This original story was inspired by my own trials of faith. It seeks to honour St John of the Cross’ writings on the Dark Night on the Spirit, which offered me much companionship during this wilderness.
Yannis was a simple gardener who loved cultivating plants. However, his kingdom had fallen into great peril. In the dead of night, terrifying dragons had abducted their young queen, and taken her atop a perilous mountain. “Who will rescue her?” the townsfolk wondered, “we are a peaceful people, and have no knights.”
A wise woman called a meeting in the kingdom square. “Every able-bodied young man must embark on a quest to save the queen,” she said. “They must all be trained up in the art of combat.” And so, all the young men, including Yannis, were enlisted to learn the art of combat. They trained hard, for they were all good and brave men. Yannis trained hardest of them all.
On the eve of the men setting out, the wise woman called one last meeting. “The Mountain is dangerous, filled with dark forests and jagged rocks. You will need help navigating the climb. And so, each man must take with him a royal hound. These mighty animals have lived in the palace for generations. Their eyesight and hunting instinct will surely aid the Great Quest!” “Hear, hear!” said the knights, each one taking a dog. The wise woman then specially motioned to Yannis. “I have for you a special dog.” She brought before him a tiny puppy with big innocent eyes. The wise woman leaned in close to Yannis. “Luna may not look very … impressive, but promise me that you’ll trust her till the very end.” Yannis nodded uncertainly, and Luna panted happily and licked his hand affectionately.
The next day, the knights set out to the base of the mountain, each with a dog on leash. The roar of the dragons at the peak sent a shiver down everyone’s spine. “Arise knights! We live and die for the queen!” The hounds then charged up the mountain, and the knights all followed them, swords out, armour clanging. All except Luna, who bolted in another direction altogether, yanking Yannis with her. He tried to keep up, but the puppy was surprisingly strong. “Stop Luna, you’re going the wrong way! Turn around, we need to be going up, not down the mountain!” He soon became alarmed that Luna was charging straight towards the edge of a cliff. “Stop!” he cried, but he lost his footing and tumbled right over the edge. Down and down they rolled, bumping hard into jagged rocks and ledges. “Oh! Ow!” Striking the many rocks shattered Yannis’s sword and shield into many pieces, and his helmet broke right off. Down they tumbled, further and further away from the mountaintop, plummeting in sheer darkness for many scary moments, until … splash! They plunged into a lake at the ravine bottom. Icy water assaulted them from every side. Yannis panicked. While he was a good swimmer, he simply couldn’t do so while his armour weighed him down. As he gasped and thrashed in the dark, Luna calmly swam around him and under him, loosening and stripping away the bonds that tied the armour to his body. Just when the exhausted Yannis noticed Luna helping him, he passed out.
When he finally came to, it was night-time. There was no moon, but a few pale stars offered the ravine a gentle light. Yannis saw that he was now lying beside the lake. “How long have I been here?” he wondered. Up above him in the distance he could just hear the knights hollering battle cries. The roaring of the dragons echoed down the ravine, as did the sound of clanging claws on shield. Realising the Great Quest was still happening, Yannis quickly jumped up and tried to clamber up the ravine, but his battered body didn’t get him very far. He collapsed back down, feeling very lonely and forgotten. “Help…” he whispered, knowing no one could hear him, especially not when the knights were on the Great Quest! It was then that he noticed Luna’s soft panting next to him. “You! It’s your fault we fell down here! I’ve lost everything now.” Luna licked his hand affectionately, and Yannis suddenly remembered how the puppy had helped him become free of his armour. His tone softened. “The wise woman told me to trust you. Now… how can we rejoin the others on the Great Quest?” Luna immediately got up and jumped into the lake, barking at Yannis, as if motioning him to follow.
“You want me to go back into the lake? But the fight’s up there, not in here.” Luna answered by simply diving below the surface. “She must be leading him to retrieve my armour,” Yannis thought. So he took a deep breath and leapt back into the lake too. Without all his armour hampering him now, he found it surprisingly easy to dive and swim. In fact, as he dove under, he realised the bottom of the lake was a still and peaceful place. He saw Luna there now, tugging at something growing in the ground. It was some sort of blue aquatic flower. “That’s strange, I wonder what that is?” Yannis skilfully twisted the stem with both hands and the flowerhead soon popped off. Excited, Luna took the flower in her mouth and swam back to the surface with haste. He didn’t seem interested in retrieving any of Yannis’s gear at all. Confused and curious, Yannis followed his dog back up, leaving all of his gear at the lake’s bottom.
When Yannis broke the surface however, Luna was gone. “Uh Luna? Luna?” Yannis strained his ears to hear her panting. Sheer silence. He looked around frantically. Not even any paw prints in the dirt. A dark cloud rolled across the sky and blocked out the few pale stars, so that the entire ravine was shrouded in a darkness darker than night. While Yannis desperately wanted to continue trusting his dog, the crippling feeling of abandonment begin to creep into his heart. His one companion had left him. And his last hope of joining the Great Quest had been snuffed out. In the darkness of the ravine, our lonely knight sat.
Meanwhile, atop the mountain, the knights victoriously slew the dragons and rescued the queen, who only suffered a small wound to the shoulder. They came down the mountain together, and with great parade, returned back to the palace. No one even thought about Yannis and where he might be, except the wise woman, who wondered where Luna might have led him. Then, just as everyone slept that night, something unexpected happened. The queen began to turn a sickly colour, break out in fever and struggle for breath. When the wise woman was called to investigate, she shook her head sadly. “The queen has been poisoned by dragon venom. By dawn, her heart will stop. There is only one antidote that can save her now, an ancient flower that grows in the lowest, darkest place of the mountain. It is the one place that no knight would ever venture himself.”
It was at this point that Luna bounded into the bedroom carrying the ancient flower in her mouth. The wise woman smiled knowingly, took the flower and immediately began making the antidote. She chuckled at Luna. “The antidote will be ready in no time, brave and faithful dog. Now … at dawn, go lead the other knights back to the mountain. Bring home our brave comrade.” Luna barked excitedly, knowing how much her re-appearance would mean to Yannis.
And so this is how it came to be that Yannis finally discovered his part in the Great Quest. Though it would take many years for him to understand why it was he who was given Luna, he trusted that his dog had intended to lead him to the lowest, darkest place on the mountain. For that was the one place that no knight would ever venture himself.
Further Reading:
The Impact of God (Fr Iain Matthew): An excellent general introduction to St John of the Cross’s spirituality, and his concept of Night
Dark Nights of the Soul (Thomas Moore): A brilliant read from an author who is both theologian and psychologist. De-mystifies The Dark Night, and presents it as gift.