How to overcome your fears? Parable and advice from Nicholas Roerich

Few people know that Nicholas Roerich went down in history not only as a painter and traveler, but also as a writer. October 9 marked the 150th anniversary of the artist's birth. Today magazine The Status Symbol cites a little-known fairy tale-parable by Roerich about fears that are often only in our heads. The fairy tale was written in 1911 after the master's numerous trips around the country. In the same year, with the active participation of Roerich, the Commission for the Registration of Ancient Monuments in the St. Petersburg Province was created under the Society for the Protection and Preservation of Monuments of Art and Antiquity in Russia, and in 1910 the artist participated in archaeological excavations in Novgorod.

FEARS

The oaks stood. The ore pines turned red. Under them, in the overgrown mounds, old bones were smoldering. The flowers were yellowing and shining. The grass was green in the ravine. The sun had set.

A crane came out into the clearing and bellowed:

- Be careful, be careful! - And he went beyond the edge of the forest.

A raven began to rustle above:

— The end, the end.

The thrush on the aspen tree screamed:

- It's scary, scary.

And the oriole whistled:

- Poor, poor.

A starling stuck his head out from the top and felt sorry:

— A good one has disappeared, a good one has disappeared.

And the woodpecker confirmed:

- Let it be, let it be.

The magpie chattered:

- And go and tell, go and tell.

Even the bullfinch squeaked:

- Bad, bad.

And all this happened. From the ground, from the trees and from the sky they whistled, crackled, hissed.

And at the Divyi Kamen behind the Bear Ravine an unknown old man settled. The old man sat and caught birds with cunning traps. And with great effort he taught each bird one word.

An unknown old man sent birds through the forest, each with its own word. And the travelers turned pale and timid, hearing the terrible words of the birds.

And the old man smiled. And the old man walked through the forest, went to the river, went to the grassy glades. The old man listened to the birds and was not afraid of their words.

Only he knew that they didn’t know anything else and couldn’t say anything else.

Image: Hut in the Mountains. Sketch of the scenery for G. Ibsen's drama "Peer Gynt", Nicholas Roerich Museum