The Legend of Time and The Great North

Once upon a time, in the Great North, Time and the Great Elements – Sky, Water and Land – lived in harmony. But one day Land came upon Time in bed with Water and started such a row that Sky heard the shouting, came over – and the row only got worse. Time fled and the Great Elements confronted each other. You see, each thought Time attended to them in a state of marital faithfulness. It turned out that, in fact, he was a consummate Casanova

Such was the fury of the Great Elements that they decided to kill the rogue. So they waited the next day for Time to return from the hunt and when he appeared, they pounced on him. Land held him to the ground, Sky pressed down on him and Water prepared to drown him. But Time pleaded for mercy, bawling his eyes out and saying he loved them all and was sorry to have hurt them. The Great Elements were moved and agreed to spare his life, but only on the condition that he leave the Great North.

Time agreed and fled for the Tropics, where Time since then has been in excess, with everything always in a rush, quick sunsets followed by quick sunrises, with rushed dawns and rushed twilights in between, and bursts of colour everywhere and lots of shouting and everything in a state of permanent agitation.

In the Great North, meanwhile, there is no Time anymore, only Memory of Time, and each day, with its share of love and lust, stretches out for a year as it is carefully remembered by the Great Elements.

(Yann Martel – winner of the Mann Booker Prize for Fiction – The Life of Pi)

Keith and Marnie Elliott’s “REMEDY” Site

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