thereare peoples on this planet? – Cyril said in amazement. He wasenjoying his fragrant herbal teaand a hard biscuit, finally feelingcompletely relaxed.

– Oh, it is from here that themost interesting things begin, –Camael Georgievich smiled. – Infact, in spite of their diversity, thecreationist stories of peoples, whoabsolutely could not communicatein the period where their mythologywas being born, appear to have verymuch in common. For instance, theHindus, Chinese and Suomibelieved our Universe had beenborn from the Cosmic Egg, whilethe natives of Japan, Mesopotamiaand South America were surethat in the very beginning there had been only a vast watery waste.The Vikings deemed that in the beginning only a boundless ice abysshad existed, while the ancient Greeks, distant from them both in timeand distance, supposed the world had been born from chaos.

But you have asked me about the World Tree, about Nunusaku,haven’t you? Myths of a great many nationalities tell us about theWorld Tree – or the World Axis. Sometimes, though, it disguisesitself under different names: “the tree of life”, “the tree of abun�dance”, “the center tree”, “the tree of ascension”, “the heavenlytree”, “the cosmic tree”, “the mystic tree”, etc. Do you rememberthe Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil that grew in the Garden

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26

of Eden? It is the same kind of tree. Just as any ordinary tree, root�ed deeply in the ground and supporting the firmament upon itsboughs, the World Tree connects the three different realms: under�world, human world, and celestial world. It is the main pillar of theUniverse, acting just as load�bearing walls do in a building. If some�thing damages the Tree, and the whole world will collapse.

Each nation had its own world tree. Now, look in the window.Do you see that gigantic ash�tree? It is Yggdrasil – the sacred treeof the Vikings. On the top of this tree is perched a wise eagle, on itsboughs dwells a hawk named Veðrfolnír, and the roots ofYggdrasil’s are gnawed at by a dragon named Níðhoggr accompa�nied by a multitude of snakes.

– And can they all… peacefully coexist?, – Cyril wondered.He thought to himself that he should find Rustam to tell him

that the eagle had been absolutely for real.– I wish they could, – Professor sighed. – The dragon and eagle

are constantly bickering with each other, but since one of them sitsalow, while the other is perched aloft, their abusive messages areforwarded by a squirrel named Ratatosk, who scurries up and downthe tree trunk. There are also four stags feeding on the leaves ofYggdrasil. So, if any damage is ever inflicted on Yggdrasil and itsinhabitants, a great calamity shall befall Scandinavia. Look yonder;do you see the old mighty birch�tree on a hillock? It is the Yakutstotem tree, Ahl Loohk Mahss, which represents the undying vegeta�tion that nourishes both people and animals. This tree gives shelterto the female genius loci with her children.

– But why are the boughs adorned with so many strips of clothand ropes?, – Cyril inquired, still gazing at the birch�tree.

– Those are the gifts, offerings to the local guardian spirit, –Camael Georgievich explained. – All the trees, bushes and flowersyou see in this garden are very important, for each of them pro�tects a certain nation of the Earth. Let’s go, I’ll give you a tour ofour orchard�house.

They proceeded to a large hall, climbed the stairs to the firstfloor, crossed the gallery, then the Professor unlocked quite an ordi�

27

nary�looking door, but the view behind it took Cyril’s breath away.They were standing on a small platform amidst a real rainforest.They could hear the babbling of a brook and the dripping of water,they could smell pungent, spicy and slightly musty odours, thethickets were vibrant with the piping of frogs, the hooting and twit�ter of various birds. The end of a downward�leading stairwayremained invisible amongst the dense foliage.

– As you must have already guessed, each part of the World Treeis related to different creatures: animals, gods, or mythic heroes.The upper portions of it, such as boughs, were normally assigned tothe birds; its trunk – to the hoofed mammals (like deer, elks, cows,horses, and antelopes), in some later traditions – also to thehumans; while the lower portions, such as roots, were allocated tothe snakes, frogs, mice, beavers, otters, fish, and chimeric monsters.For example, many Indo�European myths utilize the very sametheme: the God of Thunder, residing on the top of the World Tree,smites the Serpent, living at its roots, so as to restore to peopleeither cattle or other property stolen from them by the Serpent.The Egyptian Sun God Ra, who, having turned into a cat, kills thesnake at the roots of a sycamore, is a variation of the same story.Heroes of fairytale s often escape from an evil dragon to the WorldTree, whence they are rescued by an eagle.

– Precisely, – Cyril exclaimed. – Gandalf, the wizard from ‘TheLord of the Rings’ was also rescued by giant eagles.

They descended the stairs and approached one of the trees,which had sprawling boughs and elongated green leaves.

– This is a peach�tree – Pantao or Xintao, – the World Tree ofthe ancient Chinese. The ‘Shan Hai Jing’, literally ‘Classic of theMountains and Seas’, mentions a huge peach�tree that grows on theDushuo Mountain. The boughs of this tree, each having a curva�ture of 3,000 li (~0.5 km), conceal the Demons Gate – ‘Gui Men’.Since the whole world rests upon this tree, the Chinese, as a mostsensible nation, used it in their household, rightfully believing thatwhat was good for the world was equally good for them. The fig�urines of gods carved from peachwood were placed at the entrance

to each home to ward off evil sprits and ghosts. Doctors used peachbranches to flog their patients afflicted with tropical fever in orderto expel the spirit of disease. Later, the Chinese even enduedPantao with the gift of immortality.”

They walked further down the path winding among the trees.Those were of all different sorts possible – fig trees, orange and lemontrees, omnifarious palm trees, banyan trees and even giant peyotes.

– So, – Cyril said, “Peyote is a world tree too?– Why, indeed!, – Camael Georgievich nodded. For the

Mexican Indians the World Tree was represented by Agaveamericana or ‘century plant’, with its milk�like sap. By the way,the World Tree in all national mythologies not only connects therealms of gods, humans and the dead, but it also binds togetherPast, Present and Future. It is one of the most ancient symbols ofprocreation. For instance, the Nanai people always depicted treeson their female wedding gowns – for these trees grew in the sky,in the domain of the Female Spirit. Each clan had its own tree, inthe boughs of which there were breeding human souls that laterdescended onto earth as birds to enter the wombs of the womenof that clan. The upper part of the traditional Nanai dressinggown imitates the dragon scales, while at its back there aredepicted two entwining dragons – male and female.

– And what if some ancient people lived in places with no trees?For example, in a desert, or in the Arctic tundra? So did they imag�ine them or what?, – Cyril asked.

– In the past, trees grew almost everywhere on Earth, but some�times they were indeed replaced with natural – a mountain or acliff – or man�made objects, such a high pillar, pyramid, pagoda,ziggurat tower or a temple. As a matter of fact, it is the idea of theWorld Tree, connecting the three realities that the typical geomet�rical arrangement of all religious buildings on Earth has sprungfrom. For example, in the centre of the Aztec pyramid inTenochtitlan there was an eagle perched upon a cactus and devour�ing a snake. Also, pretty often the role of the World Tree was playedby high ground. Many nations venerate sacred mountains: theGreek have their Olympus, the Jewish – their Tabor, the Chinese –

29

their Kunlun, the Indians, Tibetans and Nepali – their Kailash, theCelts living in Central Europe have their Mont Blanc.

