©Jason I. Stutz 2019
It is the lone planet in the Universe in which love exists. One morning, a man, 20 billion years ago, saw a morning sky, and instead of cursing his existence for having been born, he greeted the Sun as a beneficent omen, breathed the fresh air, and stepped forward into his life of joy. This singular act was as though a tiny pollinated seed in history. All around him, the sky was dark, the people fixed, the animals hungry. But within him, beauty; within him- love.
How can it be? That an emotion so hopeful could exist in an existence so dire? Within his breast was the sprouting seed of all that would become manifest as love unto our present day- all love, the progeny of that one man who saw another way. And the evil around him, also, the progeny of all evil thoughts and actions. But that one moment, all devouring time ceased within him, and eternity was therefor seeded upon the Earth.
I.
The strong-clan-leader came to inspect the food source. It was a deer, laying limp on it’s side, it’s bright, brown fur wrinkled with it’s body. Steam still grew from the deer’s nostrils and mouth. The strong-clan-leader was happy, because he was the strong-clan-leader, the strongest of his clan. He reached for his first share and found the hind leg of the deer. The deer kicked at the man with the small strength it had left, after the terrible chase, the accidental wrong turn, the fight. The man grabbed the deer’s heel and tore the whole leg off as the deer kicked and cried and bled out. The strong-clan-leader roared and carried his deer-haunch over his shoulder as he turned and walked back to the caves. Everywhere, in everything, there was hate- in every clansmen; forget, even, the women who died constantly. Every animal slinked and shat and spat at life. The sky, even, forgave no one.
(There is love in this Universe if a single deer ever existed even for an instant on this Earth. Love is evident everywhere. Can I write a story about love amidst lack of love if love is evident everywhere- undeniable traces of it in everything that breathes?)
Stutz's Fairy Tales and Poems 