Dream of Babel: The Firefly and the little Girl

And so the girl, unknown to any of them, stood there. Staring at the once beautiful tower, now just a ruin. Even though some of the builders took noticed of her. Most of them were to busy arguing with each other. None, unfortunately, noticed the girl was crying.

So you can see, it was the dream of the girl to come and climb the tower once it had finished. But now that she had come to the tower, it was no more.

"Why do you cry, little girl?" a firefly came and whispered to her ear.

The girl, at first heard no voice, and so paid no heed to the curious fly. But the firefly was eager and soon enough stopped the time and colored the world inonochrome. Only the firefly's glow that held color. The firefly then once more repeated:

"Why do you cry?"

The girl suddenly moved, she was freed from the spell cast by the firefly. She was lucid and yet she doubted whether she was dreaming. It should be, she thought.

"Let's just agree to that," the firefly read her thought. And this time the firefly appeared on the the girl's nose. The firefly was tiny and yet when the girl finally took noticed, the firefly was no mere insect. But glows a different light.

Could the glow be different since the world suddenly lose all it's hue? the girl thought.

"Please, tell me, why do you cry?" the firefly repeated paying no heed in the questions that played in the girl's mind.

"Who are you," the girl asked.

"I'm a curious firefly, you could tell," the firefly replied. "But please do tell me, why your tears fall of your cheeks. What sorrows you?"

The girl looked at the firefly and tried to catch him but failed. He was just too quick for her. But she was just a child and soon after the two started playing tag. In a world with no color, the two would be seen playing. But that is not the case for the firefly for he knew not what the girl will do to her in case he gets caught.

The firefly took flight and went to the ruins. The girl upon notice stopped. She remembered something. Her dreams of the tower, no nothing more. Along with the tower, her dreams have been crushed. Soon after, tears overflowed in her eyes. The firefly took noticed and immediately knew.

The girl was crying for the tower.

"You're sad because you the tower has fallen, am I right?" the firefly asked.

Still sobbing and trying to catch her breath, the girl nodded her. The firefly was right.

"From the beginning, this place, this tower you're sad about is something foretold to fell. It cannot go up to heaven as the builders intended to. Even some of them argued that they may one day be punished and that this tower will never finished. Still the people built this place.

"Something amazing about humanity is that they go against all odd for some silly dreams they want to see. Even if that dream will one day lead to their own demise. So, I'm telling you this, little girl, do not cry for what is predetermined," the firefly said. "The ones who tried building this tower, right from the start, have already accepted their destiny."

But the girl keep crying. But her thoughts were not, at that moment of the tower, but of her distant memory.

She was from a far away villages. She only heard rumors about the towers from the village she lives in. She never have dreams of her own. Her desire was to live her life in that same village, get married, have a daughter and there die. Nothing more but just some silly normal dream.

So when news of the builders trying to achieve something that none have yet been done. She grew interested in the tower. Then one day, in a distant horizon, the tower that were only rumor became clear. Even though they were far, the tower was getting higher. And so her dream of being stuck in the village and dying in old age changed. For once she wanted to go visit the tower and climb it to heaven. Mayhaps she'll find a better dream up there.

It was a very distant travel, a far off place from where she lived to the tower. But still interested souls were burning up with gusto. Just like her. Her family opposed her of going to the tower but she wanted to go there. Just once satiate a silly desire of her. Maybe it will give her a different view.

One night, even though her lover as well as her family were against it, she sneaked out and went to travel. For the most part, she was lonely but soon after she met up with people who were also interested with the tower.

Why was the tower being built in the first place? Who was designer of such thing? Can she climb tower? How high up will it go?

These things raced through her thought. And the closer she got to the tower, the more she desired to climb it. To go to wherever place the top of the tower will lead.

Then a few months before she arrived, she heard a different news. The builders as well the many designer were arguing with each other. Some of them want to continue on with the legacy while there are others that want to leave and abandon it completely. At the latter she was mad but then again, she doesn't understand how the tower is made. Mayhaps there is a danger posed in making the tower. Mayhaps a certain wrath will engulf everyone for committing to such dream.

She at that time don't know.

A week before she arrived, she heard news building of the tower have halted. The tower will no longer climb to the sky. The people have grown weary of each other. They argue so much that their words have drastically changed. They could no longer understand each other. Some were mad, some were happy and some were just in it for the trivial glory.

Somehow, none of it mattered. For the girl that have arrived, it was her dream to climb the tower, no matter what.

Unfortunately, as a sign of wrath from heaven: the ground shook and the foundation of the tower weaken; soon after the heaven roared lightning and thunder striking the tower down.

The girl arrived at the site. No casualties happened for everyone on the place have abandoned their dreams and have grown distant with each other. And mayhaps the only casualty was the girl's dream. Sad to say, her dreams though broken, none of the builder understood her. No one bothered why the girl cried. Except for the firefly.

The girl soon calmed down. She got back a bit to her senses and started talking. She was dreaming, as she knew it. The world in monochrome. A world without color. Just a silly something that can only happen in dreams.

"I have a dream. I wanted to climb to see and climb this tower. And now that I am here, the tower is gone. But my dream seemed so selfish. Can I even call it a dream if it's borne out of selfish desire? And so weep, not for my inability to climb a tower than can no longer reach the heaven. But for the builders who dream of climbing the tower.

"They work so hard for it. Just for it to crumble to ruin. Worst even, the misunderstanding of the people around here may cause it to be forgotten in history. Such a beautiful thing that could have been may never be recorded. Will it just be a lie? An imaginary daydream that people from distant places saw climb the sky to suddenly just vanished?

"I weep for the builders, though I may know not a single thing about this place. I'm ever sure that the people who worked hard for this to be a reality, gave up most of their live for this. Soon after, it just vanishes. Tell me, curious firefly, don't you feel sad as well, to someone who dreamt so high only to fall down?"

The firefly was dumbfounded. He didn't knew that the girl was sad for the builders. Even though it was destined, the little girl still cried. Was the firefly's knowledge kept him from understand much of what happened? The girl who only dreamt of the tower was more compassionate and emphatic than he was. She understood way more than he does.

Soon after, the girl decided to take a rest.

"I'm both tired," the girl said. "I think I will wake up now. Who knew living inside a dream can be as tiring as this?"

The girl closed her eyes and after she opened her eyes. She was back in her distant village. Her dream of living in that same village engulfed her mind. Somehow, she has forgotten her dream of Babel, the tower that once were at the distant horizon in the sky.