soul mates- asta

it was on a sunday. or on a saturday? let me think about… well, it doesn't really matter but i'm pretty sure it was on a sunday. i was experiencing a lonely life in the woods, and used to start each day with an early morning walk… i was walking around, a bit lost in my reflexions, when i saw this tiny character, progressing fast for its size and mumbling things i couldn't hear. the perfect image of a busy little person. what a surprise! in my fatuity, i thought i was the only inhabitant of the place…

the morning after and the next days, i was very attentive and tried to see the little creature. but i was alone and finally almost believed it was the fruit of my imagination… 



when one day, i saw her — or was it a he? — by the river. i can't explain why i was so fascinated. wasn't it just a child? probably a family i didn't noticed before, living on another part of the woods… 

something amazing was emanating from her. actually, i couldn't help and was thinking of it as a she! fluid movements? tiny voice? or just because it reminded me so hard of the little girl we lost fifty years ago? she looked both so young and so wise, so happy and so serious…

the little creature was fishing. fishing? ha! that's what i first thought. i came closer on the tip of my toes, and yes, she was face to face with a fish. can you believe it? the fish was smiling and she was telling it a story!

can you imagine the scene? an old philosopher squatting in the grass and trying to spy a pixie! it was just ridiculous and i felt so relieved when she finally vanished in the glade.

i must confess i wasn't feeling very well during the next weeks. obviously, i considered pixies belonged to old wives tales, and i was torn between what i saw and what my reason was telling me. 

— do you know i have two soul mates, the now well-known little voice asked me by an early morning?
GASP! i almost had an heart-attack. i don't believe she noticed anything and continued "i never met them, but i'm sure they do exist somewhere. i have two soul mates and they can understand me like i can understand them."

i was drinking my first cup of tea and the last thing i was expecting was a chitchat about soul mates with a pixie! but i heard my voice asking "how do you know you have two soul mates? do you have some evidence of their existence or do you just feel you have soul mates?"

— well, my mind's made up by the way that i feel. and i feel it in my fingers, i feel it in my toes, she laugh! seriously, sir, i don't mind about proof nor evidence. if i feel i have two soul mates, it means they do exist for me and it doesn't matter if they don't exist for you or for the rest of the world! soul mates are very personal, you know sir…

and she left. at least, she was not embarrassed with old-fashioned conveniences…

hmmm, my breakfast was ruined and i'd need more than a morning walk to digest this little conversation…
what did she mean with soul mate? and why two? some modern times 3-D thing? my old life looked suddenly so heavy, so vain and lonely…

i secretly named her asta. she was both a tiny wooden goddess, innocence & knowledge, and filled with such an extraordinary vitality…

this day, i saw my funny little one first and didn't want to miss a little talk with her. 

— tell me everything about your soul mates, asta, i said.
— oh sir, there is nothing to say, they are part of me and i'm part of them. it's private! have you seen ernestito this morning? ernestito! my mosquito! did you see him?

i stumbled. a mosquito? didn't i kill a mosquito last night? i just couldn't remember. suddenly, i saw myself as a murder, an old impenitent mosquito killer, a dangerous ignorant, a barbarian. of course mosquitos had families and friends…

— ernestito is my friend. he is my best friend. i saw immediately you have no friends, sir, that's why you look so old and so sad, she said. do you know he's an orphan, ernestito? his father left as he was a newborn baby and his mother died in a bloodshed. we don't need words, i trust him and he trust me! ERNESTITO!!! here you are, sweet mosquito…

oh goodness, i couldn't believe i'd ever be so glad and relieved to see a mosquito!

days after days, i've been watching for the slightest movement in the woods, but no asta and no ernestito… life looked so dark. months passed and i decided to come back in my birth town, like salmons. i never saw them again. asta, ernestito, did i dream you? oh well, i have no proof of your existence, but…

Asta is part of an old project we have been plotting all together with my friends and colleagues Juliane and Fabs. You can read Chouko's and Thora'stories at
http://www.figandme.com/blog/2017/11/10/thora-and-the-moth-quest
and http://www.notesfrombjorkasa.com/2017/11/12/chouko/

all three will be available for sale on Tuesday 14th of November.

Chouko:http://bjorkasa.bigcartel.comThora: http://www.figandme.com/blog/ Asta: https://hyenacart.com/winterludes/4863/category/3/dolls