The Tale of

Vera and the Gnomes of Minas

by: Valentino Incanto Profferi

©Valentino Incanto Profferi 2009

The story told here is utterly fictitious and any resemblance between the characters herein or the events depicted and any true incident depicted by the Fairy tale is completely coincidental and unintentional.

Vera and Pardal was a happily married couple in Manaos, Brazil, the capital of the state of Amazônas. They had had two children and Vera had been pregnant with a third when Vera had expressed interest in having a seamstress shop when the children were a little older. Pardal, which means sparrow, was an unremarkable brown man with years of experience as a gambling game man.

Pardal was well known by local players and local officials as an organizer and dealer. He had been periodically imprisoned for his trade when the Federal government raised it as an issue. But likewise, he had been released to resume his trade as soon as the temporary fervour died down. He made a good profit with his game of the beast, “Jogo do Bicho.” Before meeting Vera and being married, Pardal and an associate had used their earnings to open a legal bar and restaurant. To keep his business free of incriminating troubles he continued dealing his illicit card game in the old alley one block away from the Military Base, from which many of his clients came.

Vera had been a busy mother for some twelve years by now and the kids were often out of the house now. The boy and the girl each had their circle of colleagues and friends at school and after school. Right after school the son played soccer and the daughter volleyball. After that they helped themselves to dinner and went off to practice with the Samba Club. He played the whistle and the tambourine while dancing. With her youthful grace the daughter had already joined the other primary dancing company and thought of little else.

It had been shortly after the end of year holidays that the Federal Police had rounded up the partakers in the game of the beast once more. There had been a few years reprieve until now. Vera settled down to wait out the cyclical court cases that invariably ended in pardons ultimately. As she had almost all the funds needed for the seamstress shop, Vera decided to take a job as the kids were old enough now. She found herself working as a receptionist at a little private security company near the harbour. Like most of the employees, including the Native Amazonian named Calanginho, Vera rode the bus to work and back. Having the afternoon and evenings at work, Vera often heard the incident reports that were made by the day duty guards. Over the course of only a few weeks Vera heard of three incidents of appearing and disappearing figures at the central square near the city theatre, Praça São Sebastião.

After having heard a third report of an appearing Fairy woman with whom the employed Native Amazonian was returning to the forest with, Vera’s curiosity peaked and she felt compelled to investigate. Not knowing what may happen; Vera left the two kids in the care of her mother for a few days. She packed a basket with a substantial picnic and set off for the downtown park on a breezy Saturday morning at dawn.

From a bench across the square Vera watched the security guard struggling to stay attentive. It was a busy day for the Fairies fortunately for Vera, who did not have to wait long. The sun had not even properly risen over the horizon yet and Vera was there as a witness. A small troop of approximately six Dwarves materialized before her eyes waking directly across the square toward the theatre. In their march they passed directly through concrete park benches and later through the steel and glass doors to the theatre. The fact that the doors were shackled with chains and locked did not slow them in the least.

Vera watched the panic-stricken guard groaning in his distress to himself. What seemed to have been only a few minutes later, Vera saw the same little troop returning with two new Dwarves in tow. This time she stood up and hailed them as if they were true, real and solid. To her great delight they solidified before her own eyes to answer her questions. The primary question was of course, “How do you do that, walk though solid matter.” The answer was equally simple but harder to comprehend. “One must allow themselves to be energy instead of matter, it is a capacity we all have in our minds. Humans can never vanish because they like matter too much and they think they can be matter in a total way. “

After a few minutes of talk the littlest of the Dwarves stepped forth and invited the plump and matronly Vera to come with them to their abode in the mines of Minas Gerais. Vera accepted the invitation with a curtsy but found it difficult to imagine how they would travel to far south. Having collected the items they sought after in the city of Manaos, The little troop made their way back through the city virtually unseen. Having to unlock one of the theatre doors for Vera to pass through, the group made their way to the back of the stage to stage left where a Fairyland passage entry had been obscured by the paraphernalia of modern global culture.