– Still I don’t quite understand, – Cyril confessed. – How can amade�up world tree cause a real earthquake? It is all nothing butfairytales, isn’t it?

“Well, you see… this is a long story, – Camael Georgievichanswered with a smile. – I suggest continuing it tomorrow, for it istime for you to return home, and I need to be at the SupervisoryBoard. The only thing I can tell you now is that the memory ofthose, as you call them, ‘fairytales’ is imprinted in every person’sconsciousness. For example, psychologists have discovered thatevery child, who grows and develops normally, at a certain agestarts drawing trees – this is called the Koch test. You cannot evenimagine how deeply ancient myths and legends influence thebehaviour of modern people and the world surrounding them. Now,let me see you to the exit lest some of my lodgers scare you.

Even though Cyril had absolutely no desire to go home, hedecided not to argue – lest the Coordinator�Professor changed hismind and would not let him come again.

ext morning, after having a quick breakfast, Cyril ran back tothe house on the hill. It was the owl that opened door for him,but the Coordinator was nowhere to be seen – neither in thestudy, nor in the orchard�house, nor in the library. The raven stillsat perched atop the PC monitor.

– So here you come, – he cawed upon seeing Cyril. – Sit hereand wait. Camael will soon be back.

Cyril sat in a leather armchair close to the mysteriously scin�tillating glass cube and started watching the play of its sparklets.

NThe Timbrel of the Overworld

So the door of the study opened and in came the Coordinator.In his hands he was holding a large leather timbrel, about twofeet in diameter. The leather once whitish, now looked rubbedand as if sooty. On the inner side, the timbrel had a wooden hold�ing handle, on the outer side, its leather surface had some draw�ings, made in red ochre – little figures of people and animals, andalso some lines.

– Hey, Cyril, – he nodded cheerfully and went to sit in thearmchair next to the window, carefully laying the timbrel on hisknees. – I seems, yesterday we had to part at the most interest�ing place of the story. You wanted to know how the fabulous treecould have influenced the real world?

Cyril nodded in confirmation.– But tell me, dear Cyril, what do you think of how this so�

called real world came into being?But that is quite simple, – Cyril promptly responded. – I read

about it in the “Geo” magazine. In the very beginning there wasthe Big Bang, which gave birth to the Universe with of all itsgalaxies, stars and our Solar System.

– Oh yes, very true, – Camael Georgievich agreed. – This Iknow. – In this very cube that you seem to like so much, we havethe Universe in several billionth fractions of a second after theBig Bang. Strictly speaking, we do not even have a special wordfor such a time interval.

Cyril stared dumbly at the cube.But that is not a myth, but a scientific fact, – he was com�

pletely taken aback.

T H E C O S M I C C A L E N D A R

The whole existence of human race fitswithin a short moment of the evolution of theUniverse. If we assumed that the Big Bang had occurred on

January 1, then the Milky Way should have been formed by

April 1, the Solar System by September 9, and the first organic life

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forms by December 15. First fishes and other vertebrates – by

Dec. 19; first non-water plants – by Dec. 20; first insects – Dec.

21; first mammals – by Dec. 26. The whole history of humankind

should have taken only the evening of Dec. 31: at 22:30 – the first

humans, at 23:59:55 – the birth of Buddha; at 23:59:56 – the birth

of Christ; at 23:59:59 – the beginning of European Renaissance;

and at midnight – the publication of the Big Bang and Relativity

theories.

– It makes all the difference in the world, – CamaelGeorgievich said with a shake of his head, – that modern scienceis just as limited in its cognitive ability as the ancient people were.

And these limitations lie not only in the accuracy of measure�ments, but also in the things that scientists are ready to accept asfact, in other words, in their concept of reality. So you were askingme, how the world had been created in reality? In different timesdifferent people had different ideas and concepts about it. Likewise,our modern scientists, just as the ancient Egyptians, support theirtheories with the results of what was observed and measured or cal�culated, and, just like the said Egyptians, they also make mistakes.

But the most amazing is that the modern scientific discover�ies in many cases agree or even coincide with the ancient myths.

Now you’re telling about the Big Bang. But do you know thatone of the most popular subject matters in cosmogonic myths wasthe myth where the world had been born from the Cosmic Egg?

– I don’t about that egg, I only know the egg that containedthe death of Koshchei, – Cyril answered.

– The Egg of Koshchei is undoubtedly connected with allother cosmic eggs of world myths, – Camael Georgievich smiled.– The belief that our Universe started from an egg was and stillis shared by the Han and Suomi, by adepts of the Orphic religionand some tribes in the northwest of Africa. Sometimes, their cos�mic egg gave birth only to a creator god, sometimes – to allhumankind, – Camael Georgievich came up to the bookcase and

32

took from one shelf a large rhinestone egg, inside which a goldenyolk was visible. – Look, from this golden embryo enclosed bythe egg floating in the primordial waters, emerged the Indian godBrahma – auctor rerum creatorum or just “The Creator”. Afterpassing one year inside the egg, Brahma by his mental powerdivided the egg in two halves: one made the heaven, and theother – the earth. In the gap between the heaven and the earththere became airspace, five basic elements, pure thought, andonly then – gods, sacrificial offerings, the Vedas, stars, time,mountains, flatlands, seas, people, oration, passion, wrath, joyand pairs of opposite qualities, heat�cold, etc. Brahma himselfbecame then divided into parts: male and female, afterwards hecreated plants, animals, insects, birds and demons, called asuras.

In many Greek myths, from the cosmic egg, floating in theocean, emerged the god Phanes, shining like the sun and creatorof the world. In the Egyptian myth, the sun appears from the cos�mic egg laid by the bird called Great Gogotun. In the Finnish“Kalevala” epos the Creation is described in the following words:“From one half the egg, the lower, Grows the nether vault ofTerra: From the upper half remaining, Grows the upper vault ofHeaven...”. Pangu, the primogenitor of the Han (Chinese) nation,was also born from an egg. He was growing for 18 thousand years,during which his light, masculine element, called Yang, formedthe heaven, while his dark, feminine element, called Yin, – theearth. Wind blows across land and sea when Pangu inhales, andthunder and lightning rage in the sky when he exhales; it becomesday when he opens his eyes, and – night, when he closes them.

But do you know what is especially curious? In many worldmyths the concept of the egg is connected not only with the actof creation, but also with the start of world time. For instance, inthe beginning of Creation an egg breaks or explodes beingthrown into the sky. Some tribes of the northwestern Africa stillhave a special custom: they start off the wedding ceremony bybreaking an egg – it symbolically likens the start of the new fam�ily time to the start of Universal time.

