Anu the Traveler

Once upon a time there was a boy who lived in the desert in the middle of the world. His name was Anu. He lived in a brown tent pegged into the hard, dry ground. His bed was a soft pile of sand covered with a blanket. He shared this sand bed with his younger brother. He also had a lot of sisters, but they had their own blankets and piles of sand on the other side of the tent, nearer the fire. Night in the desert is always a little chilly.

Some nights, Anu could not sleep. He would sneak quietly out of the tent, and walk past the tents of his first cousins, his first cousins once removed, his second cousin, his grandparents, and his friends. The hard ground would still be warm from the day of sun, and as he walked out of camp, gradually the ground would become sand and the sand would become dunes. Those nights he could not sleep he would climb to the top of a dune and sit there in the sand and look out at the camp. All of the tents looked the same except for a tattered bit of colored ribbon tied to the top of each one. Years and years ago, the ribbons had been grand flags that flew high against the bright blue desert sky and told of the daring feats accomplished by the family who lived under it.

Anu’s desert family and friends had been strong, clever adventurers once. They traveled all over. The ones who were not travelers kept magnificent gardens, full of vegetables and fruit trees and even flowers that served no purpose but to stand there and look pretty. The ones who were not travelers or growers were party-makers. They made music and danced up storms and told stories, the history of the desert people. They learned all this from the stars.

Something happened, though. The desert people got tired. Slowly, over the course of generations, they lost their spark. The flags turned into rags. They discovered it was easier to sit at home than travel. It was easier to not dig up the ground or loosen it so things could grow. It was easier to sleep instead of practice lessons with the stars at midnight. It was easier to carry a grudge than sit down with the friend and work it out. The desert people were weary. Their hearts slowly dried up, and so did the ground.

Sitting on a dune by himself, after looking at the weary camp, Anu would look up at the stars. To him, they were silent. It was the horizon that called to him, the horizon that he heard.

It is time for a change. 

Anu was tired too. He was tired of sleepless nights and dry ground that would not grow anything and tired people who could get along but wouldn’t get together.

So one night, he crept out of the tent, past his sisters and past all the relatives and friends, away from the hard ground and into the sand and up the dune—and down the other side, up another dune, and down the other side of that one. Up and down, up and down, up and down.

He traveled for a very long time, until the warm sand beneath his feet turned into cold, powdery snow. He slipped around, but still went up and down, up and down the dunes of snow. Finally, there were no more dunes, just a vast plateau of ice. Anu had never seen ice or snow before so this was all strange to him. And though it got cold in the desert at night, this was a new type of cold. He knew it was a type of cold that would freeze him if he stayed too long.

But he knew he was here for a reason. He could not just turn around and go home, even though he also knew everyone at home would be missing him by now. He had already been gone for so long. He walked around on the ice, stomping on it with his feet, trying to catch a beat. He had not danced in years, but there was still some rhythm in him. The more he stomped, he felt something in him come alive. He raised his arms high in the air and unclenched his fists. He kept stomping out the beat. The northern horizon was playing lights, and he danced with them. And then… He heard the stars sing—just for a moment, but he heard them sing. So he sang out too, one loud, clear note.

All of a sudden, the ground in front of him split open wide with a sound like thunder. Anu lost his beat and fell backwards. He quickly stood up. Out of the great crevice came hundreds of ice monsters!

He knew it was time to go home.

He ran. He knew they were right behind him, following him. He could hear their clanking steps, ice feet on the icy ground. Then he heard something else: a great swoosh. A gust of the coldest air ran into his back, making his hair stand upright and almost causing him to fling forward, headfirst into a snow dune. But he kept his balance, and snuck a look behind him. Not only were there ice monsters on the ground, now there was an ice dragon in the air.

The pursuit was on and it was fierce.

Anu ran and ran and ran, up and down the snow dunes. When would he get to the sand dunes? He could hear the horizon encouraging him to run faster and not get tired, so he pushed onward. He was definitely scared, but he also knew he was on an adventure and it was great.

The ice dragon kept swooping down and almost eating him. The ice monsters clanked and clanked, raising a war cry. Just as Anu was losing his breath, the snow dunes turned to sand dunes. He was getting closer to home! Anu looked ahead, looking for camp. He saw the horizon: the sun was rising! He ran up one last dune, and saw his camp with the tired people and drooping tents and tattered flags. And then the golden sun climbed up out of the horizon entirely, all its rays shining into the sky and the air, warming the earth.

Just like that, just like magic, the ice monsters melted. The liquid ice ran faster than Anu, and caught up with him and passed him, but it could not hurt him.

The ice dragon was bigger and colder, but it melted next, into a million prisms of water that sparkled in the sun and, crashing into the ground like a wave, were cast everywhere, for miles.

Anu had made it home. His family and friends came running—they had seen him being chased home, and they had seen the ice monsters and ice dragon melt. They were so happy he was back safe that they hugged him. In fact, they were so happy, everyone hugged everyone. And the water they were standing in, warmed by the sun, made them want to dance, so they did. The thirsty ground soaked up the water as they stomped the beat.

The next day, the desert bloomed. From there on out, everyone got together, there were always gardens, they raised new flags, and people traveled and told stories and danced.