The Testing of a Wizard - Viktor Gitin
I could have made a fortune, but for that I would have to learn how to con people and how to bribe officials. And then to stay adrift you have to descend into a life of luxury. And everybody will flatter and praise you to your face, whilst hate and envy you behind your back. And once you start to lend money to your friends you will lose everything. Besides money has a stable quality: to evaporate, when most needed, no matter the amount you have. Why do I need this? Because the availability of money doesn’t compensate for lack of brain, and the availability of the brain doesn’t compensate for lack of soul.
I could try and be a prominent scientist. Study hard and long, dedicate my life to read a thousand books. And even make some discoveries… but what for? So that, by the end of my life I could understand all the mistakes of my knowledge!
I could become a human rights activist, and possibly at first, I would win over the admiration and respect of the population. But my popularity and attraction would only last until I start criticizing the people’s faults. As soon as I start telling people the truth to their faces, they will call me rude and bad-mannered. I doubt that I would feel happier than I am now.
Of course, your conscience could remain pure, but for that you should stop using it altogether…
So, whatever you say, there is no way of me being happier than I am now. I have everything I need! And I have a wife to share it with me!
GELO – Yeah, I can’t deny it, you’re lucky to have her. Wonderful woman.
FISHERMAN – I have no one to thank for our encounter. This inevitability happened by coincidence. But I’m glad it turned out that way. Our mutual understand is so strong that even when we are silent, we know what the other one is thinking. Some people reckon that the best wives are those who have less intelligence than their husbands. My wife is clever enough not to show her superiority. We get on with each other very well. Of course, when my wife has nothing to say it doesn’t mean she is silent. One should learn how to listen to women properly, since they talk more and a lot faster than we men can take in.
I know that my wife is always right, regardless of whether she is right or wrong. You have to understand that the most unfair thing that could happen to a woman is: her losing an argument to a man. Why should I breed unnecessary injustice? She always forgives me even when I am not wrong. I love her so much that I do all my choirs around the house…just for her. My wife is the ideal woman. She predicts all my desires.
GELO – And she fulfils them all?
FISHERMAN – No. Unlike other women she doesn’t stop me to fulfil them. When you are young you dream of an extraordinary wife, but that dream disappears when you find out about her desires. So, you have to look at family happiness in a simpler way, and don’t let dreams distract you. Often what women want, men can’t afford, that’s why we try to live not for ourselves, but for the children.
GELO – Is life really that serene and wonderful here?
FISHERMAN – Of course not, grief and difficulties can make you either better or worse. It all depends on how you deal with them.
GELO – Real life should be in motion, but her life is stagnant.
FISHERMAN – (Upset) There are different types of motion. You could have motion in thought; you could shove with your elbows pushing others or wave your hands helplessly…
GELO – Don’t be offended. I’m happy if you have found your happiness. But I have an obligation to my teacher Fadrius, my Queen, to the people who are waiting for the MIRACLE. And I have to hurry to get it.
FISHERMAN – You hurry too much. One should learn to take their time, contemplate and reflect upon oneself. Wisdom is within tranquility not commotion.
GELO – How can I live peacefully when there are so many people living in strife? I am a future Wizard, and I have to change their life for the better as soon as possible.
FISHERMAN – Stop. Don’t hurry to change the world. You should first try to understand it. Try and be one with it in harmony and agreement. Maybe then you can understand a simple truth.
GELO – What truth? Tell me!
FISHERMAN – You can’t make people happy. You can’t force people to be happy. They have to find their own happiness. One can only appreciate true happiness if they have earned it for themselves with hard work. Everything you get for free disappears quickly without a trace, like water in sand. It’s stupid. And you can’t spread stupidity everywhere you without thinking about the consequences, because people could use it to their own advantage.
GELO – I don’t want to argue with you. Just please help me to cross the river. I have to go.
FISHERMAN – Gelo, you’re a good man. That is great, but you’re still young… alright, let’s go, I will help you to cross the river.
Gelo and the Fisherman go off stage.
Music plays. Blackout.
The same bank of the river. The Fisherman appears. He walks up to the hourglass and turns it over. Some time has passed since Gelo left. Fisherman sorts out his