– So that is why they paint eggs during Easter and then breakthem for eating? – Cyril guessed.

– A very true observation! – Camael Georgievich nodded withenthusiasm. – Here we have a combination of the ancient heathencult of Spring Welcome and the European tradition to celebrate theday of Resurrection of Jesus Christ as the beginning of theChristian era. Now do you understand that the Cosmic Egg, to cer�tain extent, is an analog of ourUniverse before the Big Bang?But there are even more interest�ing parallels.

Do you remember how,according to modern science, ourUniverse looked just before theBig Bang?

– I don’t know, – Cyril said.Scientists believe that right

before the Big Bang the matterwas compressed to an extremelyhyperhigh density at a tempera�ture above 10 billion degrees. Atsuch temperatures the greaterpart of mass�energy in theUniverse existed in the form ofelectromagnetic waves or light quanta called photons. In fact, itshould have looked like a dazzlingly bright ball of light. And youremember, what was written about the Creation in the Bible?

– I don’t know, – Cyril repeated.– The Bible says: “And God said, Let there be light: and there

was light”.– So what, – Cyril asked, – did modern science confirm

everything written in the ancient myths?– Of course, it did not, quite many of the ideas the ancient

people had about the world were absurd and odd superstitions,but the key concepts turned out to be very true. Look at yet

34

another coincidence. According to many world myths, before theworld was created, there had been chaos. This is a Greek word, averb, which “I disgorge” or “I yawn”. The ancients visualizedChaos in the shape of something resembling opened mouth. TheGreek poet Hesiod in ca. 700 B.C. writes in his poem called“Theogony” that in the beginning there was Chaos – the yawningchasm – containing the sources of all things: gods and mortals, and

all multiple scenarios of theCreation. The first who came fromChaos were Gaia (Earth) andOuranos (Sky). From their mar�riage were born the Cyclopes –one�eyed giants called Brontes,Steropes, and Arges (“Thunder”,“Glitter” and “Lighting”). ThenOuranos and Gaia produced theHecatonchires – monsters havinga hundred hands and fifty headseach: Kottos, Briareos, and Gyes(“the Furious”, “the Vigorous”and “the Big�Limbed”). Andfinally, the couple engendered theTitans, a dozen in number.According to beliefs of ancient

Egyptians, the world was created from the primordial water chaos– the vast ocean called Nun. Most probably, annual Nile floodspromoted such concept of chaos as vast waters. From the ocean, ahill rose with the Sun god Ra sitting atop; Ra emerged on his ownwithout parents’ involvement. Ra disgorged from his mouth theair god – Shu and the moistness goddess – Tefnut, who in theirturn gave birth to twins – Geb (Earth) and Nut (Sky), then thegods started multiplying with ever�increasing speed. But thechaos�ocean did not disappear after the act of creation and stillsurrounded the sky, so the ancient Egyptians always dreaded theultimate flood to bring the end to their world.

35

36

The Dogon – a small ethnic group, living in the

Republic of Mali, in Western Africa, still preserves absolutely

astonishing myths. It looks like this people even in ancient times

knew of such things as the qualities and orbital characteristics of

the invisible to the naked eye planet rotating around the star

Sirius, the four largest moons of Jupiter, spiral star systems and

other astronomical facts that only quite recently became known

to modern science.

The Universe of the Vikings emerged from the abysmal icechaos. Once, from the molten hoarfrost, two creatures were born:the giant called Ymir and the icy cow called Audhumbla, whichfed on her own milk. When Ymir sweated in his sleep from hisarmpits came new giants. And the cow in the meanwhile lickedon a salty stone, from which finally came the primogenitor of allNorse gods by the name of Bure.

– So it was the same cow that was bellowing in your yard? –Cyril inquired.

– Well, not in the yard, of course, but in the house... But yes, thatcould be her. As a matter of fact, I have here a whole herd of sacredcows, without which this world could not have come into exis�tence, – professor said laughing. – But let’s go back to our topic ofchaos. The ancient Japanese also believed that the world emergedfrom chaos, in which all the basic elements were inordinately mixedtogether. The “Hihongi” epos describes how a deity calledKunitokotachi sprang up from the chaos, – it was also called thedeity of Eternal Establishment of the Earth. Then several otherdeities came into the world, they were shapeless and sexless. Afterthem, there appeared several heterosexual pairs of divine siblings,who impersonified various opposite natural events, for example, thegod of Floating Dirt and the goddess of Settling Sand. And now,Cyril, could you recall what was it like after the Big Bang?

– Various star systems were formed, consisting of stars andplanets, – Cyril answered quite self�confidently.

T H E D O G O N A N D S I R I U S

40

– No, that happened much later. And in the beginning therewas chaos. Only our modern physicists and astronomers describeit not quite in the very same terms, as the ancient Greeks andVikings did.

At the moment, the raven perched atop the monitor becameuneasy and cawed several times. Camael Georgievich looked athim, took the timbrel and turned towards Cyril:

– Come here, boy, you should see how we work.Cyril came closer.– There, take it, hold it tightly and look right at the center, –

the professor said, handing the timbrel to Cyril. – Don’t let go ofit, no matter what happens.

The leather surface of the timbrel suddenly became translu�cent, and then some fog started swirling from it, expandingbeyond the rib. One minute later, Cyril found himself sitting onthe bank of a wide river, on a hillock. Judging by the scenery, itwas not winter, but early autumn. Quite near he saw a largeramose dead bough stuck in the ground and adorned with hun�dreds of colored bands. In front of it sat a group of ten people:men, women, and two children – a boy of five and an adolescentgirl, and next to them stood a queerly clad man. He wore a shortthrow�open jacket pelt of some animal, dyed yellow. Its hem hadmany multicolored fabric braids sewn to it and hanging as a fringealmost down to the ground. In the openings between the braidsblue denim jeans were seen. On the back, chest, shoulders andarms dangled iron and fabric pendants in the shape of some fig�urines. On the head of this strange man there was a hood, from thefront it was pulled down to the eye level and the upper part of itwas swung back. The hood was all embellished with different rib�bons, strings, feather tufts, metal plates and beads. The attire wascomplemented by sneakers yellow reflecting insets on each sole.

– A shaman, – Cyril guessed.The shaman laid on the ground a ram’s scull, bear’s paw and

squirrel’s tail. Then he took several small branches from theground, set them afire and started waving them in all directions.

After that he made a campfire and threw something white into theflames. Holding his timbrel above the fire for some time, theshaman started dancing and moving closer to the river. There hewhistled in a strange fashion, and then came back to the deadbough. The beats on the timbrels became faster and faster, follow�ing their rhythm the shaman started swaying from side to side andcircling the fire. At the same time he made guttural grating yells,and his face was contorted in ahideous grimace. He started hop�ping between the people sitting inthe circle, and from time to timestopped behind someone’s backand knocked him or her on thehead with the timbrel stick. Thenhe took the bear’s paw and startedslapping everybody on their shoul�ders, after which he took a lash andstarted working it on people’sbacks. From somewhere the famil�iar cawing was heard.

