Pedro was a little boy “almost” like the others…, with the difference that he never stopped asking questions. Tiny, even before he could speak, he would point at something with a questioning look, and if the answer took too long, he would start shouting and turn very red. “Why don’t rabbits like chocolate? And why is sugar sweet?”
The parents looked up at the sky searching for a solution, but no answer fell from above…
The more Pedro grew, the more they scratched their heads, because, with age, the questions became increasingly complicated.
They were questions that required a bit more time, and when parents are busy changing a car tire or making dinner, it’s hard for them to respond.
When he asked certain questions (about babies, for example), his mother would shake her head and reply:
– Hmm… That’s a very delicate question, my son. Give it time to think.
There comes an age when, after asking many questions and not getting answers, one eventually gives up. That’s why, on the day Pedro found his white rabbit dead in the cage, he didn’t ask his mother any questions, fearing to embarrass her. “Surely,” he thought, “certain words like death, illness, making babies, are swear words.”
So, the little boy buried the rabbit in silence and, with it, his question. He took refuge in the garden and reflected on life, and all of that generated a small black cloud that swirled inside his head.
He felt sad. He didn’t know that this was called “loneliness.”
One day, Pedro was hiding in the tent when he heard a very gentle voice. He then saw a lady with deep, dark eyes watching him with a smile.
– Good morning, Pedro – said the lady. – Do you know who I am? I am the Lady of Stories.
– The Lady of Stories?!
– Yes! The Lady of Stories. I come to visit boys like you, who have a black cloud in their hearts. I come to tell them that in books there are stories that can give them answers.
– Answers to all my questions? – Pedro asked, wide-eyed.
– You won’t necessarily find all the answers, but you will find all your questions. You will see, as you read, that others have the same questions as you. That’s why books are made for curious children, for those who have thousands of questions and who, moreover, want to live many lives… They can be, at the same time, Cinderella, Robin Hood, or Peter Pan, without needing any special requirements! And the most wonderful thing is that, in books, everyone learns to do many things they didn’t know! Just with a few words, paper, and a lot of imagination…
The Lady of Stories handed a book to Pedro, which he grabbed eagerly. As he read, the little black cloud began to disappear, and Pedro felt so relieved that he wanted to sing.
While flipping through it, Pedro had the impression that he could hear the murmurs of gnomes who, with him, turned the pages. In reality, he was no longer in the garden. He could be on a plane, on a boat, or in a castle with King Arthur.
And all of this at the same time! He felt things he had never experienced before: the taste of the sea on his lips, the flavor of a lemon candy, the heart that jumps in the chest when one is in love, he who was so shy with girls…
He lifted his eyes from the book to ask the Lady of Stories how simple pages, ink, and paper could produce such an effect, but the Lady of Stories had already disappeared. In the distance, he heard her sweet voice say to him:
– Pedro, I shall return. There are millions of books!
The dark cloud of condensed questions had disappeared. In its place, there was a transparent cloud, full of desire to read the millions of books from all over the world.
And from that day on, Pedro never felt oppressed by questions again.
When he started to feel cold, lonely, and sad, he would pick up a book and the magic would begin again…
Sophie Carquain
Petites histoires pour devenir grand Paris,
Ed. Albin Michel, 2003