Light on the Page

Henkal and Jonas – a story

Light on the Page is going to take a slightly different turn today and in the next few days. I hope you’ll be happy to listen. I’d like to tell you a story…

Henkal and Jonas

Chapter One

Once there lived two boys in a place not unlike this but at the same time as different as it could possibly be. The boys were quite the same to look at but at the same time they were as different as it is possible to be. They were called Henkal and Jonas. Henkal was a hair’s breadth taller than Jonas and Jonas was a finger’s width wider than Henkal. They lived at the edge of a desert in a country that was very hot in the sunlight and very cold in the moonlight.

Here’s how they were different. Henkal was very smart, very smart indeed. He knew the names of everything under the sun and when the moon shone he knew the names of all the stars as well. Nothing was too difficult for him. Jonas, on the other hand, knew the names of almost nothing at all, but he loved what things did. He loved the way things moved, what they said in their movements, and Jonas knew how to reply to them even if they didn’t speak in words.

Henkal and Jonas were good friends, and in that part of the day when the sun is going down and the desert starts to sing, they would meet and look for things to do.

One night, when the sun had gone down, Henkal looked up into the deep blue night sky, where the golden stars were just beginning to come out of their hidden places, and he said, “Jonas, do you know the stars used to be great people who had fights and adventures and who understood how to turn stones into mountains?” And Henkal went on and told Jonas the names of some of these people and what they had done. Jonas listened till his eyes grew as wide as the sky itself and when his friend had finished he looked up at him beaming with admiration.

On another day the two friends met before the sun had gone down. Jonas pointed to a particular stone and he said, “I know what’s under there.” “What is it?” asked Henkal. Jonas went over to the stone and lifted it slightly. A fierce-looking scorpion, unhappy at being disturbed, jumped out. “Don’t go too near to that, Jonas,” advised Henkal. “It’s dangerous.” “Not to me,” replied the other boy. He squatted down beside the scorpion and took a little stick from his pocket. The scorpion debated which way to go. Jonas put his hand near to the scorpion and pointed the stick towards the ground. “I’d keep your hand away from that,” said Henkal. “Look,” said Jonas. Henkal came closer. The scorpion was looking at the stick. Suddenly Jonas gave the stick a tiny shiver. No one would have noticed it except Henkal. The scorpion ran round to the other side of the stick, squared up to it, and looked at it again. Jonas shivered the stick a second time. The scorpion ran right round to where it had started. “That’s very clever,” said Henkal. “Very clever indeed.” And he really meant it.

One day, when Henkal and Jonas were about twelve years old, they met in the evening as usual. Henkal had a particularly serious look on his face, which made Jonas afraid. “I’ve something important to say,” said Henkal. A shadow fell over his friend. “I’m going to the town,” went on Henkal. “I’m going to sit an exam for a scholarship.” Jonas had no idea what any of this meant. Why sit an exam when you could stand? What was an exam anyway? What could a scholarship be? Did it sail on the sea? “If I pass,” continued Henkal, “They’ll take me into the university. I’m going to study civilization. I want to know everything about people and the way they live, how they make their cities and their governments and their works of art.” All this made Jonas feel cold. “But you know it already!” he objected. Henkal looked down at him with a strange light shining in his face. “But I don’t know it really!” he said vehemently. “I want to know everything. Oh Jonas, I’ve a great dream in my head! I want to learn and become a professor and teach people and travel the world and discover things! And – and – I want to win a noble prize.” “What’s that?” asked Jonas, astonished at his friend’s passion. “It’s what you get when you’re noble at something,” came the answer. “What’s noble?” “It means when you’re the best you possibly can be at what you do.” Jonas had a feeling he knew what that meant, although everything else might have been spoken by the people in the stars for all the sense it made to him.

The two boys’ faces were lit by the yellowish light of the moon. But they wore very different expressions. Henkal’s was radiant with enthusiasm; Jonas’ face appeared perplexed and anxious.

“Henkal,” started Jonas after a long pause, “does that mean you’re going to go away?” “Yes it does,” replied the boy who was a hair’s breadth taller. A tear formed in Jonas’ eye. “But I’ll come back again whenever I can. I’ll still see you, Jonas!”

Jonas cupped his face with his hands and looked into the sand. After a minute he looked up and his face was so changed that Henkal wondered if it was really his old friend sitting here. “Henkal,” said Jonas, “I want to do something too.” “You do?” said Henkal with surprise. “What’s that?” “I want to be a zookeeper.” Henkal gaped. “A zookeeper!? What do you know about that? “Well, every week my mother’s brother comes and has dinner with us. He works in the zoo and he’s told me all about it. I just know I want to be a zookeeper!” Jonas’ eyes shone. “Well, Jonas,” spoke Henkal very slowly, “I had no idea you wanted to do anything away from here. Will your uncle get you in to it?” “Well, he said it’s not that easy. He said I have to do something. Here – he wrote it down for me.”

Jonas took a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to his friend. Henkal opened it up, took in the first two words and felt his heart sink. “Entrance test,” he read. “Yes,” said Jonas, “that’s it. Tell me what that means again.” “Well,” said Henkal, “it says here that to get into the zoo and become a zookeeper you have to pass a test. That means you have to answer questions and know things. Jonas, do you think you can do that?”

The truth was that Jonas had never been to school. He wasn’t considered bright enough. “I don’t know,” answered Jonas at last. “All I know is I want to be a zookeeper. “Henkal!” he went on in a burst of excitement. “I can do it! If you will help me!”

Henkal eyed his friend with doubtful amazement. “Alright,” he said. “I see how much it means to you. I’ll help you.”

Chapter One ends there. Please return to Light on the Page to know exactly how Henkal pursued his dream of  learning about civilization and Jonas pressed ahead in his desire to be a zookeeper. (Click on ‘stories’ category for chapters two and three.)

Henkal and Jonas Chapter Two

Henkal and Jonas Chapter Three

Best wishes, today,

Landar

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