– That’s something else! –Cyril said to himself. – Are theyinto S&M or what? – But no onefrom the participants didn’t haveanything against taking the beating.

Finally, the shaman took some milk in his mouth and thendashed it on everybody present one by one, then he took a lowcup, from which he had already been throwing something whiteinto the fire, anointed the people’s foreheads and palms with itscontents.

– Ah, that must be butter, – Cyril guessed.The shaman rang his bell several times and said something in a

strange language. The others started nodding with enthusiasm.Then, by taking turns, each scattered some rice and spilled somemilk in front of the dead bough.

41

44

At that moment, a dense fog surrounded Cyril, and he foundhimself back in the professor’s study. The floor was covered withwhite rice, and in front of the monitor there stood a teabowl of milk.

– Attaboy! – Camael Georgievich patted Cyril on the shoul�der in approval. – It was a correct decision that I made.

– What decision? – Cyril said uneasily. – And what was thatI just saw?

– You watched a Tuvinian shaman do the purification rite, –Camael Georgievich smiled. – The Tuvans, like most of the nativeinhabitants of Siberia, Altai, Far East, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, aswell as many tribes of American Indians, – follow shamanism.They believe that their world is divided in three levels – Upper,Middle and Lower. The first is the abode of good guardian spirits,the second is for people, and the third, underground, is the homefor evil spirits. Shamans of both sexes for many centuries havebeen acting as intermediaries between the world of mortals andthose of spirits. Shamans were fortune�tellers, witch doctors, whoreturned to sick people their souls stolen by evil spirits. Everytribe had its own story of the Creation – the Chukchi had one, theAleutians – another, but they all believed that mortals are sur�rounded with a multitude of nature spirits, with whom it was pos�sible to get along. For instance, when the shaman set fire to somejuniper branches, he was warding off evil spirits from the holyplace called ovaa. And the shaman’s clothes are meant to simulatea bird’s image so that he could “fly high in the sky” during trance.

– So you want to say that miracles can occur in spite of every�thing known to modern science?

– You see, Cyril, once there was a famous Christian holy mancalled St. Augustine. And he had answered your question longbefore you were born by saying: “Miracles do not disagree withthe laws of Nature. They only disagree with our understandingthereof”. People are prone to make final judgments, based on theirown knowledge. And you cannot even imagine how limited ourknowledge is. Imagine that you and your mother are in Africa.And on your way you met several members of the Masai tribe.Now let’s assume that all sources of potable water in the vicinity

have dried out, and your mother takes out her mobile phone andcalls the base asking them to send a helicopter loaded with water.From the tribesmen’s point of view she would be a powerful sor�ceress, isn’t it a miracle that she can talk to people who are so faraway. It is the same with the shamans or the World Tree – we, likethe ancients, do not always know an explanation for the things wesee. But by trying to capture consistent patterns or regularities ofthe event happening for millenia, people had worked out the lawsof their interaction with the world of deities and spirits.

Camael Georgievich came up to the terrarium and wiggled asalad leaf in front of the turtle’s nose. The turtle sleepily nuzzledafter the leaf.

– Let’s say, you believe that this world emerged many billionsof years ago after the Big Bang. And you sincerely think that thatthis fact is know to everyone, and that your belief is and must beshared by all the inhabitants of the Earth, and if it isn’t, thosewho disagree with you are fools and ignoramuses. But do youknow that, for instance, in very many schools across the UnitedStates one of the compulsory subjects is creationism?

C R E A T I O N I S M

Creationism is a theory or doctrine that postulates that the

Universe, Earth and all the living creatures thereupon, including

humans, were intentionally created by a Supreme Being or God.

This concept is adopted by many world religions, including such

major ones as Christianity and Islam. There are many different

trends or schools in the Christian creationism. Some insist that

the world was created exactly as described in the Bible: for six

days and about 6000 years ago (“The Young EarthTheory”). Others believe that the so-called “six days of

Creation” is just a metaphor, adapted to the level of understand-

ing possessed by the ancients; but in reality each “day of

Creation” had lasted millions or billions of conventional years

(“The Old Earth Theory”), the thirds claim that the

Earth is flat, surrounded by one of several celestial spheres, to

which are attached fixed stars (“The Flat EarthTheory”). Besides, there exist many other creationist ver-

sions, different in details.

School children are taught Creation strictly according to theBible. During those classes they can learn that between 6000 and10 000 years ago God created the Earth, which is flat and locat�ed at the center of the Universe, and its first people were Adamand Eve.

– But what about the bones of dinosaurs? What about arche�ological excavations? What about discoveries in geology, astron�omy and biology? – Cyril asked in amazement.

– Oh, for that our creationists have many witty explanation.For instance, they say that God created the Earth already aged– already with fossilized dinosaur bones. And this looks prettylogical, for if we believe in one omnipotent Creator and God,why cannot He create whatever He wants – be it mammothtusks or Big Foot? Besides, our creationists say: we all see howcleverly and beautifully this world is organized. Who couldbelieve that such blessed planet like ours emerged by a merechance?

– In our school it is different, we are taught Darwin’s theory.According to Darwin, life on Earth developed gradually fromamoebas to people through natural choice, – Cyril was glad tomake his point.

D A R W I N ’ S T H E O R Y O F E V O L U T I O N

In his work entitled “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural

Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle

for Life” Charles Darwin in 1859 postulated that the

main driving force of evolution was natural selection. This is a

47

natural process in which only the individuals better suited to the

environment are more likely to survive and more likely to repro-

duce and leave their inheritable traits to future generations. This

slowly effected process results in populations that adapt to the

environment over time, and ultimately, after interminable genera-

tions, the creations of new varieties, and ultimately, new species,

genera, families, etc.

– Very well put, Cyril! But instead of ‘choice’, you shoulduse word ‘selection’! Yes, for quite a long time this theory wasextremely popular and was considered one of the most pro�gressive scientific theories. But then something really amazinghappened. At some moment in time scientists in many differ�ent fields started noticing that the results of their experimentsand observations seemed to point to the fact that ourUniverse, solar system, and the planet Earth had been made onpurpose as if to serve as a cradle for humankind. Our Universelooks like a tenement, specially prepared for us, people, 12 bil�lion years ago.

The Professor held out his hand to an open bookcase near thewindow and took some book from it. On its dark�brown coverthere were two planets rotating spirally. “Martin Rees. Just SixNumbers” – Cyril read aloud.

– This book was written by my old friend, Sir Martin Rees,the astronomer of Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain – thisis his official title. In 1999 this book caused a sensation. SirMartin says in it that “Just Six Numbers” are the six physicalparameters, which made possible the advent of human race andwhich had been set in the very early moments of our Universe’sexistence. For instance, had the density of certain parts of theUniverse, their temperature and the qualities of their elementaryparticles been even slightly different, people like us could neverappear in such a world. Scientists called this law the anthropicprinciple, from the Greek word “anthropos” – man. And here we

have a tricky question: why from a multitude of available optionsthere was implemented the one, which made possible the genesisof human race? Who took care of all that: God, Super Intellector mere chance?

