Once upon a time, upon the city between the rocks, a warm wind was flowing
from the south. As the sun was rising, the people from that city were smiling
happily, looking at the burning sky. It was going to be a nice, pleasant day,
and sunny days were rare, for it was wintertime.
There was a man that everybody called, "the man with two hands." This name
was ironic: he did have the hands, but he did not use them. Well, that very
morning, the Sun woke up that man, telling him, "I needed to come back here,
for this place is part of the path that leads to my country. Tomorrow, I will
be gone."
The man with two hands then told his family: "Today is a sunny day. If you
want tomorrow to be one too, follow me and the Sun."
The family was worried. This journey seemed foolish and unpredictable, and
they had friends in the city which they did not want to leave. They loved the
man, however, and followed him without a second thought.
They traveled by day and by night, following the warmth of the wind and the
bright of southern stars. They traveled, hoping to reach the Sun's country.
And one day, they did.
In this country, everything was hot: the air, the trees, the sand. Animals
were resting in the shadow of the rocks, and men were resting inside their
tents. Trees gave birth to an impressive amount and an impressive range of
fruits, and men fed from the trees without a sweat. Rocks gave birth to
abundant amounts of water, and women went daily to draw water from the well. In
this country, the man with two hands was happy and relaxed.
One day, a long time later, Death came to see the man with two hands and
said, "Never have you worked for the happiness of others. As a result, I cannot
measure your inner worth. Tomorrow, I will test you and your family, and I
shall know what you can do."
At sunrise the following day, the man with two hands woke up next to his
dead wife. She was a woman of worth: not only did he lack her love, he also
lacked her help. He was too big to get into the caves where the well stood.
Back in the city between the rocks, there was a river from which the people all
got their water; here, he did not know how to get it. He thought about his
daughters, who were small enough, but as he went to see them, he realized they
were too sick to get up, and he did not know how to cure them.
Sad and sorry, the man with two hands said goodbye to his wife. He performed
the rituals, and burned the corpse of his wife in a huge pyre.
Three days from there, a doctor was lost in the middle of nowhere. He had
been wandering at the edge of his map to chase a rare plant which properties he
wanted to study, when he had fallen in Terra Incognita by mistake. He was
concerned about his limited amount of supplies, for he needed water to survive,
and he did not know how to get some. Suddenly, he saw dark smoke at the
horizon. He therefore walked in that direction.
Back in the country of the Sun, the man with two hands was getting
desperate. He had not drunk for two days, and his daughters still had a burning
fever. He called Death, and said, "I cannot live with all my family either dead
or sick. I will come with you." But Death refused categorically.
As Death was walking away from him, the man with two hands cunningly
followed it, hiding behind the bushes so that Death did not see him. He
followed it for a long time, till he finally was in the land of Death.
In the meantime, the doctor arrived at the tent of the man with two hands.
He saw the sick daughters, and cured them. He then asked them, "How is it that
you get water here?" But the daughters answered, "We do not know. Mother did
find a well somewhere in a cave, and she told Father where it was. Then, Mother died, and Father followed her in
death." Now, the doctor was truly worried.
When Death realized the treachery of the man with two hands, he burst into
anger. He came to see the doctor, and told him, "Your death should not have
occurred. I must let you live, for you are a man of worth: you help make others
happy. Unfortunately, I do not know how to get water in the country of the Sun,
for I have never needed to. The only thing I can do is make you immortal." And
he did. Then he said, "The man with two hands was unworthy of such beautiful
daughters. I shall make them yours." And he made the doctor Father of the
daughters.
The doctor then thanked Death. He packed his belongings, and traveled back
to the city between the rocks with the daughters. There, he could give the
daughters the water they needed. He cared about them, and they cared about him,
and regularly, the Sun came by to see how cute they were.
