Merkish

Merkish!

Story by Manoel Johann Ces

At night, as all grown-ups fall asleep and dream about all the wonderful things in the world, the children of a faraway village stay awake.

A boy named Dricx lies awake in his bed. He has been waiting for his first visit to the magical place where all good children go to play.

When the clock strikes eleven, the door of his bedroom lights up.
“This is it!” he says as he walks to the door.

Think of a happy thought, of a happy place you want to be. He was told.
And your imagination will take you there. And with that happy thought, he reaches for the knob and opens it.

When Dricx walks to the other side of the door, he finds himself not in his house’s hallway...but face-to-face with a magnificent castle.

It’s the Merry Castle! And it is true as he was told. For dragons are flying around
its spires and happily playing with each other.

“Welcome everyone!” Marlow, the castle’s keeper greets each child. “Welcome to the Merry Castle!”

The big gates magically open by themselves and the children rush
inside to be greeted with wonderful delights.He first comes upon the wonderful Candy Garden; where everything is made of all sweet treats anybody can think of!

Dricx then sees the giant slide full of kids. It is so high, it seems to reach the sky. “I guess they call it the Sky Slide,” he says laughing.

There are also children racing against each other on top of flying dragons. The dragons themselves are happy that their little friends are having fun.

Then the castle doors open and the great horns of the Merry Castle are sounded.
Everybody stops whatever they are doing and rushes to the trumpeters.
All the children gathered around are merrily shouting. Dricx cannot understand what is happening. Every child is cheering: “Merkish! Merkish!” Even the dragons are dancing with joy.
Marlow walks through the castle door. Dricx can see the sadness in his face as Marlow asks the children to quiet down.

“What’s a Merkish?” Dricx asks the girl beside him.

She looks at him and smiles. “You must be new here. Merkish is Merry Castle’s Merry Leader.

He chooses the nice kids that are invited to the castle and makes sure everyone is having fun.”

“Children,” Marlow says, “I have bad news today. Our Merkish has gone missing!”

“We must find a new Merkish. The Pixies will now go around and choose a new Merry Leader,” Marlow said as small firefly-looking things fly from inside the castle and mingle with the crowd.

Everyone begins to murmur. Dricx can see all their worried faces.

“Why? What’s wrong?” he again asks the girl.

She replies, ”Without Merkish, the Merry Castle will slowly die. He’s the one who keeps this place going.”

One by one, the fairies approach all the children. The fairies will look them in the eyes and seem to be looking for something. But they are usually not satisfied with what they see so they fly to the next child.

Then one fairy stops in front of Dricx. As she looks him in the eyes, she slowly lights up with joy. She flies over Dricx’s head and scatters fairy dust all over him. Soon, Dricx is glowing brightly. Two other kids are also chosen by the other fairies.

The fairies chose three kids. Marlow says to them: “Each of you has been given the chance to be the next Merkish. But you have to prove yourselves. You will be given a task you must fulfill.”

“You will be given a dragon each. You will ride your dragons and get the crystal orb lying on the Uppermost Cloud. But you have to do it within 15 minutes,” Marlow explains.

“And the one who first gets the orb, wins?” the girl asks.

“Yes, but not exactly,” Marlow says as he gives the three a meaningful wink.
And the three contestants are given their own dragons.

Dricx walks to his red dragon. “Hi, I’m Dricx. What’s your name?” he asks the dragon as he pats its neck.

“His name is Leero,” says the dragon keeper. “He’s the gentlest of them all. Be nice to him, will you?”

“I will,” Dricx promises.

And off to the sky they go. The first two kids’ dragons are clearly the fastest as Dricx is being left behind. The boy is kicking and smacking his dragon with his hand. “Faster! Faster or I won’t stop hitting you!” he shouts to his dragon.

The girl sees that the boy is starting to outrace her. “I must do something or I will lose,” she says to herself. The girl pulls on her dragon’s strap and makes it fly to the boy’s dragon.

The two dragons bump each other and their tails get entangled. Soon they are swirling out of control.

The girl and the boy lose their grip and they both come falling fast to the ground!

Dricx sees the two kids falling. “We must help them, Leero” he says. They turn back and fly down to rescue the kids.

“If you help them, you won’t have enough time to get the crystal orb!” Marlow shouts to Dricx.

