A Desire Never Before

He was crawling through bushes and tall grass looking for a bird or a rabbit to supplement his meal, when, with sudden astonishment, he came across the head of a woman firmly planted on her neck.

“Hey there,” the woman greeted him with a smile.

“Hello,” the young man responded after some hesitation.

“How nice to have someone to talk to,” she said, “I’ve been so lonely sitting here all by myself!”

He thought the verb “sit” did not have a leg to stand on, but refrained from mentioning it not to be rude.

Instead, forgetting about birds and rabbits, he lay down, propping himself on his elbows so he could be at the same height as his interlocutor.

They talked a good bit that day. And when they said goodbye he promised he would be back tomorrow.

He was able to keep his word because he had marked the exact spot where he would find her. And he returned that day, and the next, drawn by that voice and that smile. The fourth day he lay down next to her with his hands behind his head. The fifth day she asked him to braid her hair, scattered all around her. The young man did not have a comb with him—and why would he?—but her hair was so silky that he combed it with his fingers and braided it. And what a luxuriant braid that was!

The sixth day he got up the courage to ask if she would like him to take her to his house and care for her. The answer was a radiant smile.

But when the young man, ever so gently, placed his hands under her chin to pick her up, he realized that her neck was firmly rooted in the ground. It didn’t take him long to go home and come back with a shovel. He dug a big hole to avoid damaging the roots. Then he took the head in his arms, planted it in a clay pot and splashed water on the soil.

That evening they were both tired and slept deeply, he in bed, she outdoors to enjoy the damp night air.

They talked a lot in the days that followed. A new feeling began to entwine one conversation with the next. And when the feeling was ripe, she desired what she had never desired before, a woman’s body.

It was some time before she expressed her desire out loud. When she did, it reflected his desire like a mirror.

A solution had to be found. It fell to him, since he was able to move around.

He inquired in the village and, upon learning that a wise man with magical powers lived in a cave a two-day journey away, he saddled his horse, moved the woman outside, making sure she was in a shady spot, and left.

He rode, and rode, and rode. It was a long journey. When he finally saw the glow of a campfire reflected on the rocks, he knew he had arrived. He dismounted, washed—you have to be clean in order to gain access to the marvelous—approached the old man and they shared the herb soup he had prepared.

Only after the humble supper did the old man murmur some words and spread a sheet over the bamboo rack in front of the fire. Little by little, like a shadow slowly gathering, the body of a woman began to form on the sheet. When the fire went out, and its reflection with it, the two went to sleep.

The next morning the young man thanked his host, got on his horse and he rode, and rode, and rode again.

Magic travels through the air, much faster than a horse’s hooves. Upon his return, he found the woman waiting for him at the door.

But that night, after lighting the candles and relaying his story, they both noticed an absence. The wise man had, indeed, given the woman a body, but he had forgotten to give her a shadow. And, without a shadow, she felt incomplete. Sadness took up residence in the house beneath the light of the candles.

A solution had to be found. And it fell to him, since he knew how to do what had to be done.

He took needle and thread and began to embroider the bottom of a sheet with a fading female shadow. He embroidered for many hours, ended the stitch and cut the thread with his teeth as if he were kissing the fabric.

Then he very carefully spread the sheet over the bed where he would lay down the woman who had chosen him.