Piktor’s Metamorphosis
Herman Hesse
Piktor had entered paradise and found himself standing before a tree which represented both man and women. He gazed at it with wonder and asked, ‘are you the Tree of life?” The tree made no reply, but instead the serpent appeared, and so piktor continued on his way. He examined everything with care and was delighted with what he saw. As he walked along he saw another tree which represented the sun and the moon. “Perhaps you are the tree of life?” he asked. The sun seemed to laugh in affirmation, and the moon, and the man smiled. All about Piktor were wildflowers. They seemed to have faces like people, and some laughed richly and understandingly, while others swayed in a light hearted manner. Still others neither moved or laughed. They were somber and sunk into themselves as though drunk with their own perfume. Some of the flowers sang to Pictor: one sang him the wistful sound of the lilacs, another a dark blue lullaby. One flower had eyes like hard sapphire; another reminded him of his first love; still another made him recall his mother’s voice when he had wandered with her as a child in the garden at home. Most of the flowers were gaily laughing, and one stuck out her tongue at him. It was a little pink tongue, and Piktor leaned down to touch it. When he did, he met the wild bitter taste of wine and honey, and he knew that it was a kiss of a woman.
Alone amongst all these flowers, Piktor was over whelmed by a mixed feeling of nostalgia and fear. His heart was beating rapidly as though anxious to respond to the rhythms of the place. Piktor then saw a bird lying on the grass a little distance away. The bird had feathers like a peacock reflecting the colours of the spectrum. Piktor was overwhelmed by the beauty of the bird, and so he approached it and asked, “Where does one find happiness?”
“Happiness?” replied the bird, “happiness is everywhere – in the mountains and the valleys and in every flower.”
The bird then stretched its neck and shook its feathers before settling back motionless. Suddenly Piktor realized that the bird had been transformed into a flower. The feathers had become leaves and claws, roots. Piktor looked down in astonishment, and then almost immediately, the flower began to move its leaves, and it had already grown tired of being a flower and began to float languidly up into the air. It had turned into a butterfly, and was a blaze of pure floating colour.
To Piktor’s increasing amazement, this happy bird-flower-butterfly flew about him in circles. After a while it glided to the earth like a snow flake and remained trembling by piktor’s feet. For a moment, its wings fluttered, and then suddenly it was transformed into a crystal radiating a deep red light. It glistened on the grass with fantastic brilliance.
As Piktor gazed down upon it, it seemed to be gradually disappearing into the ground, as though it were being drawn into the very center of the earth. Just as it was about to vanish, Piktor reached down and grasped it. He held it tightly in his hand, because it seemed a talisman for every adventure in the world.
At that moment the Serpent slid down from a nearby tree and whispered into Piktor’s ear, “This jewel can turn you into anything you want to be. But tell your wish quickly before it disappears,’ Afraid of losing the opportunity, Piktor whispered the sacred word to the stone, and suddenly he was transformed into a tree. Piktor had always wanted to be a tree because he admired their strength and serenity. Soon he felt his roots sink into the earth and his branches reached towards the sky. New leaves and branches sprouted from his trunk, and he was content. His thirsty roots absorbed the water from the earth, and his branches were cooled by the languid air of the forest. Insects lived in his bark, and a porcupine took shelter at his feet.
In the forest of Paradise in which he stood, he observed the continuing metamorphosis that took place round about him. He watched the flowers become precious stones, or turn themselves into birds. He saw a neighboring tree transform itself into a brook. Another became a crocodile, yet a third turned into a fish and swam off full of gaiety and happiness. All of creation took part in this game of change; elephants became rocks; giraffes, huge flowering trees.
In the midst of all this change, Piktor alone remained the same. When he began to realize his condition, he lost his happiness, and little by little he began to grow old, taking on that tired absent look that one can observe in many old trees; horses and dogs and even human beings begin to disintegrate with time and to lose their beauty because they have lost the gift of metamorphosis. They end their days in sadness and worry.