As for the theory of evolution, today scientists more and moredoubt that Darwin was right. In 1984, the American astrophysi�cist Fred Hoyle decided to calculate the probability of life formsbeing born on their own from the Darwin’s primordial organicsoup. Hoyle compared the random emergence of even the sim�plest cell to the likelihood that “a tornado sweeping through ajunk�yard might assemble a Boeing 747 from the materials there�in.” As you see, Cyril, this is very harsh blow on Darwinism andit was delivered not by the religious, but by the scientific com�munity.

A N T H R O P I C P R I N C I P L E

In 1973, during the 500th Copernic Anniversary Scientific

Congress, a British physicist Brendon Carter introduced the so-

called “anthropic principle”. Carter stated that if, during the Big

Bang, values of gravitation constant or interparticle force had

been even slightly different from the existing ones, the life on

Earth would have never existed. In other words, the Universe

seems to have been made especially for the human race! And in

49

1979 Dr. Francis Crick, professor of Cambridge university and

Nobel Prize winner for his study of DNA, suggested that since

organic life could not have emerged by autogenesis, it seems to

have been “seeded on Earth as in the form of DNA grains from

somewhere in space”.

– It is impossible! – Cyril saidwith indignation. – How could theydeny evolution? And what aboutthe bones of … whatchamacallit …Australopithecus – who wasbetween the ape and man?

– That was Pithecanthropus.But the problem is thatPithecanthropus and ape don’thave too many things in common.There must have been some crea�ture in between, but its boneshaven’t been found yet. This isthe so�called problem of the miss�ing link.

– So now you want to tell methat human being was created from clay as the Bible asserts? Iwould never believe that! – Cyril said with resentment.

– I never told you that! Why everybody starts boiling overwhen discussing the origin of human race? Why should theelephant or dragonfly amaze you any less? – Professor saidshaking his head. – I only wanted to say, Cyril, that the theo�ry of evolution should be approached with the same amount ofcriticism as the idea of making first people from clay or thedivine bird’s dung... Besides, nobody can tell you what shouldthe term ‘clay’ actually implies! Maybe, it implies the entireorganic world with all its diversity, from amoeba, mentioned

50

by you, to subhuman primates? By the way, the latter have95% of genes common with humans! And – 28% common withmice! Somehow! And then, if we assume that constructionmaterial for humans is in fact the entire organic world, thenwhere is the difference between creationism and theory of evo�lution?

At that moment Professor saddened:– Ah, my dear! If you only

knew how I am tired with thesedisputers! For many years theyare harping on the same string:science or religion? Who’swrong? They are ready to kill oneanother. And they still do...

Professor sighed and slumpedhis shoulders. Cyril thought thathe must be very old... this Camael,Professor, Coordinator... or whoelse?

But then Cyril suddenlybrightened up: If modern scienceis so wrong, where all those air�planes, rockets and DVD gamesare coming from?

Camael Georgievich gazed at the turtle, looking deeplythoughtful. Then he turned to Cyril:

– I very much like a story told to me by some elderly lady.Let’s say, she was my grandma. Once she was talking to her ladyfriend, and they started arguing on the origin of life. My grand�ma was very educated and found great interest in science – sheeven dreamed of flying to the Moon, – but her lady friend was oftotally different sort. So the latter told her that all scientific the�ories were sheer nonsense, because everyone knew that the Earthwas resting on the back of a giant turtle. My grandma, struckwith amazement, asked her friend: “And that turtle, what does it

52

stand on?”. “Oh, – the other lady said, – this is so simple. – Shestands on the back of another turtle”. “All right, – my grandmasaid. – But tell me, my dear, what does support the second tur�tle?”. “Ah, – the other lady said, – this is so simple: there is anunending stack of turtles”. Cyril burst into laughter:

– It simply amazing how ignorant were people in the past.They believed in God and in the fairytales that our world restedon elephants and turtles, and... – then Cyril stopped short andstared on the terrarium.

– You shouldn’t be telling me that this turtle is the one thatsupports the Earth?

– This one? – Camael Georgievich asked with a smile. – Ofcourse, not. This is the one who helped the Hindu deities toobtain from the ocean the amrita – elixir of immortality. The tur�tle holding the Earth is much bigger and now fallen into dor�mancy. I will get you two acquainted when spring comes. I toldyou the story about my grandma’s friend only to show that we allmay believe in something. But, what is really dangerous is thatwe suppose that only our belief is true. Do you think that yourbelief about the Earth floating in space accompanied by otherplanets is something different from that old lady’s belief aboutturtles?

T H E T R I A N G U L A R W O R L D

According to ideas of Therapeutae, a Greek-Jewish pre-Christian

ascetic sect, the world was created with the help of a rightangled triangle with sides proportionate to3:4:5, as if assigning quadratic metric of space.

Cyril frowned. – It is not that I believe, I know. And my knowledge is con�

firmed by many scientific experiments and observations!

53

– Oh yes, you do. But the knowledge of Babylonian priests orAltai shamans also was confirmed by experience and experi�ments. And all their observations confirmed: the Universe wascreated by deities or emerged from this very raven’s droppings.

Y’el’ started energetically nodding his head in agreement withthe above statement.

Cyril said thoughtfully.– Maybe, you even have God living here in one of the rooms? Camael Georgievich narrowed his lids in a cunning way.– We certainly do. Maybe. And not only one. There are sever�

al myriads of Hindu gods alone – we cannot even know them allby names.

– But what I really do not understand, – Cyril pondered, – iswhy all these gods created the world? Why should they needmortals, animals and everything around?

– Well, in different times people answered this question differ�ently. The ancient Greeks believed that people had been createdto serve gods and offer them sacrifices. The people of ancientMesopotamia thought that their mission was to toil for their gods.The Tlaxcalteca Indians worshiped the Sun god and believed thathe was feeding on human energy. With knives made of obsidianthey opened the chests of victims to sacrifice to their god thehearts that were still beating. And the Aztecs believed that peo�ple were made to constantly feed their gods with human blood.

– How horrible! – Cyril said indignantly. – Didn’t thosebelievers realize that the god that was willing to take people’slives was a bad god?

– Of course not. For those people believed that they had beencreated by gods solely for this purpose. By the way, it is interest�ing that creating mortals, gods were using the same handicraftskills, which later became known to people. The Egyptian godHnum made people on potter’s wheel, and the natives ofMesopotamia believed they had been made from clay mixed withblood. Please note – again it was clay! The sacred book of theMaya called “Popol Vuh” tells about several divine attempts to

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create mortals. At first gods decided to make first man from clay,but he was too soft and couldn’t hold shape and walk, so theyfinally destroyed him. Second time, they made people from woodbut those wooden men turned out to be irreverent and unruly.Then gods caused the Great Flood and all people from the sec�ond batch were killed. Third time, gods made four people fromcorncobs, but they became too intelligent and astute, which wasequally displeasing to gods, and then their supreme deityHuracan fogged the eyes of mortals, so many things in the worldhad now appeared to them as something mystic and obscure.

