Giraffe

To fully understand this story, we need to go back a bit to the story of Cows and Elephants in the very beginning. A pity the stories wasn't written by the author and so she does not have the privilege of putting it up on her blog. However, she will try her very best to give a gist of the stories in the hope of helping all you out there understand the ramblings of dear little Giraffe.

Everything began once upon a time in the Land of No Return where Cows met Elephants and fell in love with each other. Things proceed such that when Elephants left for their own Land of Everfog, Cows just had to go in search of them. Thereby ended the first story and Cows found Elephants and they lived happily ever after.

However, the happily after was but a new beginning of joy, a new beginning of life, a new beginning of adventures, and also a new beginning of conflicts. And one fateful night came the huge row between Cows and Elephants which started a cold war. Now of course Cows and Elephants did not really hate each other for it would be too terrible to imagine a world which is so. They just happened to have a major conflict and stopped all their telepathic messages between each other. To avoid other confrontational conflicts, Cows and Elephants started penning their thoughts on a huge slab of stone at the centre of Everfog, with apple trees to the East and a vinyard to the West of it.
Cows and Elephants love stories and they started distracting themselves with their common love - Stories.

The Land of Mushrooms was a completely silent land and the inhabitants lived happily in the barrrenness of sound. Giraffe, Sheep, Chipmunk, Pig, Spider, Rabbit, Squirrel, Snake, Goat, Potato, Carrot (which Rabbit does not consume because residents of the Land of Mushrooms do not eat their neighbours), Moon, Broom, Teabag, Eyebag, Bottle, Parcetamol, etc. were all inhabitants in this obscure land. To cut a long story short, a Box dropped into the Land of Mushrooms one day and surprised one of the inhabitants, Giraffe, with the wonderful myraid of sounds it could produce. Lemon Tea, Mole's Heart and finally Beet-in-Oven mesmerised Giraffe with the wonderful sounds they managed to coax out of the Box. However, one day, sadly, Beet-in-Oven, perhaps being overbaked, died, and bizarrely metamorphosized into a herd of Cow corpses. With a kiss from Giraffe, Cows started breathing again and Cows and Spider returned with Giraffe to her red Mushroom with white spots and resided comfortably together, leaving the Land of Mushrooms peaceful again in its Silence.
Hereby ends the first two stories ever woven of the Lands and it is here where our story continues.

Now readers who have been familiar with the happenings in the Land of Mushrooms would know that the previous episode with the Box ended happily with Silence reigning forever more. However, it is but a fallacy to believe in happily ever after stories. Unless you are a little kid who has not yet learnt to read, perhaps you may still indulge in these fantasies; but when it comes to that, if you have not yet learnt to read, then you will not be able to read this anyway. So let us get back to the events that happened after Silence continued reigning in the Land of Mushrooms.

There was Silence all over and this Silence lasted for an innumerable eon of time, for time was immeasurable in the Land of Mushrooms. Giraffe however, is a singularly restless animal and very soon, she started to miss the poignant and soulful humming of Beet-in-Oven's bouncings on the Box. Even the constant companionship of beautiful Cows and Spider could do nothing to satiate her inexpressible hunger for Beet-in-Oven, and Giraffe spent many an hour sighing away in the corner of her red Mushroom with white spots or peering over the Edge of the World, hoping for a sign of Beet-in-Oven.

Oh Giraffe's woes, her sorrows if I were to describe, would fill a whole library with scrolls but ah well, this isn't a story on that, so it shall suffice to say that Giraffe was sorrowful beyond the boundaries of sorrowfulness and woeful beyond the boundaries of woefulness.

Giraffe of course, is never one to sit on things, for as mentioned earlier, she is a singularly restless Giraffe. After whining and sighing and getting all the attention she wants from Cows and Spider, Giraffe decided that she should start on her quest for Beet-in-Oven.

But where has Beet-in-Oven gone to? All Giraffe knows was that Beet-in-Oven bizarrely metamorphosized into a herd of Cow corpses that fateful day and nothing else was ever heard of him anymore.

Giraffe, never one to be easily contented, searched high and low for the answers. She wandered all over the Land of Mushrooms, asking the same questions in dejected thought bubbles to everyone she met.
"What makes the World run?"
"Who created the Land of Mushrooms?"
"What lies over the Edge of the World?"
"What is time?" (for recall that in the Land of Mushrooms, time was inmeasurable).
"Where did Beet-in-Oven go?"

Giraffe met and asked many inhabitants all over the Land of Mushrooms: Chipmunk, Crow, Pig, Ant, Sheep, Goat, Turnip, Weasel, and of course she asked Cows and Spider as well. But no one ever had the answer. No one in the Land of Mushrooms seem bothered by these important questions at all! Giraffe continued wandering, feeling more and more dejected and lonely but never giving up.
Giraffe wandered further and further and soon, she stopped going back to her home in the red mushrooms with white spots for it was much more easier to move as she goes along, over the Land of Mushrooms, rather than have to go back to her own mushroom at the end of every single day.
Cows and Spider were of course upset that Giraffe stopped coming home. But Cows and Spider loved Giraffe, and they knew, this was what Giraffe had to do and their part in this was just to let her go.
Giraffe wandered on. She was tired, lost, dejected, and her questions remained unanswered.

