The Hidden Door and the Little People

Alex went out in the quiet night.  In the middle of town one night, he stepped on a hollow spot.  “How could that be?” he said.  “This is the normal ground.”  He touched it with his hand, and his fingers curled around a latch…as in a latch for a door.  He opened it and found a stairway descending.  He went down this stairway.

Inside, he could see very small men and women and children.  They were like the men, women, and children in the real world, only you had to look hard for them.  What made them stand out was their singing.  He heard the women singing a song which cast a good spell over him.  Their voices gracefully moved from note to note.  He didn’t even know what they were singing about.  He had never heard women sing before.  Their song entranced him.  He couldn’t believe he was there.  He must have sat there all night.  In fact, he sat there and listened to the music for days and days.  He was warned not to tell anyone about the place when he returned.  Up above, the bakery where he worked continued on without him.  When he reappeared, he continued to work.   A woman named Anna who worked at the same bakery wondered where he had gone.

Alex found a room in the back of the bakery where he could go.  In the silence of this room, he could still hear the song that the women would sing.  He would close his eyes.  He could hear their voices, gliding up to high notes, how differently a woman’s voice sounded from a man’s voice, even when they would speak.  It filled him with such longing, and he thought he could listen forever.  Anna would see him in this room.  She was so puzzled after weeks of this that she decided to keep an eye on his home at night, and see what he did.  She saw him go to the middle of town.  She hid behind one of the buildings and saw that he pulled the latch.  “There’s a hidden door in the middle of the town!” she thought.  When he had been down there for a few minutes, she also pulled the latch of the door, found the stairs and went down them. 

Inside, she could see very small men and women and children.  Like Alex, she thought they resembled those in the real world, yet they didn’t seem as special somehow.  She also found that what made them stand out was their singing.  She heard the men singing a song which cast a good spell over her.  They sang with robust passion with great feeling.  There was great meaning to what they sang, and there was also a jubilant, joyous sound.  She had never heard men sing before.  She didn’t know what they were singing about, but she found it very intriguing.  Their song entranced her.  She left before Alex could see her because she was embarrassed.  Alex would have loved for someone to have been there.  In fact, he would have loved for Anna to have been there, but he didn’t know.  And neither did she.

Soon enough they both would sit and enjoy the silence in the back of the bakery.  Alex didn’t feel strange because Anna seemed to like the silence as he did.  Sometimes when his eyes were closed, hearing the song, he would open his eyes and look at Anna.  He felt that even though he still didn’t know what the womens’ song was about, and even though he’d heard her sing before and she didn’t sing well, he thought she would enjoy singing this song.  And sometimes when Anna’s eyes were closed, hearing the song, she would open her eyes and look at Alex.  She felt that even though she still didn’t know what the mens’ song was about, and even though she’d heard Alex sing before, and he had a terrible voice, she thought he might enjoy singing this song.  Yet still they said nothing.

The owner of the bakery was a crocodile.  He was a wicked creature.  He had long since begun to wonder about all this, and saw them both sneak into the hidden door at different times.  Filled with surprised fury, he went down some time after Anna and he had the same experience.  He hated the music.  He hated the sound of mens’ voices.  And he hated the sound of the womens’ voices.  He hated the way they sang together.  He knew that when Alex and Anna were in the back room of the bakery they were listening to the song they heard from the hidden door.  The next time they sat there, he filled the room with squealing pigs so that they couldn’t hear the voices. 

The next day, the crocodile thought he would continue to fill the room with noise, but there came such a loud singing of mens and womens voices that the pigs all ran squealing from the room.  Alex and Anna recognized the song, but couldn’t see the people as they had before.  Then there came a voice.  “We are smaller when we are in your world.  But we are also louder.”

The crocodile sold them the bakery and never came back.  Alex and Anna sang this song at their wedding with all the little people present and they continued to sing it, living happily ever after.