T H E E S K I M O S A N D F E R D I N A N D M A G E L L A N

The ancient Eskimos long before Magellan knew that the

world was as round as their igloo homes made of ice blocks. One

of the Eskimo myths tells about two married couples who decid-

ed to measure the whole world. They took their sleds, teamed

their dogs and went in strictly opposite directions traveling for

many-many years. Finally, these two pairs of travelers met in the

same place they had started from. “This World is Big!” –

one of the men exclaimed. “It is even bigger than we thought!” –

the other replied. And both died.

– So how’s that, all gods created people only with such sordidmotives, as their food or their workforce? And you gave shelterto such gods? – Cyril said angrily. – Then down with such gods,put them out to pasture!

Professor burst into laughter:– Yeah, sure enough, that’s where they all belong! But your

idea isn’t new at all; too many said the same thing before you! Ihave been telling you for two hours that in our world there existvery many different ideas and viewpoints, and if your own oneseems the best to you, it should not at all mean that it is solelytrue. First, you need to study, for example, the Tlaxcalteca histo�ry and mythology, understanding what’s what in it, and only

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then could you dispatch them to a landfill. Or do you think thatour science, creating such deadly things as nuclear and biologicalweapons, required fewer victims than ancient gods? Those werejust as different as the peoples who worshiped them were.

Professor came up to the bookshelves and took from one athick volume of the Bible.

– Here, for example, in the first book of Genesis the Bible Godcreates humans – male and female– in his own image to “have domin�ion over the fish of the sea, and overthe fowl of the air, and over everyliving thing that moveth upon theearth”. Thereafter God blessedthem and said unto them: “Be fruit�ful, and multiply, and replenish theearth, and subdue it”. As you cansee, God’s intentions were quitehumane and noble. And in severalsuras (chapters) of the Qur’an –the sacred book of Moslems – it iswritten that Allah created “jinnand men so as to order them to wor�ship” him. According to Qur’an, theUniverse is a special place where allstars, planets, seas and lakes, oceans, flowers and trees, moun�tains, and all living creatures were made by Allah only to test thehonesty of service and gratitude of men to their Creator. It wasdone so that people could ascertain His boundless wisdom. Atthat, all events and people, which a man encounters during hisearthly life, are an integral part of the test, called the mundanelife. Every man bears full responsibility for all his actions, whichmust conform to the Allah’s regulations, otherwise after deathevery sinner will be banished to hell.

– Now, that is fine, – Cyril agreed. – Some gods were kind andmerciful; some were – wicked and cruel. Some emerged from chaos,

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some from the Cosmic Egg. But whence came the chaos? Whencecame the egg? Whence came the supertight clot of matter, whichexisted before the Big Bang? What was BEFORE the Creation?

Camael Georgievich looked at the raven with extreme satis�faction.

– Well, didn’t I tell you, Y’el’? This kid is very smart! Notevery adult could have asked such a question. – The raven

benevolently and thoughtfullystared at Cyril, but did not chooseto respond. And the professor satcomfortably in his armchair,poured himself a cup of fragrantherbal tea and started his story.

– You see, Cyril, in mostmythologies this question was leftunanswered. Very few even daredto ask it, though. Human con�science is designed in such a waythat it seems to people that every�thing, including the Universe,should have its beginning andend. But the inhabitants ofEastern Asia came up with severalsmart ways to bypass this trap.

For instance, the Hindu sacred texts – vedas – say that time iscyclical and divides into kalpas (“orders”) – however the firsthalf of every kalpa (4320 million years) serves as the Universe’slifetime, after which the world is destroyed and the second halfof kalpa begins. Both halves compose a period after which comesthe next one and so on.

But the followers of Taoism in China believed that the sourceof all is Tao (“Pathway”). It gave birth to everything, includingChinese gods and deities, even though Tao itself is not a god. Taois the reality or cosmic law, which had existed long before theUniverse came into existence. All things that exist emerged from

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Tao, and it is Tao that nourishes the world’s existence through therelease of its energy. Ups and downs, ebbs and floods, creation anddesintegration – all these pairs controlled by Tao energy gavebirth to existence that should continue forever. At that, Tao nevercompels anybody to act in a certain way; it only provides one withcertain opportunities. But the smartest of all were the Buddhists.These guys in orange robes simply think that our world hasalways existed and will nevercease to. Their world has neitherbeginning nor end, or creation andcomplete demolition. It simplyexists. And all of its living beings –people, animals, birds, insects,spirits, deities – transmute or rein�carnate from one life to another incompliance with the law of karma.

– I see, that’s easy, – Cyrilresponded with enthusiasm. – Itis like in computer game whenyou have several lives in store.

– Not exactly, but the principleis quite similar, – CamaelGeorgievich nodded in agreement.

T H E L A W O F K A R M A

This law asserts that the man’s present existence is determined by

his deeds committed during previous lives. All our roughs and

smooths result from our previous actions, good or bad.

In this moment the door suddenly opened and Ulyana, theowl, flew into the study with a gust of wind and landed heavilyatop the back of armchair.

We ran out of manna! – she said in a tragic voice. – Just as Iwarned you.

Professor turned to the owl.– You want to say nothing is left, not even in the basement?– Nowhere. Last week, I told the manna would run out. So it did.– Well, hard cheese, – Camael Georgievich shook his head. –

The Jews, when hungry, may misbehave. If they start their grum�bles and lamentations, you’ll have your work cut out for you.They are used to having their ration of eight tons of manna daily.We’ll have to provide it... I need to apologize, Cyril, but I haveurgent thing to do. Let’s postpone our conversation till evening.It seems your mother has already started baking apple pie.

– How could my mother have become involved? – Cyril saidin amazement.

– Oh, I completely forgot to tell you – yesterday we acciden�tally ran into each other in the forest. By the way, her skiingskills are pretty impressive! We talked a bit, and I told her aboutmy acquaintance with you. So your mother was so nice as toinvite me to your place for some tea with apple cake. By theyway, you didn’t tell me she was an anthropologist, but this shouldsimplify our task very much.

– What task? Why are you talking in riddles all the time?– I promise – you should realize everything in the evening. Now

please excuse me I need to run away. Ulyana will show you off.With these words professor abruptly left the room. Cyril ran

after him, but the hall was already empty.

T H E T I M E O F D R E A M S

The indigenous peoples of Australia believe that

our Universe was created in Alchera (literally – in “Dreamtime”).

This is an extratemporal epoch, which has no relation to the past,

for it resides in the eternal present, and can be accessed by people

only in their dreams and by way of magic rituals. It was in Alchera

where slept the primogenitors who upon awaking from their sleep

created people and surrounding nature, and whose doings became

the preimage for all the future events due to happen in the world.

