Characters
Aughra
Of the race of Aughra, I, Aughra, am alone, the first and last. Born from the need for rocks and trees for an eye to see the World. The wind blew and the blind trees sang and roots twisted in the dark rocks and the roots sang and the rocks cracked and I was Aughra. This is my song. The rocks willed me to be their eye; the roots willed me to be their eye. Blind rocks that felt the heart-beat of the World; blind trees swaying in the breathing of the wind made me to view for them all the shapes of the World. Slowly, slowly the roots split the rock and I was free. The first age of Aughra was of innocence, and it was long. Then it was Aughra and the race of Gelfling who shared the World. The Gelfling sang and danced for the joy of their lives, and I was a part of that joy.
I spoke, and they listened to me. I spoke of the life within the World and of the light within the Crystal, and from my words they made songs. We shared thought, and I taught them to feel the trembling of the rocks as they sang to the Crystal they could not see. The Gelfling taught me to dreamfast by the touch of hands; then I could see into their minds and they into mine. I showed them the beauty of the Crystal when the light of Suns in conjunction shone upon it. I taught them how one thousand trine would pass before the Three Suns combine to wake the Crystal to full beauty.
I was freed from the embrace of rock and root to witness the World, to share with the rocks the majesty of the Three Suns. I saw the Dying Sun and the Rose Sun and the Great Sun circling our World. And the Dying Sun shone with darkened light, and the Rose Sun flowered in flame, and the Great Sun was the life of all. And I saw that the Suns moved in three paths, and that in time these crossed above the shaft that led to the Crystal. I have seen the glory when the Dying Sun moved across the Rose Sun or the Great Sun. They were the lesser conjunctions. At the small price of an eye I saw the moment when the Three Suns stood together above the Crystal. The dying Sun was dark against the pale beauty of the Rose Sun and the whiter brilliance of the Great Sun.
The Three Suns together in the Great Conjunction were an Eye looking down the shaft to the Crystal. The shaft was melted through the rocks the Dying Sun, which poured forth its strength that the Crystal might be revealed. And in the Golden Age when the Suns moved in majesty over the radiant Crystal, it cried aloud a song for each Sun.
This was our world until the end of the trine of Harmony. The Crystal lay hidden in the mountain, but all the creatures of the World knew it was there. When a Sun shone down the shaft of the Crystal, all would touch rock and feel the trembling from the Crystal. The Crystal sang quietly at the lesser conjunctions of the two Suns; but at the Great Conjunction, for which the World waits nine-hundred and ninety-nine trine and one trine, the song of the Crystal resounded through all the rocks and all life rejoiced. But the trine of Harmony turned to discord, the days of innocence were tarnished. I have seen great glory perish, I have seen strength decay and color dim, I have seen freedom lost and wisdom perverted, I have seen the Crystal darken. And at the end of the suffering I saw the Crystal healed and the World restored. Now I can return to the embrace of rock and root, for I have seen the light rekindled and the Quest accomplished.
The urSkeks found me there upon the mountain-top; they healed my burns; but I was now gnarled root and weathered rock; the heat of the Suns had burnt my first growth away. When I was healed, the urSkeks taught me knowledge; they built for me the great Observatory that I might see all the paths of the World. My life was made complete.
On the day I gave one eye to see the splendor of the Three Suns, a new joy came to the World. I lay on the mountain above the Crystal and saw the Three Suns move together. I lay under rocks with one eye open to the light, and for one moment and forever I saw the Eye of the Three Suns shining down on me. Then from that light my eye darkened, and in that moment of light the urSkeks opened the door in the Crystal and entered our World. The pain in my lost eye was joined once to the joy I had in the urSkeks, but bitter, sour, poisoned rock is that joy to me now.
Brian Froud, The World of the Dark Crystal [ISBN: 1 86205 624 2]
Henson Organization Publishing / Harry N. Abrams, New York 2003
Originally published by Alfred A. Knopf, New York 1982
