Ota's Tales

Love can move mountains

In ancient times, even when the known universe was quite a toddler, life on Earth was quite austere and miserable. There were no schools, no castles, no mansions, no homes. And do you know why? Well, there were no people to build them. And if there are no people, there's no need for buildings. Everyone knows that. Would you have expected burrows, nests, or simple lairs? But you wouldn't have had those either. There were no animals to be had. There weren't even plants, including trees. Imagine such a desolate land. You wouldn't have liked it there at all. All there was to be had was a huge, monolithic ocean. There was no land. But it wasn't for ever. Things just go one way or another, whether you like it or not. So now and then the landmasses began to form, until there were quite a few of them.

Now imagine that the landmasses were alive. Well, not quite like you, but they were alive nonetheless. They had no names, didn't even speak to each other. They had no eyes, but they saw differently. What did they do? The landmasses stood in place for days, like pillars of salt. But not always. They got bigger here and there, smaller here and there. They were playing. They were playing to pass the time. They knew they'd be in the world a long time, and playing would make the waiting shorter and richer. They weren't so different from us humans.

One day something unexpected happened. One landmass decided it wanted to see what was beyond the horizon. Surely you've seen your dog run, your cat, your horse, but have you ever seen the ground walk? It's sort of like an elephant, only it's a million times bigger. It was very clumsy on the journey. It whined and crackled and crackled everywhere. When it had travelled quite a distance, it felt another landmass. They started playing together, teasing each other in different ways. They both found it very amusing. Both landmasses realised as they did that it wasn't just fun. They felt something they'd never felt before. Love. Love for each other. They felt they wanted to be together forever. But who would want to be together forever in a still state? You know, they didn't just want to be idly in each other's arms. So they started to build something together. As a family builds a house, so the landmasses built theirs. They didn't know what it would be, but they felt it was something big. So they built and built.

You'll be surprised, but they keep building it. We only see it as the highest mountain in the world, Mount Everest, which they learn about in schools. Now and then the mountain moves ever so slightly. Almost like a couple in love going through the peripatetic stages of life. It's not for nothing that they say love can move mountains.