Dricx ignores him and continues on his dive.

The two kids are dangerously falling fast to the ground!
But miracle of all miracles! Dricx and Leero swoops by and reaches them just in time.

The trumpets sounded gaily as Marlow announces,

“We have a new Merkish!”

Marlow congratulates Dricx.

“I won? But I didn’t get the orb,” Dricx wonders.

“What did I tell you? It is not a race. You do not become the Merkish by being the fastest or the strongest,” Marlow says.

“You become a Merkish by caring for others. And that’s what’s important in the Merry Castle...or any other place.”

The End

KALIKASAN

Story by Manoel Johann Ces



Once upon a long, long time ago when the jungles were young and the rivers have just started to flow down the mountains, there lived a Great Mother. She was known all over the land as Kalikasan.

She took care of all that God has created. When the first bird flew down from the sky, she taught it how to sing.

When the fishes swam out from the depths of the ocean, she taught them how to make beautiful houses from corals.

When the cheetah emerged from the wilderness, she taught it how to run like the wind.

Then God made His most beautiful creation of all, Man.

Because Man was God’s most beloved of his creations, Kalikasan held him most dear of all.

She taught him how to sing melodiously like the birds.

She taught him how to swim like the fishes of the sea.

She taught him how to run like the cheetah.

Time passed and Man became too intelligent and powerful. The world was suddenly not to his own liking and he decided to change it to suit his desires.

He built factories so he could make everything he wanted.

He made cars so he could travel anywhere he liked.

He burned forests so he could have more land.

He threw his trash in the rivers so his house would be clean.

With all of his successes, Man soon forgot about Kalikasan.

Kalikasan watched from a distance as Man ravaged nature. She also got hurt and every once in a while she would make him feel how hurt she was.

She would bring forth rain for days until the rivers overflowed and flooded the towns.

Or she would call off the rain for months until all the farmlands were dry and Man began to starve.

She would let the earth rumble and volcanoes erupt to remind him how vulnerable he was on the ground he was standing on.

But Man still kept on hurting her. He built more factories and found new ways to pollute the air and water.

He burned more trees for the new factories he built.

He hunted animals, not for food, but just for the fun of it.

Whenever Man tore down a jungle, Kalikasan would move to the next one. Soon she and the animals were running out of forests and jungles to live in.

“All of the animals that I love will soon die,” she said. “I must do something about it.”

Kalikasan turned to God for help. “Come live with me in my Kingdom,” God said to Kalikasan. “Earth is dying, and unless Man mends his wicked ways, he will die, too.”

Just like any real mother, Kalikasan left Man all that he would need to go on living. She let the rivers keep on flowing so he can have water to drink.

She left the best fishes in the ocean so he can have something nourishing to eat.

She let the trees go on growing so he can have fruits and shade whenever he needed them.

Then it was time for her to go. So to the heavens Kalikasan flew. She brought with her all the animals in her care. She looked down and whispered sadly, “How I wish we could have lived in harmony.”

And Man was left all alone and the world for him to make or break.


The End

THE MAN ON THE MOON

Story by Manoel Johann Ces


Once upon a time, there lived a very rich man named Don Bukriv. He lived in the biggest house in the land and owned the most expensive things.

Every night, he would sit in his throne adorned with priceless jewels. He would look at everything he owned and laugh with satisfaction.

He happened to glance into the night sky and saw something of great brilliance. A star! The brightest star he had ever seen.

“That must be the most beautiful star in the heavens,” he said.

And he was right. The North Star had been admired by men from distant lands and for centuries had looked at it in awe and admiration. Many have dreamed of possessing it, but knowing it was impossible, they contented themselves with just its presence.

He leaned on his throne and said excitedly, “It must be mine!”

The next day, he called his servants and ordered them to make him the biggest hot-air balloon.

“I want it so big that it will eclipse the sun as it floats to space,” he commanded.

And the men quickly went to work.

The days passed and soon Don Bukriv’s giant balloon was the talk of the whole village and nearby towns. They could see from the distance, protruding from his wooded garden, a massive bright red balloon.

“What is that thing for?” the villagers asked each other.

“It might be another one of his fancy toys.”

But Don Bukriv paid them no attention. His thoughts lie only to the stars. These lowly people are not worth my time. He thought.


