Chapter One
In days long ago, when stories of wonder and magic were turning into legends, but had not yet become fairy tales, something happened that did not seem so wonderful, nor did it seem so spectacularly magical. Some thought that it was because it had happened to a gopher, one of those pesky, thieving rodents that farmers and gardeners hate and will go to great extents to eliminate. Little did they know that, if they had done so to this particular gopher, a great evil would not have been averted and an even greater good would have been missed.
If you had seen him, however, you would not have blamed them for their ignorance. He did not look different from any other gopher. He measured 8 inches long – or 10 if one counted his short stubby tail – and three inches wide, except in the middle where his paunchy stomach gained half an inch. His cheeks, when filled with extra food, nearly matched his stomach. He looked at the world through almond-shaped black eyes, heard it through ears that were almost completely set within the sides of his narrow furry head, and sniffed at it through a nose, the tip of which was shaped like a small inverted black triangle. Besides his curved claws and two long front teeth, they were the only parts of him that were not covered in grayish brown fur.
He did not look special simply because he wasn’t special. Seldom is anyone born special, but it’s what happens by the choices they make along the way. For this gopher it began when he ate a carrot from a garden. There was magic in it, though it looked no different from any other carrot just as he looked no different from any other gopher. The tip of the carrot, which was like an orange stalactite sticking down out of the roof of his tunnel, certainly did not smell as if it held any magical qualities. Even when he bit into it, it did not taste better than any other carrot he had ever eaten; although the moment he swallowed it, something indescribably wonderful entered into him that was greater than anything that he had ever experienced before. Yet the feeling that it gave him wasn’t a taste at all, because with taste, one always wants more (that is, if it is delicious), and with this, he needed nothing more. It could be called a peaceful feeling, which nothing could disturb, though it was not like the peacefulness of slumber. In fact, he never felt more awake and alive. It was better than any feeling no matter how big or grand or satisfying or rapturous or thrilling or awesome. It was more than all of those feelings rolled into one, for it was even better than life itself.
The Wondrous Feeling seemed to overflow into everything around him which definitely set it apart from taste since he forgot about the carrot altogether as he took in his surroundings. The dimness of the tunnel seemed suddenly comforting, and the loam of the earth smelled rich and sweet, the coolness in the air felt pleasant, and even the silence was peaceful.
Comfort… rich… sweet… pleasant… peaceful… these were the kinds of things that gophers cannot comprehend, much less appreciate – that is, for gophers who haven’t eaten a magic carrot. This new comprehension did not stop with the awareness of his surroundings, for suddenly he also became sharply conscious of his own furry body. Nobody ever thinks of a gopher’s body as being anything special, but at that moment he felt towards it a sense of wonderfulness that made him marvel to think that it belonged to him. All of these discoveries to him would be like to us discovering a new color or the taste of chocolate for the first time. Actually, it was like both all at once. His surroundings had not changed, nor was his body any different than it had been before. The difference was that he really saw them more truly for what they were.
Suddenly, however, the peacefulness of silence was intruded upon by sounds coming from above. At first he thought they came from a wolf because he had bitten one on the nose once and it had made whimpering noises, but these particular sounds were different than any animals that he could think of. Many creatures are born curious, and sometimes in their curiosity (and foolishness) they even forget their animal fear. Normally, however, this particular gopher was so far from being the curious type that anything that was unusual would often send him retreating into the security and sameness of his dark tunnels. In fact, it had taken a week of hiding to get over the wolf incident. After eating the magic carrot, though, for the first time in his life he became curious. He sensed in those sounds an emotion that was like pain but still different, a deeper pain. Since the world was so wonderful, it struck him odd that something in it could sound that painful.
It was his curiosity, though, that almost got him killed, because he forgot his natural animal caution as he dug upwards to those sounds, which happened to be near the spot that the magic carrot had occupied. When he poked his head out, however, what he saw did little to satisfy his curiosity, even though the source of those sounds was right before him. It was that of an old man with a frowning mouth framed by a short, scruffy beard that was as gray as his head, upon which sat a brown, short-brimmed hat. Tears flowed from his brown eyes that were set in a mass of wrinkles and overhung by bushy gray eyebrows. He was on his knees, his shoulders shaking up and down as both of his hands seemed to be choking the handle of a spade in front of him. Yet this was not how the gopher saw him, for he had never seen a man before, and his eyesight was so poor, being used to darkness, that what he perceived was a gigantic, blurry figure with a strange scent.
The gopher almost stared for too long, because suddenly the man exclaimed, “You filthy thief!” Of course, the gopher did not need to understand what the words meant (or that they were even words at all) to know that he was in danger. His instinct came alive lightning-fast, which was equaled in speed by his quick reaction, with which all healthy young rodents are gifted. He ducked in time before the spade could take off his head. Swiftly he scurried backwards almost as fast as he could go forwards...
