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“Formed thus in ranks, a hare happened to pass among them, and scarcely had they seen it when they ran after it; and seeing them agitated and all chasing after one, Darius asked what this commotion of the enemy was about” (p. 163, Travels with Herodotus, Ryszard Kapuściński)

“And that disdain, that humiliation (that of the other army in chasing a hare) was for the king of the Persians a blow far more atrocious than his defeat in a great battle would have been” (p. 164, Op. Cit.)

This morning, in my last dream (it must have been around 6 a.m.), almost 15 suits of various colors appeared, and I had to choose which one to wear. According to the I.A.: “A suit symbolizes our aura, reveals our intentions, our energy, the qualities and virtues we radiate.”

Upon waking, that image remained vivid in my mind. I was able to recall a It was afternoon, the door opened and I went into a room. I said hello and kissed her. My Nona Domenica was about to die after a long illness, and I had been embroiled in a family feud for several years—one I had taken on as my own, but which wasn’t mine to bear. I spent a few minutes with her and left. By the time I left, I had reconciled with part of the family. I was 17 years old. Years later, I would come to call that grandmother «my favorite witch.» She was preparing for the end of her life, and like anyone with a power, she withdrew from reality to let her psychic force be released.

Yesterday, while reading Jorge Volpi’s *The Invention of All Things*, he stated that «if anything makes us human, it is our capacity to create fictions, especially about ourselves.»

From that farewell, I drew many conclusions. One of them was the separation between reality and the established world, and between people with a certain power of knowing another reality.

Two fictions?

Perhaps. Once, with each separation from a beloved family member, they leave us their legacy. Then we must decide what to keep and what doesn’t belong to us.

An arduous task that can sustain us for years. Like Darius in his battle, he understood that the army facing him despised him so much because: “They are more interested in hunting a hare than in confronting the ruler of Asia” (Darius, Persian King) (1).

And sometimes, a simple hare (or a beloved witch) can build a legacy.

Notes:

Darius’s Conclusion

Seeing the attitude of his enemies, the Great Persian King said to his closest officers:

«These men despise us deeply.» They are more interested in hunting a hare than in confronting the ruler of Asia.

Darius understood that Scythian morale was intact, that they were not at all afraid of his gigantic army, and that remaining there would only mean the destruction of their own troops. That very night, the Persians lit large bonfires to deceive the enemy, abandoned the wounded soldiers so as not to delay their march, and began a secret retreat toward the Danube River, saving the empire from total disaster. (Google AI)