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yril actually found his mother in the kitchen where she waslooking through magazine clippings with various recipes. Overseveral years, she had accumulated two thick stacks of theseclippings showing colour pictures of various pies, salads andsoups.

– Now here we come with that globalization of ours – onemay easily find “Croquette in devil’s sauce”, or “Devilfish incocoa milk”, or “Onion salad with dates”, or even “Avocado soup”,but not a single recipe for conventional apple pie. Mother lookedtotally nonplussed.

– Mum, don’t you know the grandma’s recipe by heart? –Cyril inquired.

– Oh, it was so long ago that I baked apple pies. But there is away out. We’ll have to resort to modern technology – do me afavour and find something proper on the Internet.

Fifteen minutes later, the recipe was found and Cyril, stand�ing on his knees on a chair and resting his elbows on the kitchentable, was watching his mother to beat egg yolks with sugar.

– A fun person, this Camael Georgievich is, – Cyril’s motherthrew back a strand of hair from her forehead. – And his nameseems to ring a bell. Camael... No, I cannot place it. He spoke veryhighly of you. How on Earth did you manage to make hisacquaintance?

– Err, well, you know... – Cyril vaguely waved his hand. Hewasn’t inclined to relay the whole story to his mother.

Mother looked at him with slight suspicion, but said nothing.Cyril went upstairs, to his room, played in Myst IV

Revelation for some time, but then he was overcome by sleep.

C

The Operation “Successor”

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When he woke up, it was already dark. It was snowing out�side, and snowflake shadows swam across the ceiling like abizarre animated calligraphy. The digital clock showed 21:17.

– Hell, I must have missed everything, – Cyril froze in terror.– The professor must be already gone, and I didn’t learn a thing.

He jumped up from the sofa and rushed downstairs. Thekitchen door stood ajar. Mother and professor sat comfortablyrelaxed in armchairs near the fireplace and drank tea. Y’el’, theraven, was just as comfortably perched atop the mantelpiece, onwhich there was a plate with a half�eaten piece of cake.

– I cannot but disagree with you, dear Camael Georgievich, –Cyril’s mother shook her head emphatically. – Everyone knowsthat the most ancient mythological archetypes and rituals weremeant to secure the clan’s or tribe’s right of ownership for certainarea of their habitation. By declaring their territory the center ofthe Earth, a tribe automatically considered everybody living out�side this area as “enemies”, and the place where “enemies” livedwould become “the back of beyond”. So when now, in the beginningof 21st century you trying to advocate such backward ideas, I can�not let my son continue such contact with you. Now you shouldprobably tell me that our Earth rests on the backs of three whales.

Cyril realized he had come right in the midst of a high�pitchedargument.

– I am afraid that for some inhabitants of our planet that isexactly the case. In fact, these whales are one of my biggestheadaches. For obvious reasons they cannot be kept here, and inthe ocean they are constantly endangered by outlaw whalers, –professor said with a helpless gesture. Only the giant turtle andAustralian rainbow serpent present an even bigger problem tome. This is why I badly need a helper, who in future mightbecome my successor. Besides, this is the only decision that theCouncil would be satisfied with.

– Well, you know, you’re going a bit too far. – Cyril’s motherstarted loosing her temper. – First you’re trying to convince memy son cause an earthquake with a tsunami to make it worse, andnow you want me to let you fill his head with utter nonsense.

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Professor exchanged glances with the raven.– I must admit I didn’t expect such reaction from you... a

learned lady, an anthropologist! – Professor said with a sad smile.– It is exactly because I am what you called me, I cannot

accept your proofless assertion that such a terrible disasterafflicting dozens of thousands of people could have been causedby some fallen ficus tree! I don’t believe a word of it!

Cyril saw that his mother had really flown off the handle.

R A G N A R O K , O R T H E N I G H T O F B R A H M A

Sooner or later everybody has to die – people and

animals, birds and flowers. Therefore, the ancients deduced, the

lifetime allocated to this world should come to an end. But the ver-

sions of such an end of the world were plentiful. The Vikings

believed that in the end of time the world should face Ragnarok –

the last battle their gods would wage with hideous monsters, in

the end of which the gods and their world would be destroyed.

According to prophecy, on that very day a giant wolf called Fenrir

should devour the sun, and the world would sink into darkness,

then from the ocean depths would emerge a giant serpent called

Jormungandr, and the water completely engulf the dry land. The

Sami people connect the fate of their world with the life of magic

were-deer called Myandash – when the hunter god Aike-Tiermes

finally kills the magic deer, stars will fall from the sky, the sun will

drown in the sea, and only dust will remain on the face of Earth.

And the Hindu believe that the existence of their world is directly

connected with the life of Brahma, the creator god, – while he

wakes the humankind enjoys its existence, but the Brahma’s

night comes and the god falls asleep, the whole Universe disap-

pears until the next day of Brahma.

Professor obediently nodded and smiled apologetically.– But to some extent I do absolutely agree with you, dear

Marina. – And he again started nodding with much enthusiasm. –

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You simply do not believe in what I say! Again it is matter of faith,if you wish! Actually, I don’t insist on my statement that theupturned garden pot could have directly caused such calamities, Idon’t even insist on the fact that the world was created by God. Wehave been recently discussing this with Cyril. But I am old enoughto realize that there are two truths: one is absolute and the other isonly relative. The main thing is not to let yourself be excessively

carried away. For you’ve become sooverheated that it seems you couldburn at the stake anyone whodenies the relativity theory.

– That’s one nice compliment,– Cyril’s mother frowned. – Andnow you should liken me to amember of Holy Inquisition.

– By the way, the Inquisitionused to include the most learnedscholars of its time.

– Of course it did, and that waswhy they burned at stake thou�sands of innocent men and women,and many of their own colleagues,including Giordano Bruno, –Marina said with indignation.

She was virtually boiling with rage, and Cyril, fully aware ofher hot temper, was greatly scared that she would tell Professorto go away, and therefore quite impolitely intervened by saying:

– Mum, can I have a piece of cake, please? Marina flung her arms up:– Oh, Cyril dear! Excuse me! Of course!– Yes, we have completely forgotten about Cyril... – Camael

Georgievich smiled looking at Cyril hastily devouring his cake. –Now you, Marina, mentioned Giordano Bruno. It is a very usefulexample. I hope you know who was that man Bruno? – he turnedto Cyril.

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– Was he an astronomer? – Cyril recalled.– No, not quite. First of all, he was a monk. Giordano Bruno

was born in Italy, in 1548. His mother was a simple peasantwoman, and his father was a soldier of fortune. But the boy, equal�ly disliking the perspective of ploughing somebody else’s fields orto chop off somebody else’s heads scot�free, upon reaching the ageof 15, went to Naples, to study at one of the Dominican monas�teries. In that time, monasterieswere the main scientific and schol�arly centers, where one could stu�dy the works of ancient philoso�phers – Aristoteles, Plato, Pytha�goras and others. That was exactlywhat attracted the smart novi�tiate, who, among other things,became acquainted with the workof the famous astronomer NicolausCopernicus, entitled De revolu�tionibus orbium coelestium (Onthe Revolutions of the HeavenlySpheres), and where the authorwas presenting his revolutionaryheliocentric theory. Soon afterthat Bruno took the vows, but sci�entific speculations about the world order and structure occupiedhim much more than prayers.

