Flying home the long way Author: Nan Van Daalen

47: Flying home the long way.

We have followed our wandering dwarf to Australia to help with the floods, and afterward, when he did see the Great barrier Rif, and now he is flying home with his little fire dragon friend. But Wander dwarf would not be Wander dwarf, when he went straight home. Or did you think he did?
If he was not curious, what was behind the next mountain, or under that big, tall tree, his fire dragon was.
Fire dragons mom was right: her son did deserve a special dwarf friend like Wander, just as curious as he was, even when he still was in the egg!
When you are a bit bigger, you will learn all about the lands of the world, and the place, they do have. But Wander dwarf and his dragon friend are curious now, and luckily we can have a bit of a look over their shoulders, while in one way or the other, all what they adventure, ends up at this pages. Nice, is it not?
The easiest way to fly home, told the great Storm bird, was going along a long row of larger and smaller Islands, people do call Indonesia. There would fire dragon also be able to meet some of his distant relatives, while there are some volcano’s too, even ones, that every now and than spit a bit of fire or hot steam. So they took that route, and landed in a volcano, that for our eyes seemed calm: only some steam, nothing more. But fire dragon did know the spot, where he could find his relatives: the hottest place.
To do that, he left Wander dwarf in an Indonesian temple on the roof. There were a lot of carvings of fire and other dragons, and some bigger and smaller images, of the Gods, that were prayed to in this land.
Wander did go around with a dwarf, living there, and he could eat his belly full with nice hot food. So he did wonder, why it was so hot in the mouth, while it was not on his hands.
“That’s from the peppers”, was the answer. “In most hot countries people also do like the spices, that make the food hot in the mouth. Than they do not feel the heat outside so much” joked one of the other dwarfs. “And they do drink enough, what is very important in a warm or hot country”.
This way, our friend was learning more and more about how all in nature stuck together, that all, that grows in a special place, has a reason for growing there. He had to tell the fairy Queen and his friends a lot, when he was home again! So he did not liked it to go on, but this time his fire dragon was the smartest: “We do have ½ a world to fly back, and we cannot take a life time for that!” so off they went again.
The next stop was in Singapore, while that city is on the tip of a peninsula. The buildings rose sky-high. The ships filled the harbor, and it was hard to find a small one, belonging to a water dwarf, so they went to a Temple again, that there also were in abundance.
This stop, they wondered, why all buildings faced one way, and the streets mostly too. One of the oldest dwarfs told: “in this country people do believe in balancing things. They do call that “feng shui” and that is a very old way of thinking. This way, you get most out of the sun, the breeze, the waters and how they do run, without disturbing nature. You make sure, you do life with it. Some humans even think, it brings luck.”
“Luck” asked the little dragon, “everybody who does live the proper way with nature will have the luck to get all, that nature has to offer. That is what we have learned.”“That is true,” the oldest dwarf told, “But did you not notice, that a lot of people do forget how to live with nature nowadays? Therefore this is a good way, to tell about it, just like other countries do have stories about how to work with nature.” “You mean, like our people tell about the dikes and the floods, and in other counties they tell about the elephants, who eat certain fruits, and thus help to plant new trees with their droppings, or the beaver, who builds his house and that way makes the river flow another way or…” “Stop, stop, you did understand what I told. Sometime the story’s people do say are folklore, have a lot of wisdom hidden in them, only mostly not about machines, more about people, nature and how things should be. So now you have a few more story’s to tell to the little and big people on the other side of the world. When you have eaten and slept, you two better can leave,” he ended.“Why?”wondered Wander. “While it is the season of the winds, and than they do go the way, you want to go to come home. You do not want your friend give some extra burden, just while you did not see something of our town, do you?”“No, of course not. But how could I know about the winds?” he answered. “Well, that is were other dwarf and elf friends are for. This time you better take the route above land, and in every place you stop, search for a little people friend. That way you never can go wrong, for they do know their living place the best of all, so also how to use it.”
And that is how I like it, and you?
© Nan van Daalen.