One morning, the balloon was finally finished. The rich old man stepped into the huge basket attached to the balloon by four ropes. He then bid everyone goodbye.

“Don’t you worry,” he assured them. “For this is not really goodbye. I’m just going on a journey that would take me where no man has gone before. When I return I will be the richest and most famous man in history.”

The people who gathered in his garden just watched as he floated to the sky. He waved to them.

“I’ll be back soon,” he shouted. “With the brightest star in my pocket.”

But they ignored his voice. Nobody waved back. He did notice though that the people seemed to be in the gayest mood he had ever seen them. They must be very happy to see me off. He was right. They were just too happy to see him float away.

Up and up he went. For the first time in his life he saw what the rest of the land looked like from above. The hills were teeming with flowers of all kinds. The great river was flowing down gently from the mountains.

Don Bukriv was very happy. Not just because everything he saw was beautiful, but because they were all his. Soon he was already in the clouds. He took out a clamp tied to a rope and threw it at a cloud. He stepped out of the basket and hopped around on the giant white puffs.

“Oh, this must be the softest thing I’ve ever felt!” he exclaimed. “It’s so good on my back. I think I’ll take home some and have it made into a mattress.”

He took a part of the cloud and carefully laid it on the basket’s floor. He removed the clamp and continued on his journey.

Up and up beyond the clouds he floated until finally everything around him became very dark. He could now see countless stars all over him. Don Bukriv looked down and was amazed at what he saw.

“What a beautiful sight!” he said as looked at the whole world. “If only I could have it all for myself, I would be the happiest man that ever lived.”



The great blue orb called Earth was the most wonderful thing the eyes could ever be blessed to see.

Then he heard a great rumbling from the distance. He turned around and saw a shooting star coming straight his way!

He quickly grabbed his clamp and waited for the shooting star. As it flew pass him, he threw the clamp and snatched it. “Ha! Now it’s mine!” he shouted.

But the shooting star was traveling too fast and it dragged the old rich man and the giant balloon along. He couldn’t do anything but hold on as his balloon was pulled around space.

He cut the rope that connects the balloon to the clamp that was holding the shooting star. The balloon was finally set free!

“Too bad,” he sighed as he watched it flew away. “It could have been a pretty ornament in my garden.”

Don Bukriv continued on his journey. Finally he reached the North Star. It was smaller than what he imagined it to be. It could easily fit in one of his coat’s pockets.

“Just as I expected! It’s even brighter than all of my diamonds and rubies,” Don Bukriv laughed. “I will be the envy of every man.”

He leaned over the edge of the basket and reached out for the star. He was surprised that it didn’t burn his hands as he touched it. It actually felt warm and soothing.

“You don’t belong out here, in the darkness,” he said to the star. “My mansion will be a finer home for you.”

And with that, he put the North Star in his pocket and started on his way home.

But as he was nearing the planet Earth, he noticed not too far away, a huge bright, ball of fire. It was the Sun. He could see that it was bigger than the planets and brighter, too. “It’s a lot magnificent than my star,” he said.



He quickly forgot the North Star.

He turned his hot-air balloon towards the great Sun. But as he got closer, he felt warmer every minute. He removed his coat. Still, it was very hot.

Then he realized he had a problem. The Sun was too big. The silly Don Bukriv just shrugged it off and continued on his way.

“Ha! Nothing can stop me from getting what I want,” he thought.

Finally, he flew too close to the Sun that the balloon burst! The silly old man in the giant red balloon was sent flying all over space. He flew pass the gaseous atmosphere of Venus, he went under the giant rings of Saturn, and dodged some asteroids.

And when the balloon at last lost its steam, the old man was sent crashing to the moon.

He landed in the moon’s Sea of Tranquility, a barren plain of moon dust and rocks.

As he stood by the wreckage of his once great hot-air balloon, he felt his pocket getting warmer. He slipped in his hand and took out the glowing North Star.

“At least you can keep me company in this quiet place,” he whispered.

When he opened his hands to admire the last of his possessions, the star floated upward far beyond the old man’s reach. It flew back to its rightful place far away in the galaxy.

There it remains to this day, unselfishly guiding anyone journeying. And the greedy Don Bukriv was left on the moon, awaiting the arrival of anyone who would dare to again try and get the North Star.



The End