The Burtleman
by Sabine Sangitar
Among the nature spirits there are different races. You have already heard of elves, elbs and fairies to name but a few. But today I would like to tell you a story about a Burtleman who set out to get to know the human beings. I will simply name him Mr Burtle.
Mr. Burtle was born about a hundred years ago and his parents, Mr Burtle papa and Mrs Burtle mama, were very proud and happy when little Burtleman was born at last. They had waited a long time for offspring, even several hundred years. What you have to know about this, of course, is that Burtlemen get about 999 years old and become proper adults at a hundred years old - or perhaps never, you don't really know. In any case, the joy was huge when little Burtle was born on a Saturday in spring. Every evening, before the Burtles went to bed they would go and look into the nest of their little Burtle.
Mama Burtle thought he was the most beautiful dwarf that had ever been born. Especially his small sweet ears and his slim fingers were so pretty. Burtle mama thought he was the most beautiful dwarf in all of Dwarfland. Papa Burtle was also mighty proud of his son, even though he thought that his ears had turned out a bit too big. But from his fingers you could tell even now that he was going to be a strong lad. This, however, Burtle papa kept to himself. Both had great plans with little Burtle, he was something special after all and should have a better life than they. So they decided little Burtle should become a great doctor or, even better, professor. He would, of course, marry the prettiest Burtlewoman and all the dwarves in Dwarfland would look up to little Burtle with admiration.
But just yet it didn't seem to interest little Burtle what was to become of him. His joy was rather for the big bottle of milk and honey that he drank with enthusiasm. He developed marvellously and he was a very curious dwarf. Which is nothing special as such as all dwarves are curious. Little Burtle had a wonderful childhood and was always the center of attention as over the entire decades no further offspring had announced itself. Thus the years passed and little Burtle gradually grew up.
Little Burtle had an odd hobby, though. He liked walking into the forests and in certain places, so the dwarves said, one could watch Burtle as he looked into the human world with curiosity. This even went so far that little Burtle left the otherworld and hid in the forest in order to watch human beings. This caused the parents great worry, for instead of playing with other Burtles he watched human beings. You have to know that most of the Burtles don't think much of human beings. They thought that human beings were too superficial. And they had many prejudices against human beings anyway. Sure, there were also nature spirits that felt drawn to the human beings, but the Burtles didn't think much of that.
The inevitable happened. One day little Burtle told his parents he wanted to set out to get to know the human beings. The parents were appalled: Their only little Burtle, the great professor that he was meant to become one day! Oh no, that couldn't be true. The parents tried everything to convince little Burtle how wrong it was what he was planning. Burtle mama said to him again and again: "Little Burtles, what are the dwarves going to say about you? They're going to laugh at you and nobody will look up to you with admiration anymore. No Burtlegirl will ever be interested in you!" But as much as little Burtle loved his parents, his decision was fixed. He set out to get to know the human beings.
50 years later
Little Burtle lived in a city that was near a forest. He had spent 50 years with the human beings and he was disappointed. He had observed so many human beings. But unfortunately very few could see him. When he made himself noticeable most of them doubted his presence. Most of the time he was very lonely and yearned for his home and his parents. Besides he thought that the human beings were very complicated and as Burtle grew up in Dwarfland he didn't understand many of the things human beings did. Thus, for example, many human beings had plants in their flat or in their garden, but hardly anybody spoke with them. This made Burtle feel very sorry and he thought long about what bad things the plants must have done to be ignored by the human beings like that.
Burtle also thought that human love was very complicated. In Dwarfland love was very simple. You found each other, loved each other and then decided to spend one dwarf life together. Nobody paid much attention to appearances. Rather, it was more important for the dwarves that the vibration and the energy between them was right. Dwarves didn't hide their feelings for that is not how they are. They showed it when they loved. Fear of love was something the dwarves didn't know. When Burtle studied the human love he was very close to despair. As much as he tried he didn't understand it.
He had also found out that human beings were very concerned about living in big flats. Often a human being was judged by the car he drove, what he earned and how elegant his clothes were. No - that was not Burtle's world and he understood quite suddenly why dwarves had turned away from the human beings.
In Dwarfland everything was completely different. You were glad if the flat was small because then the Burtleparents didn't have to clean so much, something they didn't like much anyway. They used the time in order to sit comfortably with other dwarves, telling one another the latest stories. All dwarves wore the same clothes and there were no cars in dwarfland anyway. To be honest, the Burtles didn't really like walking and therefore built carriages which were drawn by nice hares. But the Burtles were always concerned about giving something and thus they always brought a little sack which was filled with precious stones or grasses that they always gave away.
Burtle had seen enough and decided to move back towards home. He was just walking through the forest and he was sad. But suddenly he discovered a human being who did something that Burtle had never seen with the human beings before. This human being spoke with a tree spirit. Burtle stood rooted to the spot and listened. But suddenly the human being turned his gaze towards Burtle and said with naturalness: "Hello dear dwarf, what's your name?" Burtle answered hesitatingly: "I, I am little Burtle from Dwarfland and I set out to study the human beings." The human being introduced himself as Felix and told Burtle that he had set out to study the dwarves.
I'm sure you can imagine that it was a long night. Felix had brought Burtle back home with him. They talked lively throughout the whole night. Felix explained to Burtle that among human beings there are indeed a few who are kind and open hearted, one just had to look for them a bit. And the other human beings are also kind, they just forget this sometimes.
Felix said to Burtle: "I'm going to a function today. Why don't you come with me, you will see how nice and kind the human beings there are." Burtle was all excited, for he was allowed to go as well, to a big event. Felix said that there were many open hearted human beings there.
In the here and now
Burtle is beside himself with joy. He was allowed to experience so many things. At this festival there were human beings who sang together and laughed. They even spoke with angels, something that was a matter of course for a Burtle anyway. But he was perceived by many and the human beings spoke with him. The most important thing for Burtle was, however, that he realized that here there were human beings who bore love within themselves. In their energy he saw the color Golden-Blue again and again.
In the near future
Burtle was back home again and he was content and happy because not only did he understand the human beings better, no, he had even become friends with them. Thus Burtle made it his job to tell the others of his kind about these human beings. He travelled through all of Dwarfland and gave talks about the human beings, especially about the human beings who were so beautifully golden-blue.
Burtle had a talent as story teller and wherever he was many, many dwarves gathered and he enjoyed a good reputation. In the very last row you always saw Mrs Burtle mama and Mr Burtle papa. You would hear Mrs Burtle mama say that she had always known it. Her little Burtle was going to become a really great one. The thing about the professor she preferred to keep to herself, though. Recently you would always see a very pretty Burtle lady in the very front row who winked at Mr Burtle in a way as only dwarves in love do.
After many talks by Mr Burtle the dwarves had become so curious that many of them set out themselves to become friends with the human beings.