The riddle*

 

A real turmoil was living in the mansion. The ministers discussed the consequences of the ruler's next decision because while some were happy, others feared that it could harm them, since the riddle of the fortune teller predicted that with the ace of clubs, time would be favorable to spread the men with dust. of butterflies, with the three of cups he supposed that in one of the jungles of his empire they could be found dormant in their cocoons, and with the jack of swords he let us presume that other beings would reproduce like never before; besides, he did not dispute an order that obeyed the omens of his wife. In short, most were worried about the accumulation of omens that surrounded them, and made them believe that they could lose the illusions they had conquered by the mere fact of being collaborators with the despotic domination that they exercised over their subjects, whom they had in an uncertain world. where the future could not be glimpsed and the present was unforgiving.

They could not even see the birds in the sky or breathe the open air of nature or receive sunlight directly because the glass house stripped them of the shining lights of the stars, and thus forced them to invent other zodiacal signs that reflected their floating gardens that were the charms of his power. The clouds in the sky that from time to time let them see the sun's rays, resembled bonfires that through time reminded them of how as children they played with snowmen in winters, or quenched their thirst for freedom in winter. summers. They knew from the rumors that in the mansion its gardens enjoyed immeasurable riches that served on more than one occasion to enchant young people with the mirage of pleasure and money.

The bees were there that made the fruits germinate in an uninterrupted way that produced a lovely honey. The orchids with elongated flowers that ended in the shape of a camber were not lacking, nor were the fleshy fruits brought from what was the Eden of civilization, which, sliced ​​and seasoned with drops of honey, plus other wild herbs, served to feed the soldiers in the barracks. And what about the leggings. Extinct in time immemorial, they were rebuilt pen by pen by Nacario, a picturesque character that the rulers used to represent them when they had to do cultural activities in the glass house. A few of the long-awaited lepidoptera of infinite colors, shed their phosphorescent musks to the winds. Crystalline fish collected by the roots of the hanging trees plowed through the underground rivers of the palace. The ruler who could watch over the shadows of his subjects with his thousands of eyes, felt the discomfort of those great men who, having everything, got bored, and wanted to do things that no human could imagine; That is why, having dreamed of all the dreams of this world, he had the bicharos at his fingertips, mythical beings who scattered the seas to the winds. He also possessed the mermaid-snails whom he made into emblems of his kingdom with which he awarded the best soldiers, and which served to replace the old stripes of other times. In his palace she could play with the frequencies of his sounds that he chopped to make a drop of water splash the whole earth, or take away all the chimeras.

And yet, throughout the city the rumor circulated that the ruler could not sleep because he was chasing a damn rooster that woke him up in the least expected hours, and made him scream blasphemies against the enemies he presumed, even that he did not sleep with his wife, but with the girls kidnapped by his faithful soldiers, who later forced them to confine themselves in a convent with the story that would compensate their favors by saving their souls, and with the lure of pensioning their parents for life.

 Brunhilda who did not believe in those escapades of her husband dressed as a beggar, she was convinced that everything obeyed a plan drawn up by conspirators who wanted to take away the power of the glass house. She supposed that the intruding bird had been trained by some sinister character who represented all the enemies they had, since none of the guardians and close friends knew of the whereabouts of the bird that harassed them with its songs. She did not want to lose the privileges obtained over the years through sacrifices, satisfied when she conquered her man with the spells of feminine charm and the subtlety of her divinatory resources with the cards of the decks that allowed them to amass all those unimaginable riches , that even the air that a worm breathed in any part of the earth, belonged to them.

If Romualdo, who knew the secretss of power, or she who knew the intricacies of her soul, could not suppress the anguished quiquiriquí of the animal upstart, son his adversaries would know of the fragility of a kingdom that could shatter into a thousand smithereens before the audacity of a lurking enemy who revealed to them the dangers of power at the wrong time.

 So he set out to find it. As a good observer, she deduced that the laughter of the servants, the whispering of friends at parties, the insistence of the ministers in discussing the decision of the ruler to devastate the people with the dust of the beautiful butterflies, betrayed treason. They were days of anxious search because she suspected that in one of the palace gardens, or within her own rooms, she could be sheltered from the diligent persecution to which they had subjected him.

