Boomba Doomba & the Creation of the Universe

1.
Boomba Doomba wasn’t dumb. Even if you thought he was, the story you are about to hear is not about that.
You‘ll ask, – What is it about? – About me? About you? Or Someone else?
– Maybe. – just listen.
Boomba Doomba was a simple man. He lived without trouble, did nothing and never gave it a thought. Until one day…

2.
…Boomba Doomba looked about: lying under the open Sky, on the edge of an immeasurable expansion and unembraceable space, where the biggest and strangest clouds get together, and fire balls wrestle with the widest darkness. He’s lying there and thinking to himself: “Where is the edge? Is it the blue beyond the Meadow or that funny rosy dot moving towards me?”

3.
The place where Boomba Doomba lay didn’t look like an edge. From far away you might think it was an abandoned lot or a no-man’s land. From closer up, the place reminded one of a hillock or a mound. Once you got down, you could see an even stranger thing. In the Barren Bottom pocked with old stones lived a man, known as Boomba Doomba.

4.
Boomba Doomba had imagined the middle of the Meadow to be full of life. But no matter how much he looked around, he only saw harsh stones, and winds fluffing the clouds in the sky.
“If there is Nothing here, then what is That?” – he mumbled as a big shiny thing climbed out of the cloud-filled sky above the wasteland.

5.
The enormous yellow Sun was climbing up toward midday, gathering the last dewdrops from the grass. Beside it, there was something else in the Meadow. Nobody’s thoughts were sailing over the Barren Bottom, looking for the right place to land.
“It’s a good place to rest!” – rejoiced one thought while stumbling on something.
“I am Big Dewdrop,” – Boomba Doomba caught it and slumped off his rocking-chair.

6.
Boomba Doomba bestirred himself: “Now it’s the perfect time for a walk.” But where to go? The Meadow seemed too big, the hollow – too close, and he did not know yet where to look for Something Else.
Boomba Doomba was in doubt, “Should I go explore the surroundings? The clouds, the fields, the rocks…” –. But he was distracted by strange sounds coming from behind the hill.

7.
Boomba Doomba climbed up a hill. Right in front, near some large heaps of stones covered with soft moss he saw Good Friend walking and carefully exploring something. “Maybe he’s collecting beetles, or pulling up the grass that’s barely pushing through the hard ground?” – guessed Boomba Doomba.
– Do you happen to know where Dark Ocean lives? – shouted the unexpected guest. The one who Boomba Doomba had mistaken for an edge.
Boomba Doomba didn’t know. But if there was the Sky and the Meadow, there had to be Water too. A lot of water…

8.
The Sky was limitless. The Field – immeasurable. And the Ocean? To Boomba Doomba, it seemed even more indescribable. Darkest dark blue like the blue color beyond the Meadow. The man watched as the tall waves of the Ocean swelled and fell onto the shore, splashing white spray under his feet. “Doommm…” – sighed Boomba.

9.
“I suppose only sand and shells live here.” – thought Boomba Doomba and immediately realized how wrong he was: a huge spurt of water gushed into the air and split into a million glistening crystals. A moment later the Beast came to the surface. It was so fast that Boomba Doomba only saw its back. The Whale shone with all the colors of the rainbow for a mere moment and then disappeared, pulling his tail inside the hollow that opened in the water.

10.
“But what if I didn’t exist?” – thought Boomba Doomba. After all, the things you see in the Meadow, Sky, and Ocean disappear as soon as you start thinking about them. And the Sun! It wasn’t in the Sky before. This morning – not even a small piece of it! And now look at that big shiny ball – like a Sunflower. But clouds are underway and it will soon disappear… Maybe I’ll disappear too?”- thought Boomba Doomba, startled.
Lo and behold, the Sun smiled and rolled beneath the cloud.

11.
Strange Tree grew not far from the place where Boomba Doomba saw the Sun being swallowed by the approaching rain cloud. Tree didn’t have a shadow; it bore no fruit, and earthworms didn’t live under it. “What a strange plant I am. Standing in the middle of nowhere, and to think that I could have grown in somebody’s orchard” – sighed Tree.
– Hello, – said Boomba Doomba to Tree.
– Doommm, – answered Tree.

