The Cloud and the Sand Dune

Even clouds fall in love.

A young cloud found a gentle breeze that allowed him to hover over the golden sands. After much toing and froing, he noticed one of the dunes smiling at him.

He saw that the dune was also young, newly formed by the wind that had just passed over. He fell in love with her golden hair right there and then. "Good morning," he said. "What's life like down there?"

"I have the company of the other dunes, of the sun and the wind, and of the caravans that occasionally pass through here. Sometimes it's really hot, but it's still bearable. What's life like up there?"

"We have the sun and wind too, but the good thing is that I can travel across the sky and see more things."

"For me," said the dune, "life is short. When the wind returns from the forests, I will disappear."

"And does that make you sad?"

"It makes me feel that I have no purpose in life."

"I feel the same. As soon as another wind comes along, I'll go south and be transformed into rain; but that is my destiny."

The dune hesitated for a moment, then said: "Did you know that here in the desert, we call the rain paradise?"

"I had no idea I could ever be that important," said the cloud proudly.

"I've heard other older dunes tell stories about the rain. They say that, after the rain, we are all covered with grass and flowers. But I'll never experience that, because in the desert it rains so rarely."

It was the cloud's turn to hesitate now. Then he smiled broadly and said: "If you like, I could rain on you now. I know I've only just got here, but I love you, and I'd like to stay here for ever."

"When I first saw you up in the sky, I fell in love with you too," said the dune. "But if you transform your lovely white hair into rain, you will die."

"Love never dies," said the cloud. "It is transformed, and besides, I want to show you what paradise is like."

And he began to caress the dune with little drops of rain, so that they could stay together for longer, until a rainbow appeared.

The following day, the little dune was covered in flowers. Other clouds that passed over, heading for Africa, thought that it must be part of the forest they were looking for and scattered more rain. Twenty years later, the dune had been transformed into an oasis that refreshed travellers with the shade of its trees.

And all because, one day, a cloud fell in love, and was not afraid to give his life for that love.

... By Paulo Coelho

I wanna be as brave as a cloud. But could someone, or some cloud, really fall in love at a mere first sight? Or is Coelho simply being idealistic and romantic like me?

This will be my final entry that will be accompanied by excerpts from Coelho's book Like the Flowing River. Expect a little bit of Magical Realism inspired by Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis, Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Of Love and Other Demons, William Shakespeare's The Tempest and Laura Esquivel's Like Water for Chocolate in entries to come.

My first attempt at the first 3 pages of The Tempest was a challenging and tiring one. I pity the ones who had to read and mark Shakespeare's essays when he was still in school.