The Spear of Insight

The end of the 15th century, the Russian-Lithuanian border. Blinded by the Polish king, Prince Yuri fights for his life and for his beloved. His uncle Saveliy teaches him how to get by without sight. But something from the forest interferes…

“Ah, if only trees could purr with pleasure! Faint, yet still warm rays of the autumn sun pour over the forest edge; the leaves look golden. Somewhere in the distance there sounds like a clatter of hooves, as if an invisible cavalcade is rushing through the woods. It’s woodpeckers tapping to each other. I sneak toward the sound, step onto a branch, get scared by the snap, and hide behind the trunk of a broad pine. Maybe the woodpecker won’t notice. The woodpecker pauses for a moment, but then starts tapping again. I have good enough eyes to look for mushrooms, but not sharp enough to hunt birds. Yet I can see how at the top of a dry, skinny pine a black tail flashes. The tapping is coming from there. Now I’ll go around the pine in a circle and finally see the speckled cap. I lower my eyes to the ground to see where I’m stepping, blink… The tapping stops… The black tail disappears, as if it had never been there. My father snorts like a horse. Without lifting my eyes, I look at his boots, waiting.

‘Next time,’ my father promises.”