In days long ago, when stories of wonder and magic were turning into legends, but had not yet become fairy tales, something happened that did not seem so wonderful, nor did it seem so spectacularly magical. Some thought that it was because it had happened to a gopher, one of those pesky, thieving rodents that farmers and gardeners hate and will go to great extents to eliminate. Little did they know that, if they had done so to this particular gopher, a great evil would not have been averted and an even greater good would have been missed.
If you had seen him, however, you would not have blamed them for their ignorance. He did not look different from any other gopher. He measured 8 inches long – or 10 if one counted his short stubby tail – and three inches wide, except in the middle where his paunchy stomach gained half an inch. His cheeks, when filled with extra food, nearly matched his stomach. He looked at the world through almond-shaped black eyes, heard it through ears that were almost completely set within the sides of his narrow furry head, and sniffed at it through a nose, the tip of which was shaped like a small inverted black triangle. Besides his curved claws and two long front teeth, they were the only parts of him that were not covered in grayish brown fur.
He did not look special simply because he wasn’t special. Seldom is anyone born special, but it’s what happens by the choices they make along the way. For this gopher it began when he ate a carrot from a garden. There was magic in it, though it looked no different from any other carrot just as he looked no different from any other gopher. The tip of the carrot, which was like an orange stalactite sticking down out of the roof of his tunnel, certainly did not smell as if it held any magical qualities. Even when he bit into it, it did not taste better than any other carrot he had ever eaten; although the moment he swallowed it, something indescribably wonderful entered into him that was greater than anything that he had ever experienced before. Yet the feeling that it gave him wasn’t a taste at all, because with taste, one always wants more (that is, if it is delicious), and with this, he needed nothing more. It could be called a peaceful feeling, which nothing could disturb, though it was not like the peacefulness of slumber. In fact, he never felt more awake and alive. It was better than any feeling no matter how big or grand or satisfying or rapturous or thrilling or awesome. It was more than all of those feelings rolled into one, for it was even better than life itself.
The Wondrous Feeling seemed to overflow into everything around him which definitely set it apart from taste since he forgot about the carrot altogether as he took in his surroundings. The dimness of the tunnel seemed suddenly comforting, and the loam of the earth smelled rich and sweet, the coolness in the air felt pleasant, and even the silence was peaceful.
Comfort… rich… sweet… pleasant… peaceful… these were the kinds of things that gophers cannot comprehend, much less appreciate – that is, for gophers who haven’t eaten a magic carrot. This new comprehension did not stop with the awareness of his surroundings, for suddenly he also became sharply conscious of his own furry body. Nobody ever thinks of a gopher’s body as being anything special, but at that moment he felt towards it a sense of wonderfulness that made him marvel to think that it belonged to him. All of these discoveries to him would be like to us discovering a new color or the taste of chocolate for the first time. Actually, it was like both all at once. His surroundings had not changed, nor was his body any different than it had been before. The difference was that he really saw them more truly for what they were.
Suddenly, however, the peacefulness of silence was intruded upon by sounds coming from above. At first he thought they came from a wolf because he had bitten one on the nose once and it had made whimpering noises, but these particular sounds were different than any animals that he could think of. Many creatures are born curious, and sometimes in their curiosity (and foolishness) they even forget their animal fear. Normally, however, this particular gopher was so far from being the curious type that anything that was unusual would often send him retreating into the security and sameness of his dark tunnels. In fact, it had taken a week of hiding to get over the wolf incident. After eating the magic carrot, though, for the first time in his life he became curious. He sensed in those sounds an emotion that was like pain but still different, a deeper pain. Since the world was so wonderful, it struck him odd that something in it could sound that painful.
It was his curiosity, though, that almost got him killed, because he forgot his natural animal caution as he dug upwards to those sounds, which happened to be near the spot that the magic carrot had occupied. When he poked his head out, however, what he saw did little to satisfy his curiosity, even though the source of those sounds was right before him. It was that of an old man with a frowning mouth framed by a short, scruffy beard that was as gray as his head, upon which sat a brown, short-brimmed hat. Tears flowed from his brown eyes that were set in a mass of wrinkles and overhung by bushy gray eyebrows. He was on his knees, his shoulders shaking up and down as both of his hands seemed to be choking the handle of a spade in front of him. Yet this was not how the gopher saw him, for he had never seen a man before, and his eyesight was so poor, being used to darkness, that what he perceived was a gigantic, blurry figure with a strange scent.
The gopher almost stared for too long, because suddenly the man exclaimed, “You filthy thief!” Of course, the gopher did not need to understand what the words meant (or that they were even words at all) to know that he was in danger. His instinct came alive lightning-fast, which was equaled in speed by his quick reaction, with which all healthy young rodents are gifted. He ducked in time before the spade could take off his head. Swiftly he scurried backwards almost as fast as he could go forwards...