Sailand
Story by F. Boffoli - Drawings by P. A. Cabas - Translation by Massimo Grion
2004
Among the many things we are told, there are, sometimes,
prophetic truths we are able to recognise only when our minds are
cleared by the precious gift of Intuition.
Once upon a time
there was a sailing Ship who had never known freedom.
Year after year she had laid, imprisoned in a bottle.
I mean one of those useless sitting-room ornaments.
Sometimes,
a guest in the house would stop and pay a compliment to her.
Her life wasn’t very happy.
She would often think of the boundless Ocean, the Sun, the Moon, the Wind, the starry Sky.
All things she knew just by hearsay
Until one day
the old Spider, passing by, stopped and told her:
"You know, my dear, Melancholy is the leaven of Soul and Imagination is the bread of Life.
Have faith and you'll see". Our friend the sailing Ship wasn't able to grasp the meaning of those cryptic words,
but since that very moment she began to suspect that something new might happen to her.
She realized, as time went by,
that she had unusually acquired new faith in Life.
One day, during a summer Storm, a clap of Thunder boomed so loud
to make her lose consciousness. The sailing Ship suddenly fell in a profound state of confusion.
First she felt like whirling in the air, then she felt an immense heaviness
sinking her into the ground, anchoring her at the bottom.
All of a sudden,
another magical blow … and our friend found herself over a blue Sea wave,
with beautiful swelling Sails
and an enchanting blue Sky. "Am I dreaming?" she wondered, feeling from stem to stern, mast and keel included.
She was alive and free
and while she was disappearing below the horizon, setting out for the mythical Sailand,
the Spider's words crossed her mind:
"You know, my dear, Melancholy is the leaven of Soul
and Imagination is the bread of Life. Have faith and you'll see".