And then one day, Tristan’s body died. And the spirit that lived in his body blew away with the winds and his body was returned to the earth where it became worms, trees, grass, bacteria, ants and beetles. Some of those were in turn changed into other birds, ants, deer, squirrels, and so on, until that which was once Tristan’s body had been scattered in all the directions of the earth and mixed with others so that soon there was nothing that could be called “Tristan.”
His spirit wandered for a time until it had crossed much of the Pacific Ocean and saw a tremendous fire blowing from deep within the earth. The fire was changing the shape of the earth itself and spewing forth huge chunks of lava, which cooled and became the rocks of the earth. And the spirit which was Tristan thought, “I must become one of those rocks. I shall live forever and come to know the ways of the world.”
And so Tristan’s spirit raced toward a huge chunk of lava as it flew through the air and melded with it. Immediately he felt safe and whole. Until it hit the ground and broke into two rocks, rapidly cooling in the ocean. But the rocks were not so far apart. This part saw fish swimming this way, that part saw different fish swimming that way…. And then one day, a little girl picked up a piece of him and carried him home to sit on her mantelpiece. That piece of Tristan saw her grow older from day to day, saw her marry, and moved with her whenever she moved. He was her “rock.” The one “thing” she cherished from her youth, and which she carried throughout her life, unchanging, so she thought.
The other half remained in the ocean. Watching the passing fish and enjoying the caress of the waves as they slowly and imperceptibly washed parts of Tristan’s other half away. After many long eons, Tristan’s other half had either been dissolved into floating minerals or pulverized into sand, and even smaller parts, which became clams, fish, water….
Part of him had been obliterated, turned into everything that lived in the ocean. Part of him had been turned into things that live on the land, and part of him is still a rock, waiting until it, too, is turned into another part of the earth.
And so it has always been with everything that came before, and became, Tristan, and with everything he became and will become. Until there is no Tristan, and nothing that ever will be, can be, without Tristan.