A long time afterwards, a little girl with blond hair lost her way while dancing through Paradise. She wore a blue dress and sang gaily as she skipped along. Her presence was eagerly noticed by other creatures in the forest. The bushes reached out towards her with their branches and many trees through down fruit for her. But the young girl ignored their intentions. At length she came into the little clearing where Piktor stood as a tree. When people looked down at her, he was struck by a deep feeling of nostalgia and an immense desire to seize happiness before it was too late. He felt as though his whole being were commanding him to concentrate on the meaning of existence and to force it to the surface of his consciousness. He recalled his past life, his years as a man before he entered paradise. And he particularly remembered the time when he had held the magic jewel in his hands, because at that moment, with all the changes possible, he had been most alive. He then recalled the bird and the gay tree which had represented the Sun and the Moon and as he did so he realized he realized how fatal the Serpent’s advice had been. The girl sensed the restless movement of Piktor’s leaves and branches, and when she looked up, she felt strangely disquieted. She sat in the shade, and intuitively began to understand that the tree was lonely and sad, while at the same time realizing that there was something noble in its total isolation. Leaning against the rough tree trunk, she sensed something of the turmoil that was going on in Piktor’s being, and she too started to tremble in an inexplicable passion. Soon she was weeping, and the tears fell on her dress, she wondered why suffering existed. In her own solitude, she felt herself reaching out in compassion for the lonely tree.
Sensing her feelings, Piktor gathered all the forces of his life and directed them towards the young girl. He realized now how monstrous the Serpent’s deception has been and how foolishly he had acted. Now as a single tree, he was overwhelmed with the vision of the tree that was a man and woman together.
Just then, a green bird with red wings drew near and circled around the tree. The girl watched its flight and saw something bright and luminous fall from its beak into the nearby grass. She leaned over to pick it up and found that it was a precious carbuncle. She had hardly held the stone for a moment when the confused thoughts that had troubled her vanished, and she was overcome by a single desire. In a moment of ecstasy, she became one with the tree and was transformed into a new branch which grew outwards to the heavens.
Now everything was perfect, and the whole world was in order. In that moment, Paradise had been found. Piktor was no longer a solitary old tree but was fulfilled and complete and bore a new name which he called Piktora! And thus he sang out, loud and clear, the word ‘Piktoria!’ and this phrase also signified ‘Victoria’ or Victory. At long last, he had been transformed, and he had realized the truth of eternal metamorphosis, because he had been changed from a half to a whole.
From then on, he knew he would be able to transform himself as often as he liked. The force of continuing creation was now released with in him, and he knew he could renew himself as a star or a fish or a cloud or a bird. But he also realized that whatever form he took would be a whole, and that each image he would be a pear; he had the sun and the moon within him, and at once he was both man and women.
Herman Hesse
Piktor had entered paradise and found himself standing before a tree which represented both man and women. He gazed at it with wonder and asked, ‘are you the Tree of life?” The tree made no reply, but instead the serpent appeared, and so piktor continued on his way. He examined everything with care and was delighted with what he saw. As he walked along he saw another tree which represented the sun and the moon. “Perhaps you are the tree of life?” he asked. The sun seemed to laugh in affirmation, and the moon, and the man smiled. All about Piktor were wildflowers. They seemed to have faces like people, and some laughed richly and understandingly, while others swayed in a light hearted manner. Still others neither moved or laughed. They were somber and sunk into themselves as though drunk with their own perfume. Some of the flowers sang to Pictor: one sang him the wistful sound of the lilacs, another a dark blue lullaby. One flower had eyes like hard sapphire; another reminded him of his first love; still another made him recall his mother’s voice when he had wandered with her as a child in the garden at home. Most of the flowers were gaily laughing, and one stuck out her tongue at him. It was a little pink tongue, and Piktor leaned down to touch it. When he did, he met the wild bitter taste of wine and honey, and he knew that it was a kiss of a woman.
Alone amongst all these flowers, Piktor was over whelmed by a mixed feeling of nostalgia and fear. His heart was beating rapidly as though anxious to respond to the rhythms of the place. Piktor then saw a bird lying on the grass a little distance away. The bird had feathers like a peacock reflecting the colours of the spectrum. Piktor was overwhelmed by the beauty of the bird, and so he approached it and asked, “Where does one find happiness?”
“Happiness?” replied the bird, “happiness is everywhere – in the mountains and the valleys and in every flower.”
The bird then stretched its neck and shook its feathers before settling back motionless. Suddenly Piktor realized that the bird had been transformed into a flower. The feathers had become leaves and claws, roots. Piktor looked down in astonishment, and then almost immediately, the flower began to move its leaves, and it had already grown tired of being a flower and began to float languidly up into the air. It had turned into a butterfly, and was a blaze of pure floating colour.
To Piktor’s increasing amazement, this happy bird-flower-butterfly flew about him in circles. After a while it glided to the earth like a snow flake and remained trembling by piktor’s feet. For a moment, its wings fluttered, and then suddenly it was transformed into a crystal radiating a deep red light. It glistened on the grass with fantastic brilliance.
