the clouds where it carried the rainbow. I saw a wild buffalo swimming in the river, carried away by the current. He rushed past a flock of wild ducks that flew into the air where the water was tumbling down. The buffalo had to go over the rapids. I liked that and blew up a storm so the ancient trees went flying and became crushed to splinters.”
“And you didn’t do anything else?” asked his old mother.
“I turned somersaults on the savannas, petted wild horses, and shook coconuts! Oh yes, I have stories to tell! But, as you know, you can’t tell everything you know, old mother!” And then he kissed his mother so she almost fell over backwards. He really was a wild boy.
Then the South Wind came wearing a turban and a flying Bedouin cape.
“It’s really cold in here,” he said, and threw wood on the fire. “You can tell that North Wind was here first!”
“It’s hot enough in here to roast a polar bear,” the North Wind said.
“You’re a polar bear yourself,” the South Wind answered.
“Do you two want to be put into the bag?” the old woman asked. “Sit down on that rock and tell where you’ve been.”
“In Africa, mother,” he answered. “I’ve been on a lion safari with the Hottentots in the land of the Kaffirs.2 Such grass grows on those plains, green as an olive! The gnus dance there, and the ostrich ran a race with me, but I’m faster. I came to the desert, to the yellow sands. It looks like the bottom of the ocean. I met a caravan! They butchered their last camel to get water to drink, but they didn’t get much. The sun burned above them, the sand burned below them, and there was no end to the boundless desert. Then I romped about in the fine, loose sand and whirled it up into big pillars. What a dance! You should have seen how dispirited the camels were, and the merchant pulled his caftan over his head. He threw himself down in front of me as if I were Allah, his God. They’re buried now. A pyramid of sand is standing over all of them. When I blow it away one day, the sun will bleach the white bones so travelers can see that people have been there before. Otherwise, you would never believe people had been in the desert.”
“So you have only done evil!” his mother said. “Into the bag with you!” and before he knew what had happened, she had him around the waist and put him into the sack. He rolled around on the floor, but she sat down on the bag, and he had to lie still.
“Those are some lively boys you have!” said the prince.
“Yes, no kidding,” she answered, “but I can manage them. Here comes the fourth!”
It was the East Wind, and he was dressed like a Chinaman.
“So you’re coming from that quarter,” his mother said. “I thought you had been to the Garden of Eden?”
“I’m flying there tomorrow,” the East Wind said. “Tomorrow it’ll be a hundred years since I’ve been there. I’m coming from China now where I was dancing around porcelain towers so all the bells were ringing. Down on the street, the officials, from the first to the ninth rank, got a beating. Bamboo rods were broken on their shoulders, and they cried out: ‘many thanks, my fatherly benefactor,’ but they didn’t mean it, and I rang the bells and sang tsing, tsang, tsu!”
“You’re a blow-hard about it,” said the old woman. “It’s a good thing that you’re going to the Garden of Eden tomorrow since that always helps your manners. Drink deeply from the spring of wisdom and bring a little bottle full home to me!”
“I’ll do that,” the East Wind said. “But why have you put my brother from the south into the bag? Let him out! He’s going to tell me about the bird phoenix—the bird that the princess in the Garden of Eden always wants to hear about every hundred years when I visit. Open the bag, dearest mother, and I’ll give you two pockets full of fresh green tea that I picked on the spot.”
“Well, for the sake of the tea and because you’re my pet child, I’ll open the sack.” She did, and the South Wind crept out, but the wind was out of his sails since the foreign prince had witnessed it.
“Here is a palm leaf for the princess,” the South Wind said. “That leaf was given to me by the old bird phoenix, the only one who existed in the world. With his beak he inscribed his whole life story there, the hundred years he lived. Now she can read it for herself. I saw how the phoenix set his nest on fire himself and burned up like a Hindu widow. Oh, how the dry branches crackled, what smoke and smells! At last it all went up in flames. The old phoenix lay in ashes, but his egg lay glowing red in the fire. It cracked with a big bang, and the young bird flew out. Now he is the ruler of all the birds, and the only phoenix in the world. He bit a hole in the palm leaf I gave you as a greeting to the princess.”
“Now we have to have something to eat,” the Winds’ mother said, and they all sat down to eat roasted venison. The prince sat beside the East Wind, and they soon became fast friends.
“Tell me something,” said the prince, “who is this princess you all talked so much about, and where is the Garden of Eden?”
“Ho, ho,” the East Wind said. “If you want to go there, fly with me tomorrow. But I must tell you, no human has been there since Adam and Eve’s time. You surely know about them from your Bible history?”
“Of course!” the prince said.
“At the time they were banished, the Garden of Eden sank down into the earth, but it kept its warm sunshine, its mild air, and all its splendor. The Queen of the Fairies lives there, and there too lies the Island of Bliss, where death never comes. It’s a lovely place to be! Climb on my back in the morning, and I’ll take you along. I think it can be done. But now you have to be quiet because I want to sleep.”
And then they all slept.
Early in the morning the prince woke up and was not just a little puzzled at already being high up over the clouds. He was sitting on the back of the East Wind, who was faithfully holding on to him. They were so high in the air that fields and forests, rivers and lakes looked like they would on a big illuminated map.
“Good morning,” the East Wind said. “You might as well sleep a bit more because there’s not much to see here on the flat lands below us. Unless you want to count churches! They’re standing like chalk marks on the green board.” The green board was what he called the fields and meadows.
“It’s too bad I didn’t get to say good bye to your mother and brothers,” the prince said.
