Tico & the Man’s Stories XIX: Sounds of Metal & Air

Tico was sad for several days. Fairy Lady Gina had announced that they were going to set off their last journey, and he perceived it as a small personal tragedy.

‘C’mon, Tico! There will be new ones! Don’t worry!’ Frank was comforting him. ‘I have made numerous journeys with our Fairy Lady. So will you! Learn to comprehend them as new steps to new achievements! Enjoy this one even more as it is the last for a moment. By the way, it does not mean that you must be absent-minded. Learn everything attentively!’

‘Frank! Have you ever seen me absent-minded?’

‘Hmmm…a good question, indeed… All right, I’m only warning you! Enjoy yourself and take it easy!’

Fairy Lady noticed our hero’s sadness and cheered him up with some delicious fruit.

‘After a short break we will continue our journeys, dear Tico! Waves of music are infinite. You will explore more and more of them when the right time comes’, she added and held a silver bell off her belt. ‘We are going to learn two last essential elements those are metal and air. As they are always hidden, we shall travel to the depth of an ancient active volcano where they obtain their final shape. This silver bell has been moulded there, and it will lead us.’

Fairy Lady rang the bell, and in an instance they found themselves in a crater that looked impressive, but made the parrot frightened. He saw fire bursts mixed with flashes. An extremely hot air was coming up. It was filled with ashes while its fragrance was heavy for breathing.

‘Oh, My Lady, why have you chosen such a terrible place for our last journey? I’m afraid!’

‘Please, don’t, my dear Tico. Metal reigns underground. It symbolizes autumn, a period of harvest as to collect it you must apply supreme affords. To mine it you must penetrate in the essence of Earth where it is hidden together with other treasures like precious stones. This volcano is not too deep, but it serves us a good model to comprehend, at least a bit, how the Down World functions.’

‘Haven’t you ever been in the depth of the Earth, My Lady?’

‘I have not, dear Tico, as only underground Fairies are permitted to be there alike the sky is a territory of Sky Fairies. There are special cases, though, that can break these rules, but it happens rarely. Please, watch attentively what the Smith Fairies do. Their labour is a story of metals, underground treasures that reign the human world.’

The parrot saw a fire where melting ugly pieces of stones turned into a flashing red liquid. Clouds of hot vapours were covering them. Then this liquid was poured into special vessels or moulds that were transported into water where the substance was turning into amazing shiny objects. The process was accompanied by thunders and heavy noises, roaring and grinding called by Lady Gina “sighs of minerals”.

‘My Lady, I find this music exceptional! How strange… I could not have imagined that there is something under the grass…’

‘The most beautiful things are always hidden, my dear Tico. You see that a birth of a metal unites all the elements you know, therefore its song is the deepest and the most complicated.’

‘How do you think, My Lady, are there any parrots in the Down World who could imitate this symphony of the metal and air union?’

‘It might be… It might be… One thing I know for certain is that there is a forest parrot who has dared to follow the depth of the earth to learn it.’

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 Maria KethuProfumo in collaboration with Tico & the Man Frank Maglio