Narcissus heart

Ever since a little boy, this very good looking man, heard stories about beautiful women who stole and ravaged men’s hearts.  As he grew old enough to recognize love himself, he began fearing for his own fate so he decided the best would be to remove his heart and hide it away from the eyes of women.

A good witch, in exchange for a bag of gold, removed his heart from his chest and hid it in a clay ancient Amphora, advising him to keep the light of day, smells or sounds away from it...

He lived many years like this, without a heart in his chest or a woman to warm his nights and show him the dazzling light pouring in the morning from the east.

Until one day when a woman made him stop in his tracks, turn around and stare after her.

On all accounts, she was beautiful, but many beautiful women crossed his path before.

Was it that none was as beautiful as she was?

No, that was not it.  It was something else. She was like a dear, sad, and happy memory at the same time, like a forgotten song suddenly remembered .She made him smile and when the mysterious beauty smiled back at him, he became filled with song and light.

As he thought about her every awake moment, it was suddenly clear to him that he would have liked to have her around every day.

Knowing she was new to the City, he asked her if she would like to come and share his house and life with him.  She nodded with teary eyes shivering with utter joy and surprise.

“My house is ruled by Mercury as I am a merchant and I deal and trade.  I buy and sell all kinds of things here in town and all over the country.  Most times, I am away, but Wednesdays I dedicate to god Mercury.  That is when I will come home so we could spend time together.  I’ll make you my queen and you will not miss anything.”

“And what will I do?  “She asked.

“  Anything you would like.  Take care of the pets, but most importantly be yourself” the man smiled at her.

She stretched her arm and touched his hand as a sign of agreement and content.  She leaned over and kissed him...

Day after day passed without any apparent changes until one point when the man realized his mind was less and less wrapped around free trade and more enthralled by her crystalline voice, like the clinking of some magical crystal goblets.  The light that seemed to encircle and follow her, the stories and songs .together with all the little things that made her happy kept his eyes looking for her everywhere he traveled.  A colorful bird or a fresh flower filled her with the enthusiasm of a child ...

One morning his beautiful Queen embraced him and said with quivering voice:

“I love you! “

He looked at her breathless and incapable of responding. 

The woman wondered

“You do not love me? “

Confused he looked at her and replied:

“I cannot love, my heart's not in my chest. “

“  But where is it?:

“ It's buried  in the east wall of the house.”

When he came home one day, he found the entire east wall painted with beautiful flowers and birds, mountains and streams,  planes and forests with butterflies. 

“ Why did you do that?” he asked .

-“So  that your heart is filled with my love,” she responded happy. 

With more embarrassment, the man said:

“I lied.  My heart is buried at the root of the cherry tree in the garden.” 

“  Yes?  “ she asked surprised.



Several weeks past  as the man went about his trade traveling from one end of the country to the other buying  and selling nuggets  of simple happiness  for the uncomplicated mortals .

When he returned, he stopped in front of the gate and stared at the yard mesmerized.  The garden looked  like a charmed ghost breathed on it.  Flowers of all colors, sizes, and smells flooded  the ground all around the cherry tree. 

“ Did you do this? “  He asked his queen. 

“ Yes,” she said simply. 

“To bring happiness to my heart? “

“  Of course, that and hoping for your love.  Back”

That is when  he burst out desperately:

“ But you should  know that I will never reveal my heart.  That neither you nor any other woman I will steal my heart?”

She looked at him half in shock , half-skeptical of this whole development .  Then she walked away from him without a word. 

From that day on, she started to avoid him.  No more of  her sparkling laughter, no more  songs or stories ... And when he was gone, he felt increasingly worse, the vacuum  in his chest sucking  in his will to look forward to another day without her.

So one day he secretly  went back home  and slipped  in the garden hoping to  see  her without being seen himself.  And to his astonishment when he looked in the wild and removed part of the garden, he saw her next to the stone  covering  his mother's grave.  The urn  holding his  heart was inside the grave.  She sat there in the grass and sang a sad song the  man never heard before , digging deeper in his saddens .The gap in his chest felt  like a big yawn and she looked sad and pale.

When the woman finally left, the man without a heart walked  fast to the tomb and desperately started digging with his bare hands, fingers bleeding,  until the Amphora holding his heart was removed.  He then run to the witch who was now very, very old:

“ I beg you,” he called, “put my heart back in place so that  I can love!  Now that I am  rich, you can have as much as  a golden as a chariot could carry.  Just put my heart back into your chest!  “

With her head wobbling, the witch said:

“ I'm afraid you're too late.  Let me see what I can do.  “

She broke the amphora only to discover with astonishment that the heart, the young and beautiful heart he had removed  back when he was a child, was now dry and almost dead.



“ A heart needs love to grow” the witch explained .The only place for a heart is in the chest, where the.  Love of the woman  you desire can reach it “

The witch put his heart back in his chest and nursed it with incantations.

“You will not live long  like this.  You will die little by little every day.  Love can save you, but only if you return the love you receive.”  The witch finished her prophecy.

The man thanked her and with tears running  down his cheeks for the first time since a little boy run back home.  Suddenly everything  became  insignificant compared to the fear of not losing his heart.

Home, however, there was no trace of his Queen so he left, giving up everything in his life, knowing very well that is this was his last trip.

He  bravely, enjoyed his  journey .Sadness , laughter and  crying all came to him for the first time and he no longer feared for his heart .Every minute destiny  allowed him was spent searching for his queen and her shimmering love.



Word count 1250

female