tales for dreamers: the tower of the guardians of the world

Grandma said the tower was built by the Guardians of the World so that they could climb atop the tower and keep an eye on any danger that was seen heading towards our world.

But that does not make sense, I cried, because I could see that the tower is not very tall and is very easily dwarfed by the maple trees that surround it in the park.

Grandma looked up, put her hand above her eyes as if to shield them from the setting sun, and tut-tutted that that top of the tower was nowhere to be seen.

I pointed to the top and said it was right there, and how could she not see it, maybe her eyes were playing tricks on her, because the top of the tower was as visible as clear daylight.

She turned to me, her blue-grey eyes naughtily twinkling with secrets and mischief, and I worried that she may not have believed my claims.

So before she could say anything, I told her I would scale up and down the tower in less than a quarter of an hour, it really wasn’t that tall, to which she replied that I could very well proceed with my monkey tricks and that she was only happy to wait for me for she had all the time in the world to spare and that she was in no hurry to be anywhere else.

It was an easy climb; the tower offered several footholds and cracks and crevices, all in the right places and just large enough for me to push my ten-year-old feet into.

I climbed, higher and higher, and very soon I could see over the top of the trees and view the meadows that lay beyond, and I climbed some more until I could see the clouds coming to kiss my feet, and then some more from where I could see as far as the edge of the world and the sun slowly slipping behind it, and I kept going until it grew dark and there were stars in the night sky above me and below me and all around me.

But I couldn’t find the top of the tower, and seeing the black sky all around me I started to feel a wee bit scared, and my thoughts turned to Grandma who was perhaps all alone in the dark park now and I worried about her and started to climb down.

On the way down, I crossed the silver stars in the black sky, and then white clouds in a purple sky, and then there was the red sun still reluctant to slip behind the edge of the world, and at last I could see the top of the maple trees and finally the top of Grandma’s head, and when my feet finally landed on the ground I ran to her and hugged her and excitedly described to her all the things I saw, and I could tell that this time she believed every single word of it.