In 1584 he published in London his own work entitled Del’Infinito Universo et Mondi (On the Infinite Universe andWorlds), in which he presented the basics of his own teaching.That book contained several seditious ideas:

1. The Earth is only approximately spherical in shape, for it is abit flattened at the poles. 2. The Sun also rotates around itsaxis. 3. The Earth’s center of gravity is bound to change itslocation over time. 4. Fixed stars are just more distant suns. 5. Around each of those suns rotate, in circular or elliptical orbits,

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its own planets, which cannot be seen from the Earth with thenaked eye because of the great distance. 6. Comets are just aspecial type of planets. 7. Worlds and even solar systems areconstantly changing and, as such, have their beginning and end.The only thing that is eternal is their underlying creative energy.

8 years after this publication, Bruno was arrested in Venice oncharges of blasphemy and heresy, whence he was then transferredto the Holy Inquisition prison in Rome. After seven years ofimprisonment and about a month after his trial, Bruno wasbrought to the Campo de’ Fiori (The Flower Square), his tonguein a gag, tied to a pole naked and burned at the stake, onFebruary 17, 1600.

– I simply cannot believe how could he come to such wonder�fully accurate conclusions in the late 16th century, without almostnothing to help him, – Marina said shaking her head.

– A genius! – Professor answered with almost fatherly pride.But Cyril was occupied with a totally different question: – Whythen they didn’t burn Copernicus, if Bruno was only his follower?

– This is an excellent question, – Camael Georgievich nod�ded. – The reason is that Bruno, unlike Copernicus, not onlybrought forth ideas of the Universe’s layout, but also was active�ly subjecting to doubt many fundamental ecclesiastical postu�lates. For want of any experimental data, all arguments werethen supported only by pure logic. So the “bona fide” churchphilosophers called scholastics, objected to Bruno by saying:How can there be an infinite number of worlds, if there is onlyone true God? But Bruno insisted, “Nature in itself is nothingbut God expressed in material objects”. The Catholic Churchtreated this statement as heresy and the preaching of hea�thenism.

What is especially curious, is that during the trial, accordingto the recollections of its witnesses, the prosecutors were amazedand aggrieved by their own judgment much more than theaccused, who accepted it with absolute composure. The votingwas done by secret ballots, and maybe each of the judges thought

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the whole court would eventually spare the great thinker, andonly he would show his fidelity to the church principles.

You must realize the main distinguishing feature of our time, –Professor turned to Cyril’s mother, – which is that there existtotally different opinions and standpoints, and we must treat eachwith equal respect, even though we might find it bizarre or scary.

– Certainly. For me, for example, the nazi ideas seem bothmost bizarre and scary. Or the fact that my son at any time maybecome a victim of a terrorist attack. But you seem to know bet�ter. Probably, I should work on my personality and make myselfagree that several million of Jews together with some othernationalities were savagely killed just because Adolf Hitler had avery bizarre understanding of their role in the world history, –Marina again started to become wound up.

– Oh, please, don’t juggle with my words if you can, – CamaelGeorgievich said, throwing his hands up. – Needless to say, thereare deeds and views absolutely unacceptable to any civilized per�son – terrorism, racism, Nazism, religious fundamentalism and soon. I am only asking you to be most careful in your judgements andalways remember that your knowledge is limited. Any actions, dic�tated not by love, but by fear, can hardly bring good results.

– Finally I’ve got it! – Marina suddenly exclaimed. – Now Iknow why your name seemed so familiar. – She stood up anddashed towards the bookshelves. – Here, it should be here, – shestared looking closely at the row of books, and, finally, took one out.Opening I, she started hastily reading aloud: – Well, well, well.Powers, Principalities, aha, Archangels! Archangels – the blessedmessengers, those who stand before the throne of God. Now,according to later Christian tradition there are four Archangels:Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel. Besides, there are three more:Camael, Raguel and Varnaphael. These seven, according to thebook of Revelation, stand before the throne of God.

Marina inquisitively looked at the professor, and continuedreading: “On church icons and frescoes, the Archangels aredepicted according to their roles: Raguel punishes and inspires

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people, that is why he usually holds a crown and a whip;Varnaphael looks after the growth of abundant crops – and he isdepicted holding a sheaf of flowers; Camael looks after theprayers offered in the Universe. So, he is usually painted stand�ing and with hands crossed on his breast, deep in contemplationand with his eyes bent on the ground”.

– Well, as for the “eyes bent on the ground” they’d put it a lit�tle bit thick, – Camael Georgievich smiled. – But let’s assumeyou’re right! University training seems to serve you pretty nice�ly! To be honest, you are the first who in the last 130 years couldidentify my name’s origin! I am really impressed.

– So you are… an Archangel? – Cyril said slowly. – But whydo you have this patronymic – Georgievich?

– And what patronymic you think I should have? – professorsaid with a grin. – Mikhailovich? Ivanovich? Or maybePetropavlovich? Now I guess you might agree to entrust me withyour son’s training?

Marina stood completely dazed near the bookshelves.– It must be a practical joke.– I assure you, my dear Marina, this is all absolutely serious.

I am doing exactly what is prescribed – monitoring prayers andmaintaining order. But I failed to keep an eye on your son once,so the Supervisory Board has ruled that, firstly, I needed an assis�tant, and, secondly, in order to restore the lost equilibrium, Cyrilmust work for the benefit of this world, to make up for the inflict�ed damage, as it were… But, please, don’t worry, my dear Marina!I’ll teach him everything, he’ll be looking after the trees andflowers, and later he may become able to do something a bit morecomplicated.

Cyril, beaming with joy, turned to Camael Georgievich:– So I will be able to come here every day? And what should I

do when we return to town? Will I still have to go to school or not?– I am dreaming. Let someone pinch me, – Marina asked.– Quite the opposite, my dear, – Camael Georgievich said

with a smile. – You have just awakened. I assure you that from

now on your life and the life of your son should take a totallyunexpected turn. Can you imagine how many discoveries you’llbe able to make with our help? He turned back and looked at theraven. The bird cawed in agreement. – And now that we havereached full understanding, I can’t detain you any longer. Cometomorrow at ten in the morning, Cyril.

With these words Camael Georgievich stood up and went out.Cyril ran after him to the hallway but it was already empty. Theboy opened the outer door and with amazement saw fresh snowwithout any footmarks. The red chimney of the house on a hillemitted smoke. Suddenly from afar there came loud and victori�ous raven’s cawing.

Institute of Tolerance

"Rudomino" Publishers

600 copies