12.
Boomba Doomba walked on through the Meadow. The Ocean washed its edges; Strange Tree grew in the middle of the field, and the Bog lay here and there.
– Would you like to come by? – asked Good Friend.
But Boomba Doomba didn’t hear him. He was tense and looking into the distance toward the weedy grass, as if he had spotted something there. Different thoughts were rushing through his head: “Why is everything the way it is? Why do I exist although it sometimes seems I don’t?” – thought Boomba Doomba, cringing in the rain.
– Everything is the way it might not be, – the Good Friend comforted him.

13.
And all of a sudden, Boomba Doomba realized – he was wrong about everything: the things, the Meadow, himself. “Things always are even if nothing happens!”
He walked and walked until, finally, everything suddenly disappeared. Night descended from the Sky. It knew very well what Boomba Doomba was feeling.
Unable to see anything, Boomba Doomba enjoyed the peace and serenity. The sky smelt good. It was full of glimmering and the growing cold. All that was alive started to go into caves, burrows and other warm places, But Boomba Doomba didn’t care. He wanted to stay outside.
And he knew why: the Moon was rising above the Bog.

14.
Boomba Doomba could not believe his eyes: Night lit up and the heavy clouds became light and transparent. And the Moon seemed alive in the eye of the Bog. Boomba Doomba poked it with his finger. And the shining rippled. The Moon in the Sky shivered as if in answer.
But Boomba Doomba did not feel this. He was already on his way. Piloting his way through darkness and thinking: “Where’s all this cold from?”

15.
“Boommm…” – Boomba Doomba heard a warm muted sound. He wondered: “Is this the Moon?” But no, it wasn’t. It seemed like it was himself that had flopped down. Peacefully and quietly, like Big Dewdrop. The circle of the Journey had turned and suddenly Boomba Doomba found himself at home. He fell headlong into his Barren Bottom and fell asleep. And when he did, he got smack in the middle of his dream. Although to him it seemed that…

16.
…the Earth opened underneath his feet and he passed into the Pink Sky, made of the leaves of a spiky bush. There was Music in the Sky, light and beautiful beyond description. One might think one was a small musical instrument, breathing sounds in and out, and lazily whistling. “The bellows of the Universe are blowing through me,” Boomba Doomba snored, and turned over.
The Music swelled like Ocean waves, spilling into the Pink Sky.
At the final sweetest moment, the Sky shrank and shriveled and began to resemble a wooden box full of petals. “I guess Good Friend gave it to me.” – presumed Boomba Doomba.

17.
Only now did Boomba Doomba realize that he was sinking into the deepest Dream. And not even he, but some other Boomba Doomba, a creature with green eyes, – opened the door of the box and vanished into the fresh air of the Barren Bottom. Where it once stood, a fountain sprang from the ground, spreading multicolored crystals across the Meadow…
“I haven’t seen the Meadow bloom like this before…” – he thought just before another door of the box opened. The Meadow, the crystals, and the fountain disappeared. And so did the green-eyed creature. Boomba Doomba stood beside a pile of old stones. In one hand he was holding a twig from the Tree and in the other – a piece of glass that the Whale had flung out. Inside it crawled a prehistoric fly stuck there since prehistoric times.
– Good morning. – said Boomba Doomba.

18.
– Good morning. – replied Sky and Meadow.
– Good morning. – said Good Friend and Great Whale.
– Good morning. – soughed Strange Tree.
Boomba Doomba said nothing. He had just woken up. The Day hatched out from the Night’s egg. With it – all things and living beings, all creatures and shapes. They bustled and rejoiced, surprised at themselves. Boomba Doomba, too, was impatient: “Why don’t I do something interesting?”

19.
On that day when Everything was like it Always is, Boomba Doomba decided to write something down. He wanted to remember what had happened during his journey through the Day and Night.
He was delighted: every star in the Sky, every fish in the Ocean and every tree in the Meadow will now be able to see and hear the Uni Verse he has experienced.

20.
The truth broke in upon Boomba Doomba: the outer woods with their apple-tree petals, these shores with sea grass, the ever-humming sky, and he who has created himself, and you, and me, all the scratching and wriggling forms are one. “Boommm…” – sounded the Universe. “Doommm…” – echoed the man.
And the strangest clouds took to the air at the edge of the limitless horizon.