A Tale Of Love And Madness
There is a story that tells of the moment when every feeling and every quality of people gathered in one place on earth…
When Boredom yawned for the third time, Madness asked everyone: Do you want to play hide-and-seek? Intrigue frowned and Curiosity, unable to contain herself any longer, asked: Hide and seek? How does that work?
Enthusiasm danced, assisted by Euphoria. Joy jumped up and down so much that it convinced Doubt and even Indifference, who never cared about anything. But not everyone wanted to participate, Truth preferred not to hide. Why would she? They always find her in the end.
Arrogance thought it was a silly game, but what really bothered her was that it hadn’t been her idea. And, as always, Cowardly preferred not to take the risk…
“One, two, three…” Madness began to count. The first to hide was Laziness, who, as always, dropped behind the first stone she found. Faith went to heaven and Envy hid behind the shadow of Triumph, who had climbed to the top of the highest tree on his own merit.
It seemed that Generosity couldn’t hide. Every hiding place she found seemed like a wonderful place for one of her friends. For example, a crystal clear lake was perfect for Beauty. The hole in a tree was perfect for Shyness. The wings of a butterfly were the best place for Sensuality. A gust of wind would be wonderful for Liberty. So she ended up hiding on a sunbeam.
Selfishness, on the other hand, immediately found a great place to hide, ventilated and comfortable, but only for himself. Deceit was hiding at the bottom of the sea (not really, he was actually hiding behind the rainbow). And Passion and Desire hid in a volcano. And Oblivion… I forgot where he was hiding… But that’s not important.
While Madness counted, Love still couldn’t find a place to hide. All spots were occupied until she saw a rose bush and decided to hide among the flowers.
“… A million!” Madness counted and began to search. The first to emerge was Laziness, who was hiding behind a rock barely three paces away. Then he heard Faith arguing with God over Theology and felt Passion and Desire in the vibrations of the volcano.
He invented Envy and then, of course, figured out where Triumph was. He didn’t even have to look for Selfishness. He came running out himself, because his hiding place turned out to be a wasp’s nest.
He got thirsty from walking so much and discovered Beauty in the Lake. It was even easier to find Doubt, because he was perched on a fence, unable to decide where to hide.
That’s how he found everyone… Talent sat in fresh grass, Fear in a dark cave, Deceit behind the rainbow (not really, he was at the bottom of the sea) and he even managed to find Oblivion, who I even belonged to forgot she was playing hide and seek at all.
However, love was nowhere to be found. Madness searched behind every tree, under every stream on the planet, on top of every mountain… And just as he was about to give up, he saw a rose bush and a few roses.
He picked up a stick and began to move among the branches. Then suddenly a cry full of pain was heard: the thorns had damaged Love’s eyes. Madness didn’t know how to apologize. He cried, begged, begged for forgiveness, and even promised to be her guide for the blind.
They say the heart is a madhouse and there is always room for more madness, because we can always do almost anything for love, to take a risk at an abyss and even liberate freedom.
Because love is also mad because of misjudgments. Because we can’t choose it and it always wins every game, but sometimes we can end up covered in thorns. Because, as Calderón de la Barca said, when love isn’t crazy, it isn’t love.