As Piktor gazed down upon it, it seemed to be gradually disappearing into the ground, as though it were being drawn into the very center of the earth. Just as it was about to vanish, Piktor reached down and grasped it. He held it tightly in his hand, because it seemed a talisman for every adventure in the world.
At that moment the Serpent slid down from a nearby tree and whispered into Piktor’s ear, “This jewel can turn you into anything you want to be. But tell your wish quickly before it disappears,’ Afraid of losing the opportunity, Piktor whispered the sacred word to the stone, and suddenly he was transformed into a tree. Piktor had always wanted to be a tree because he admired their strength and serenity. Soon he felt his roots sink into the earth and his branches reached towards the sky. New leaves and branches sprouted from his trunk, and he was content. His thirsty roots absorbed the water from the earth, and his branches were cooled by the languid air of the forest. Insects lived in his bark, and a porcupine took shelter at his feet.
In the forest of Paradise in which he stood, he observed the continuing metamorphosis that took place round about him. He watched the flowers become precious stones, or turn themselves into birds. He saw a neighboring tree transform itself into a brook. Another became a crocodile, yet a third turned into a fish and swam off full of gaiety and happiness. All of creation took part in this game of change; elephants became rocks; giraffes, huge flowering trees.
In the midst of all this change, Piktor alone remained the same. When he began to realize his condition, he lost his happiness, and little by little he began to grow old, taking on that tired absent look that one can observe in many old trees; horses and dogs and even human beings begin to disintegrate with time and to lose their beauty because they have lost the gift of metamorphosis. They end their days in sadness and worry.
A long time afterwards, a little girl with blond hair lost her way while dancing through Paradise. She wore a blue dress and sang gaily as she skipped along. Her presence was eagerly noticed by other creatures in the forest. The bushes reached out towards her with their branches and many trees through down fruit for her. But the young girl ignored their intentions. At length she came into the little clearing where Piktor stood as a tree. When people looked down at her, he was struck by a deep feeling of nostalgia and an immense desire to seize happiness before it was too late. He felt as though his whole being were commanding him to concentrate on the meaning of existence and to force it to the surface of his consciousness. He recalled his past life, his years as a man before he entered paradise. And he particularly remembered the time when he had held the magic jewel in his hands, because at that moment, with all the changes possible, he had been most alive. He then recalled the bird and the gay tree which had represented the Sun and the Moon and as he did so he realized he realized how fatal the Serpent’s advice had been. The girl sensed the restless movement of Piktor’s leaves and branches, and when she looked up, she felt strangely disquieted. She sat in the shade, and intuitively began to understand that the tree was lonely and sad, while at the same time realizing that there was something noble in its total isolation. Leaning against the rough tree trunk, she sensed something of the turmoil that was going on in Piktor’s being, and she too started to tremble in an inexplicable passion. Soon she was weeping, and the tears fell on her dress, she wondered why suffering existed. In her own solitude, she felt herself reaching out in compassion for the lonely tree.
Sensing her feelings, Piktor gathered all the forces of his life and directed them towards the young girl. He realized now how monstrous the Serpent’s deception has been and how foolishly he had acted. Now as a single tree, he was overwhelmed with the vision of the tree that was a man and woman together.
Just then, a green bird with red wings drew near and circled around the tree. The girl watched its flight and saw something bright and luminous fall from its beak into the nearby grass. She leaned over to pick it up and found that it was a precious carbuncle. She had hardly held the stone for a moment when the confused thoughts that had troubled her vanished, and she was overcome by a single desire. In a moment of ecstasy, she became one with the tree and was transformed into a new branch which grew outwards to the heavens.
Now everything was perfect, and the whole world was in order. In that moment, Paradise had been found. Piktor was no longer a solitary old tree but was fulfilled and complete and bore a new name which he called Piktora! And thus he sang out, loud and clear, the word ‘Piktoria!’ and this phrase also signified ‘Victoria’ or Victory. At long last, he had been transformed, and he had realized the truth of eternal metamorphosis, because he had been changed from a half to a whole.
From then on, he knew he would be able to transform himself as often as he liked. The force of continuing creation was now released with in him, and he knew he could renew himself as a star or a fish or a cloud or a bird. But he also realized that whatever form he took would be a whole, and that each image he would be a pear; he had the sun and the moon within him, and at once he was both man and women.