Zvonek's Journey
A Christmas fairy tale, December 2024.
It is Christmas Eve, everything is being made ready, thought Vítek impatiently, and he went to look in the pantry to see whether all the boxes were full. Mummy had carefully filled the boxes with biscuits so that they would not break, and then in the evening, secretly and quietly so that no one would see, she had hidden them in the pantry. Vítek was counting how many more nights he had to sleep, how many more times he would go to school, when a little bell rang and interrupted his musings. That was his friend Honzík, Mummy explained, shooing Vítek back to bed. You must wait a while longer before you go out, she decided firmly, so that you are well when Baby Jesus comes.
Mummy's words stirred such imagination in Vítek that he hardly resisted, and when he did, it was only a little. Before the Christmas Eve dinner he used to have to go to bed so as to have enough strength for the evening walk. He remembered how the day dragged on and how he pretended to be asleep when Grandma came to look in on him in his little room. He was afraid he would not hear the tinkle, and so, for fear of missing it, he preferred not to sleep; but when the door opened he half-closed his eyes, not quite, and through a tiny slit watched how he was managing to keep his promise, for he simply must be good. Just then he caught sight of the Christmas tree, and from a decorated twig a little friend jumped down to him; he had silken hair and smiled at Vítek.
“Come and play with me. I am only small, but I shall tell you a secret.” Indeed, the little friend from the tree looked like a little bell; he had a gentle voice and blue eyes. Vítek liked him, so he held out his hand, as if inviting him over. “You know, everyone is waiting for the tinkle, young and old, only the grown-ups sometimes hide it…” Suddenly Vítek remembered Grandma telling him about the bells in Loreta. “We are all fragile; size does not matter,” Zvonek went on. “What matters is the tinkle; it may be small or large, but what is essential is how it can transform. Each of us has many little bells within, sometimes we hear them, and often we do not know about them at all. At other times we conjure up what we long for.” Zvonek's story captivated Vítek; after all, he longed to be well and to run about with his friends, and he listened even more closely to Zvonek's tale.
“I was small once too, and I longed to ring as much as I could, but my parents instilled in me that I must be patient and that I do not have to ring the loudest; sometimes just a small tinkle is enough to make it magical. I had to prove myself in the rules of ringing; it is nothing difficult, you will manage it too. A bell that rings to announce visitors, to end a lesson at school, to call people to dinner, is like people who do not know why they live. But a bell that rings for the joy of ringing does not ring, it tinkles. Have you noticed that when the tree lights up, everyone smiles at one another? When a friend calls to you and helps you, it is as though you heard an unexpected tinkle within yourself. Look,” said Zvonek, pointing to the book of stars, “it is not a fairy tale; it tells of home, of my home.” That caught Vítek's attention. Home, that is like at home, Mummy and Daddy and the little tree. For a moment he forgot that he could not go out to run. “But this is a bigger home,” Zvonek continued. Vítek began to be curious. It must be some special place, thought Vítek. “No,” said Zvonek, as if he had sensed it, “it is not an ordinary land; it is bigger than you can imagine. In fact, you cannot imagine it at all. For it has no borders, it is vast, but everyone who hears the tinkle comes to know it. Some do not hear, because they are deaf, and so they do not really know it.” Vítek was confused and it seemed to him that he did not understand Zvonek.
He would so like to hear the magical tinkle at once, but Zvonek explained that he must take care not to get lost. “You must be clear-sighted and overcome the pitfalls.” Vítek could hardly wait to hear the tinkle. He looked at pictures with Zvonek and almost forgot that he had wanted to go out running. In a picture beside the stars he caught sight of a spaceship and imagined how it floated up to the sky. “Yes,” sensed Zvonek, “you can travel to other planets too.” And Zvonek told Vítek that first he must learn to read and to count, and then he told him about the stars… Vítek listened with curiosity.
Suddenly a great sphere appeared before them in the picture, and Zvonek told Vítek about the Earth and about life. He showed him in which place the two of them were standing now. Vítek had quite forgotten about running outside and watched Zvonek and his story attentively. “So you see,” said Zvonek, turning to Vítek. “You have found the way, and that is your land.” Just then Vítek suddenly seemed to hear a tiny tinkle. “Zvonek, where are you? Do not go home yet.” In vain he looked about him, and then, as though from afar, he heard Zvonek: “I shall not leave you; you will only no longer see me, but you will hear me if you are attentive.” Mummy opened the door and called to Vítek to get up, because Baby Jesus might be coming at any moment. Vítek was smiling and wanted to say goodbye to his little friend, when he heard a real tinkle. He looked round the room, but he could not see Zvonek. Suddenly he felt a strange, comforting warmth, and, searching for his friend, he smiled with his eyes towards the Christmas tree. For now he knows: a tiny tinkle is all it takes…