6. THE BUTTERFLY QUEEN

I like magic! Early next morning I was dreaming. That is I believed I was dreaming. As on the previous days, some early morning birds were chirping so I am not sure. When I turned around in bed, the small box was there once again. Nothing rattled inside. I opened the box. There were some sheets of paper. I started reading chapter 6.

6. THE BUTTERFLY QUEEN

- What is fluttering in the air, here, and there, and everywhere, John said.

- Don’t you see? They are butterflies! I think they are wonderful. The butterflies make me forget what time is. Very different from the time traveller.

- By the way, where did he go? I want to know more about Stalin’s dagger.

A large colourful butterfly settled on Jill’s shoulder.

-       -   Do not worry, it said.

-       -   You can speak?

Jill winced.

-      -    Sure I can speak. All butterflies can speak if people cared about listening. Most do not. That is how things are. You wanted to learn about Stalin’s dagger?

-      -    Yes.

-       -   That is an almost never-starting never-ending story. Maybe I should start in Lindisfarne?

-       -   Lindisfarne? How do you know?

-      -    I was there, and I saw everything. The monks had gardens full of flowers, and when monks perished, and with them flowers later, I knew this was no place to stay. That is why I hid inside a chest and went east together with the Vikings. We arrived in a land of plenty. Lots of flowers and butterflies everywhere. People were happy, too. That is, until the Vikings came back and brought the dagger with them. I do not know if it was all the gold and silver or the dagger, but everything changed. It was as if there was darkness even if the sun was shining. Where there was happiness there was greed and fighting. Everyone who saw and touched the dagger, wanted to leave and hunt for treasures.

-      -    I have heard about the age of the Vikings, John said.

-     -     What did they win when the day was over? They could not eat the gold and silver. Many lost their lives, others lost an arm or a leg.

-    -      How you know, Jill asked.

-    -.       I am the butterfly queen and my destination is to live forever. I flutter around together with the time traveller.

-      -    So you know the time traveller?

-     -     Yes. When I am around, he normally is very close even if he is nowhere to be seen. We followed the dagger on its way to the east. The land was divided in half by sky and earth. I preferred the warm summers to the cold winters. I wondered where the dagger were to go, and where it came from. On the way east the dagger disappeared. Rumours said that a boy named Temüdjin found it. That is another story. I chose to trace it back in time and went west to the land of milk and honey. What I remember there, is the pungent smell of thyme in the fields.

End of chapter 6. To be continued in chapter 7.