The city built on the river

Once upon a time there was a city built on the edge of a waterfall. It was like all cities, full of houses and big windows and people and laughter and arguments, with the only difference it was entirely built on water. The foundations of the city were inside the river, in the bowels of the earth, where the river’s heart lies. Unlike Venice or Amsterdam, the city considered the river its benefactor and never complained that the water was flooding it. On the contrary, the water worked as a miraculous force of life, like water is supposed to be.

Whenever the inhabitants wanted to hide and avoid someone prying, they would simply ask the river to cover them. And the river would obey like a kindhearted companion. At other times, when the sun was weak, they would ask the river to raise them higher, so they would get a better place in the light. And the river obliged them mindfully like a parent.

By Jacek Yerka

 They led simple lives, they had minor worries, they were happy. Until one day, the wind brought something strange. A stench. At first they tried to ignore it and go on with their everyday lives. But it grew stronger and stronger and the good people of the city could not take it anymore. They decided then to uncover the source of the stench. They started an investigation: they asked around, they even appointed a very respectful and old judge to find any criminal responsibility. The judge decided that the very system upholding the river-town was corrupt. It had been corrupt for years, he said, but under the surface, so no one had taken notice. Everyone kept going about their business and decided to ignore the judge. How could this be true? How could the entire institution, they wisely set eons ago, be problematic?

Dirt and a viscose liquid were emitted by the river. Slowly all the streets were clumped down with disgusting substances of unknown provenance. Scientists were unable to identify the root of the problem. Religious men decided it was a play of the devil. So they asked for the financial support of the people. Everybody wanted to help because it was of vital importance to cast evil away from the city. What they did not know was that evil was deeply rooted amidst them.

Other people, courageous like the old judge, decided to speak up. There is something rotten in the state, they said. Once one of the culprits was revealed, one by one the leaders of the city on the river started blaming each other. Scandals, corruption, injustice were the dominating words of the good people’s everyday life.

They would shout, they would sign petitions; they would appeal to courts and magistrates, with no avail. Things seemed lost. Justice seemed sunk. The river would watch this irrational charade. At first it tried to ignore the clamor, it wasn’t good for the fish. However, things were getting worse and worse. So, it simply decided to end this. It wasn’t that hard. It just gave the city a small push down the waterfall, damning its vanity to a pit of desperation and oblivion.