What you didn’t know about the creation of the world…

When creation was over, God sat back to have a good look at his work and said to himself: this is good, but who’s going to do all the maintenance?

So he summoned his ministers to divide the task among them.

First to arrive was Ocean. God said: because you were first, I will grant you the greater part of the world’s surface. You will have an abundance of water  that is passionate and stormy, teeming with life and the riches of the world. All the restless nomads will come to you.

Next came Forest. God said: good to see you on time. I want to give you all the trees, woodland, streams and rivers. The rainforest with its wondrous creatures and plant life will be yours. All the adventurers, all the seekers of trouble and treasure will come to you.

Third on the scene was the Mountain minister. Towering rock masses, narrow paths and everlasting snow were to be his. All the lovers of solitude, all the poets and thinkers would come to him.

Grassland arrived shortly after. Among other things he received vast expanses and fast horses. All the lovers of freedom would come to him.

Right, that’s that, thought God, yawning a little, after all his efforts. But then, just as he was preparing to leave, in hobbled a decrepit old guy, The Desert.

God looked up and said, ‘You’re very late – everything worth giving has been given to the others.’

The Desert smiled quietly at this and said, ‘ What you give is eternal and what you keep is lost; everything you have to give is worthy’.

God smiled back and said, ‘Son, I have very little water – just a few springs and dry wadis, some bushes and bare rocks to give you’.

God opened the wind sack and a hot, easterly desert wind leapt out. ‘Only thirst and hunger are left for you, and he shook the sack, scattering all the sands of the desert. And so the creatures of the night were brought to life, small and weather-beaten. The Desert smilingly and silently accepted what he had been given, and God smiled back.

And God said, ‘ A hard land I have given to you, but it shall be the land of voyagers. All the restless nomads will come to you, all the freedom lovers, all the lovers of solitude, all the seekers of trouble and treasure, the adventurers, prophets and poets. And since you are so poor, so harsh and caustic, you shall be the test of all of life’s greatest challenges.

So evening passed and morning came, a new day.

A Bedouin folk story