The red seed traveled thousands of miles. Sometimes clinging to a galloping horse’s hide, or living in a seagull’s belly, or just sailing across water on gusts. It crossed mountains, rivers, forests. Its little husk was powerful and never once cracked.

One day it settled in a man’s mouth. The man was sleeping and didn’t notice. His dreams were troubled that night.

In the morning he felt a pain in his heart.

“Who is inside me?” he called out.

“A red seed,” said the red seed. “I’ve come to live in you.”

“Why?” wondered the man in anger. “Who asked you to come? I never asked to have anything live in me. Get out.”

The red seed said: “I can’t. I’m buried too deep. Besides, you have been asking for me: In your dreams you’ve cried out for me for three consecutive nights, 13 days ago. I heard and so I came.”

The man was mystified. “I can’t control what comes out of my mouth in sleep! How can I be held to that? Get out now or I’ll swallow poison and kill you.”

The red seed remained still, and said no more.

The man drank bitter poison for the next 30 days, thinking to flush out the seed.

But at the end of that time, the man, very much sickened, could tell the seed was unharmed, and still made him home.

“Please leave,” asked the man, “I’ll do anything. I don’t want you to be in me.”

The red seed said: “I can’t, I’m sorry. I’m here as you asked, and meanwhile I’ve settled in quite nicely. This is my soil now, and I will grow tall and strong from within you.”

Time passed, the man grew despondent, and his condition worsened. One night he had a vision of a clear blue lake, and he woke up asking for a blue seed to come live in him. He did this for two more nights. He held a great hope.

One day, as the man was near death, a blue seed settled on his tongue.

“Who is that?” murmured the man. “Is it you, blue seed?”

“It is,” said the blue seed. “I’ve come to live in you. I heard your call.”

With that the blue seed traveled down the man’s throat.

Soon enough, the blue seed popped out.

“I see you already have a red seed in you. How can I live in a house already occupied?”

The man was angry. “Come in, please, grow in me. The red seed will be gone by tomorrow, I promise you.”

But the blue seed wouldn’t listen. “The red seed lives comfortably. I can tell you’ve fed it. You want it to live there. I don’t believe you’ll make room.”

With that the blue seed flew away in a gust.

The man rose instantly, startled at the renewed energy coursing through him, and chased it down the road.

He chased it for a long, long time, through forests, cities, crossing mountains, and never once lost track of the tiny blue seed. He regained his health in that chase, and day by day felt a vigor course through him as he strove after it. And in all the constant commotion, the red seed, exhausted and vexed by the jostles, finally hopped out of the man’s mouth and never returned.

One evening the man, squinting, realized the blue seed was gone, faded into the sky. The chase was over. The man realized he was lost and far from home, and he saw that he could barely recognize himself in a pond’s reflection.

And yet with that he wept in happiness, spread his arms and lay back in the cool green grass, feeling the good earth under his weight and falling immediately to sleep.

posted by Snail at 5:31 pm