Being and Not

Once long ago,
When the Earth was rounder than it is today,
and spun like a marble in the vest pocket of time,
there lived two small creatures of existence.
One was named Being,
the other was Not.

One fine spring morning when the sun was shining
and the breeze was cool
and everything was just about as real as it ever had been,
Being and Not sat down together as friends,
on a piece of green clover;
and began to talk.

They talked as friends often do,
about this and about that
and nothing in particular.
As the dew melted and their conversation came to an end,
they decided to divide up all the Ams and Ises of the world
and go on their separate ways.

They took turns choosing
and each one picked the things they wanted most.

Being got the trees,
the clouds, the birds,
the wind.
Being got color and song,
and the simpler portions of imagination.
Being got rivers and mountains,
light from the moon
and Being was happy.

But no happier than Not,
who also got all the things he'd ever wanted.

Not got unicorns and dragons,
and all the elves and trolls and pixies
whom he loved.
Not got the very highest, farthest, deepest portions of imagination.
Not got wishes and dreams and ghosts and magic.

Before long,
everything that ever was,
belonged to Being or to Not.
Except for one last thing.

It was a small thing
but it was something both Being and Not wanted.
So, they decided to flip a coin.
Heads, it went to being.
Tails, it went to Not.

It came up heads
and here we are.

Author: Unknown.