 In one of those searches after removing heaven and earth, he was able to discover the elusive rooster in one of the attics of the many kitchens that the mansion had, and know just by smelling it of the culprit of such chaos: A trainer of the divine and human, expert in using the most dissimilar disguises, knowledgeable in innumerable tricks, that he had been doing his own way without his hounds having been able to capture him. Shock and dismay produced this new rumor. They understood that the disappearance of the mysterious double of the ruler of the places he frequented was due to the fact that he had them subjected to intense espionage, in order to be able to scrutinize the depths of their consciences, trying to decipher the whereabouts of his mortal enemy who was trying to drive him crazy. Satisfied, he gave the order for his soldiers to fire the laser beam weapons at the cocoons containing the butterflies that were in the thick and blind bushes that form a small bush in the middle of the majesty of the Amazon jungle. The beautiful multi-colored butterflies that had been waiting for a long time for the propitious moment to emerge wildly from the cocoons, spread their multiform wings, rejoicing with the warm winds that were taking them to the country of Romualdo; and its musks pierced the pores of men, and flooded their hearts with a whole wave of pain and death. The ruler, displaying his wise wisdom in handling his subjects, said that the infernal wave in the heavens was the punishment for his disobedience. The sky was not heaven, and the night became darker with the deadly dust of the butterflies that flooded the cities and fields, as if God himself had unleashed the forces of nature against them. Women, children, men and animals, heard from all sides the trembling of the plague that howled through the sirens of the ambulances that mobilized the dying, and those of the firefighters who tried to throw all the water from the ground to the skies, in order to clear all the air of the sticky dust that the insects expelled. Tanks of war equipped with modern technologies took to the streets and fields to destroy the immense swarms of butterflies that could hardly float in space. Weapons of different types and calibers were used in what became known as "The War of Heaven" by the ruler's propagandists. Many soldiers hardened in the wars of the East offered the best of theirs, willing to achieve with their performances the coveted Mermaids-Snails, that the best science-fiction films transmitted by the small screens of Pandora, were nothing.

Despite everything, Romualdo, did not want to accept mistakes or defeats, and promised the extermination of the plague in a few days, on the condition that if his subjects did not oppose the reforms he had in mind, he would free the enchanter from what divine and human, whom he kept safely in one of the palace dungeons.

Zozobra, produced this ad. The television screens began to cover all the details of the party organized by Brunhilda to commemorate the anniversary of the rise to power of Romualdo, which was to culminate in his possible triumph over nature that threatened with its violence to destroy the reign they had together. constructed. The viewers who did not leave their homes since the plague began, discovered that the images transmitted by the television screens were those of sweaty and tired faces, reflecting melancholy, bitterness, hatred, passions so common in the times of wars They were more like stone guests at a party of which they were not part; And yet the gaze was fixed on the last of the entertained, because they could distinguish the cause of all this uproar in the palace, now turned into a servile man who with gestures and mannerisms thanked the rulers for sharing the joy of being free.

Tremulous they saw him sit in a specially prepared chair, who, breaking official protocol,  it prepared without preamble to eat and enjoy the succulent chicken pieces that were served to him by the cooks of the lavish glass house. It seemed a cruel offense to eat the animal that had been lovingly trained, feeling that the worst was yet to come. Romualdo, Brunilda, and other guests applauded amid laughter at the praise and gestures made by the trainer during the time he left the animal in the pure bones. Then, offering these to the public who saw his performance on the screens, he proceeded to remove any leftover remains. The crack produced by the bones in the actor's teeth, produced the cries of a "Who can save himself from the owners of power", who were not prepared to endure the suffering caused by feeling the splintering of the glass to the beat of each creak produced by the bones of the undesirable diner, who also knew how to use the combination of sounds and frequencies, which dismantled the foundations of the mansion, and like drops of water they broke from the sky and caused the storm that swept away the misnamed lepidoptera plague.

Finally painters and other artists were able to express unlimited freedom in their creations. New winds plowed through the sky.

* Originally this story that was written in the 70s of the last century with the title of "Tyrant of the Glass House" due to an event that happened to the author in a house where he lived for many years, changed the title for the one it has, since when it was published on the Internet for the first time, events that happened in Colombia were more like fiction than reality, and those that journalists called or spoke of "The riddle." That's what the author called him from that moment.