Attic flower

Mi Preciosita

Look at that, my child.

Feel it.

It is a chessboard, with chessmen.

Yes, mi preciosita. 

There are very many chessmen.

There are thirty-two.

Sixteen white and sixteen black.

Their job is to fight a guerrita, a little war.

Why do the white ones and black ones have to fight a guerrita?

I don't know.

That is how the game was made

Many, many thousands of years ago

By people much wiser than you or me.

Look at the pieces now. The first ones are called pawns.

They are the small ones in front.

There are a very many of them, and because of that

People don't think they are very important.

But their job is the most important of all:

To protect the king.

And someday, maybe they'll grow up to be reinas, queens.

Which ones are the kings and queens?

Look now at the ones in the middle, the tall ones.

Hold this one.

Do you feel the points?

Those are the points on a crown, and that is the queen.

She is the most powerful of all the pieces.

Just like you, my preciosita.

Some day, maybe you will grow into a reina,

Someone who is as powerful as the queen you hold now.

Now look at that one over there.

Do you see the cross on his head?

That is his crown; he is the king.

He moves slowly, but he is the most important.

If he is gone, the guerrita is over.

Now, get off my lap, and look at the board.

It is divided up into many squares of black and white.

Yes, I know they are both brown.

They are just called black and white.

There are sixty-four.

I'm going to tell you something now, mi preciosa.

Men who are very smart and wise tell us that

All the possible moves on this small wooden board

That can be made by the thirty-two pieces

Number more than the leaves on this tree,

Or the stars you can see in the sky.

Many, many more.

There are just as many ways your life could go, mi preciosita

More than all the stars in the sky...

But hurry now, your mamá is telling you it is time to get to bed.

It is very late.

Tommorrow, we will talk more of the chessboard,

And I will tell you all about the rest of the pieces.