A WOMAN AND DEATH

A WOMAN AND DEATH 

From Maria's diary, on the eve of buying her ticket back to Brazil:

Once upon a time, there was a bird. He was adorned with two perfect wings and with glossy, colourful, marvellous feathers. In short, he was a creature made to fly about freely in the sky, bringing joy to everyone who saw him.

One day, a woman saw this bird and fell in love with him. She watched his flight, her mouth wide in amazement, her heart pounding, her eyes shining with excitement. She invited the bird to fly with her, and the two travelled across the sky in perfect harmony. She admired and venerated and celebrated that bird.

But then she thought: He might want to visit far-off mountains! And she was afraid, afraid that she would never feel the same way about any other bird. And she felt envy for the bird's ability to fly.

And she felt alone.

And she thought. 'I'm going to set a trap. The  next time the bird appears, he will never leave again.'

...

She looked at the bird every day. There he was, the object of her passion, and she showed him to her friends, who said: 'Now you have everything you could possibly want.' However, a strange transformation began to take place... 

... what had thrilled her about the bird was his freedom, the energy of his wings in motion...

Without the bird, her life lost all meaning, and Death came knocking at her door.

'Why have you come?' she asked Death.

'So that you can fly once more with him across the sky,' Death replied. 'If you had allowed him to come and go, you would have loved and admired him even more; alas, you now need me in order to find him again.' 

(p. 215 - 217) 

Paulo Coelho: "Eleven Minutes" [erotic novel about a pr. searching for "Love"], Translated from the Portuguese [I see] by Ms. Margaret Jull Costa, published by HarperCollins* Publishers India.

Mnemonic:

* তা হারপার

* তা হাৰপাৰ

* ता हारपार 

(in Bishnupriya Manipuri, My "mother tongue"/"father tongue")

Eleven minutes book review (2:52)/Nis Bu (YouTube)

Kishalay Sinha [G]