Mila Pavićević

WINNER

Every time a clown dies, his red nose turns into a star. (All of those stars make up the Great Player constellation that can be seen only from the other side of the North.) While his nose is burning bright in the night, the immortal spirit of the clown goes to the Land of the Moon, where it rests from his jokes…

Once upon a time, somewhere in a desert, a fairly young and rather unknown clown was wandering about. He had no house, not even one he could carry around with him. All he had, all he ever needed in the desert, was a flute he used to call the birds and a large basket in which he kept his not-so-good audience – one large grey tomcat named Auror.

From day to day, this nameless clown roamed the desert looking for someone whom he could make laugh, someone whose laughter he could really hear. Auror, you see, did not know how to laugh. He did not even know how to speak and, as far as friends go, he was not one of the best. So, the birds that the clown would summon with his flute were his best audience in the desert. They made him happy because he often thought he could hear children’s laughter in their chirping.

And so, one morning, as he was sitting on his favourite sand dune, waiting for the sun to come up, the clown took out his flute and started to play his most beautiful melody, hoping the birds would come. But the birds did not come on that day, for it was too early. The birds always came with the sun. Even Auror was still dozing in his basket. Only one colourful and not terribly nasty snake crept up to the clown to listen to his playing. When he reached the most beautiful part of the tune, the snake accidentally bit him and the clown instantly fell asleep.

The birds were still not coming and Auror was not moving in his basket, for he was too lazy. And the snake went away as though nothing had happened.

And what happened to the clown? His red nose flew up to the stars and there it is today, the brightest star in the entire constellation. Left lying on the sand were his clothes, whose colours would fade in the sun with time.

And in the Land of the Moon, resting from his jokes, is the immortal spirit of the nameless clown who only now… what do you know!… has been given a name – White Clown.

Long ago, a very long time ago, when there was still not much difference between day and night, an old man, whose three daughters were his only treasure, lived in the Land of Whispers. They were poor and lived a modest life in a cottage on top of the mountain, far away from the nearest village.

It was wintertime and the birthday of all three sisters was approaching. The old man had no money and did not know what to give them as presents. He went to the village hoping to find something for their birthday. On the way he met an old witch and asked her for help, which she promised to give him. But she had only two presents: a silver box and a green ring taken out of a rock on top of the mountain by two flying eagles. The witch gave both presents to the old man. The only thing she asked in return was that the old man promise her his daughters would cherish the presents and look after them; otherwise, they would suffer a terrible punishment. The old man promised the witch they would do so and went home even sadder, for he realised he had no present for his most beautiful daughter – Darkness.

And so, returning home, he stopped by a stony river where he found a small eel made of stone. The eel was very beautiful and the old man decided to take it home and give it to Darkness. Upon arriving home, he gave the silver box to his oldest daughter, but she just shrugged her shoulders. To his middle daughter he gave the green ring, but she thanked him grudgingly. And he gave the stony eel to Darkness, who was so happy that her sisters immediately became envious.

One evening as Darkness was having a nap, her wicked sisters decided to steal the stony eel. They succeeded in doing so. But then they started fighting over it and they dropped the eel on the floor. That very instant the eel came to life. Frightened, the two sisters ran into their rooms with the eel crawling after them.

Since the eel had been petrified for quite some time, it was very hungry, so it started eating everything in sight. It even gobbled up the silver box and the green ring.

The old witch, who had known straight away what had happened – for witches always have a way of finding out these things – was really furious, and she decided to punish the reckless sisters, just as she had warned the old man.

The girls turned into grains of cement on the banks of the stony river. People say they will stay there forever. And what about Darkness? Terribly saddened by what had happened to her sisters, she just disappeared. She went up to the heavens. And that is how something we see every day and take for granted – darkness – came about. That, they say, is how night came to be.

Once upon a time, a long time ago, in a small and completely unknown kingdom, a little ice girl lived all alone. The girl did not have parents, that is, she never got to know them. She did not have any friends either; she was too cold for anyone to play with her.

The girl lived on top of a starry, snowy mountain in a small house made of snow. Every morning the nameless snowy girl would come out of the house and watch the sun. She couldn’t watch it too long, for she would melt.

On the neighbouring mountain lived an arrogant king with his family: an evil queen and their only son. The prince was young and honest and as beautiful as the sun. He was the total opposite of his old and ugly parents. One day the prince went for a walk and, as usually happens in life, he met the girl. He fell in love on the spot: she was very white and as beautiful as ice. For days, when the sun was rising, the prince would come to watch the girl observing the sun. He would return to the palace unusually happy. His parents didn’t like that and they decided to look for help.

They visited the village sorcerer, a poor and useless servant. The sorcerer was all grey like a mouse, thin as a stick, and evil darted out from his bloodshot eyes. When the sorcerer saw the king and queen standing at his door, he made a low bow like all flatterers do. Nevertheless, he was not an ordinary sorcerer. He knew how to divine the truth and did it in his own peculiar way. He would take two clay pots, fill one with wine and the other with milk, and he would pour the liquid from one pot into the other until he could see the truth in the liquid. And so the sorcerer started performing his sorcery and said to the king and queen: ‘Your problems will be solved. She who is loved by your prince is the friend of horses.’ Utterly unsatisfied with his advice, the king and queen went back to their palace without understanding a word of what the sorcerer had said.

In the meantime, the young prince went to see his ice girl but met a strange creature on his way, all shrouded and grey as a mouse with red eyes that were oozing some strange light. The young prince was too young and inexperienced, unable to recognise that this strange light was nothing but wickedness. So the young prince approached this creature, who said he was a poor travelling salesman selling magic potions. And thus the young prince bought one of these potions (although he did not believe the potion was magic, he wanted to help the creature). As soon as he purchased the small dark red bottle, the creature disappeared. The prince was very thirsty, so he took a sip from the bottle and… instantly, the prince, who was as beautiful as the sun, turned into a horse.

Thus, the prince-horse wandered up and down the mountain for days (and nights), frightened and lonely, until one morning he saw his small ice girl observing the sun. He came up to her (now that he was a horse he could approach her). The girl thought the horse was very beautiful and she agreed to play with him. They played the whole day long, but then misfortune struck! When their play was at its peak, the prince’s hoof slipped and he crushed the little girl. He screamed in panic and ran away, never to return.

Soon after that, Death came. She was completely white, like the snow. She knelt next to the strewn parts of the ice girl, collected them and took them to her underworld palace, with no one even knowing that the ice girl had ever existed.

And so the people who passed by would wonder: ‘Who lives in that small house made of snow on top of the mountain?’ Until one day, back came the echo: ‘No one! It was all too long ago!’