One day, Giraffe awoke and prepared herself for another day of search when far away at the Edge of the World, some storm clouds gathered. The clouds got bigger and heavier and darker and very soon they were advancing towards where Giraffe was, moving rapidly towards Giraffe from the Edge of the World.
In a short time, the clouds were directly overhead and with the sound of thunder, Rain started pouring. What a storm it was. Rain came down in torrents, falling with a vengence seldom seen in the Land of Mushrooms.
Poor Giraffe. Cold, soaked to the spots, hungry and lost, she huddled more closely under the tapioca leave she was crouching under.
The thought bubbles kept playing and replaying.
"What makes the World run?"
"Who created the Land of Mushrooms?"
"What lies over the Edge of the World?"
"What is time?"

"Where did Beet-in-Oven go?"

Suddenly, a disembodied voice sounded somewhere near her. Giraffe jumped violently, splashing water all over herself.
"I know the questions you've been asking. I've been looking for you all this time."
"Who are you? How did you know?" the thought bubbles came fast and furious.
"I'm all around you now. Do not hide. Can't you feel?" the voice sounded gentle and sweet.
Giraffe was stunned. "Rain?"
"You've found me at last." the voice sounded so soothing, sweet, so laden with emotions, almost as if she was there waiting and wishing Giraffe would find her.
Giraffe dazed, could only sit with the tapioca leave draped foolishly over her head, listening.

"You've been all through the Land of Mushrooms searching. It's been hard on you all this while. But I had to let you do it. You were destined to do it. To sow the seeds all through this land. Someday, someone will catch hold of one of the seeds and they shall tread the same path as you did, scattering more seeds over this land."
Question marks were popping out of Giraffe's thought bubbles.
"You do not understand yet. But you will very soon. Now do you know what lies over the Edge of the World?"
Giraffe could only shake her head. She, like the rest of the inhabitants of the Land of Mushrooms, had never been brave enough to peer over the edge.
"Not everyone is destined to go over the Edge of the World. But this is a destiny you cannot escape from."
Giraffe sat mutely listening as Rain continued.
"Now Beet-in-Oven has gone past the Edge of the World, a journey taken by only a precious few. You were wondering where the World came from. Come, let me show you."
Giraffe nodded dumbly and followed.

Hereby followed the worst Rain the Land of Mushrooms ever experienced. For the next few days, or was it weeks, or years, who knows, for time was inmeasurable in the Land of Mushrooms, Giraffe followed Rain, seeking, understanding.

Finally, the Rain slowed to a drizzle. The voice, as sweet, as magical as the first time Giraffe heard her, whispered. "The time has come now. I have shown you many secrets. Now you have to decide, are you willing to trust me and go, over the Edge of the World and beyond?"
Giraffe knew what she would answer. This was the answer she has been searching for so long. She took a deep breath, and formed the nicest, clearest thought bubble she could. "Yes!"
All at once, the Rain cleared and the Land of Mushrooms resumed its peace, exactly the way it had been for time inmeasurable.
Not exactly the same actually. For somewhere near the Edge of the World, we see a lone tapioca leave flapping dejectly on the ground. Not too far away are a pair of lone hoof-prints, their story being left there forever.

Giraffe felt a lightness she had never felt before. Rain whispered, "Goodbye, in this place, you will never be able to hear my voice again. But you will remember forever, all these things I've shown you. Even though you can't hear me again, always know that, I'm here watching."
Suddenly, there was a burst of Sunlight, and hand in hand, Rain and Sun held a rainbow over Giraffe. Giraffe felt a warmth seep through every single Spot on her and knew, this warmth was to stay deep in her heart.

All of a sudden, the lightness stopped. Giraffe found herself on an empty plain with apple trees to the east and a vinyard to the west. Right in the middle of the apple trees and vinyard, lies a huge slab of stone. Giraffe shook her head violently to clear away the heaviness she suddenly felt and bounced towards the slab of stone. There were a whole bunch of engravings on the stone and Giraffe started reading.

Day 1

Dear Cows,

There is no point in this non-communication. Oh, it hurts, hurts too much. But neither of us will give in - why? Let us distract ourselves by focusing on our common love - Stories - Shall we?

Forever lovingly,

Elephants

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Elephants... Of course, we will forgive you for we do not have the heart not to. Pray thee, do not ignore us again, for the pain was too much to bear.

With a kiss from Giraffe, the Cows��� hearts started to pump again and blood flowed throughout their bodies. Cows and Giraffe, as well as Spider, returned to the Land of Mushrooms and resided comfortably and permanently in the red Mushroom with white spots. The Land of Mushrooms was again peaceful in its silence.

As Giraffe finished the last line, she sat in astounded silence. The Land of Mushrooms, Cows and Elephants, and Beet-in-Oven??? Could this be true? Was she a figment of the imagination of Cows and Elephants on this slab of stone and nothing more? What was she?
Giraffe did not even have the strength to move away and she sat by the huge slab of stone. Rain's words came back to her. "When the little ants come waking up and starting to think about where they come from, what would they find? If one day you find that what you've always imagined came alive, would you still dare to imagine it?"
Beet-in-Oven was not here after all. Her red mushroom with white spots would remain forevermore on the slab of stone for time inmeasurable. But she would never be able to go back anymore. Giraffe looked up and saw the Sun in the sky, sending his warmth to every single Spot on her. In the distance, Cows and Elephants were advancing towards the plain from the vinyard.