Chapter Forty Five. Derby Discovers Gold

Derby Discovers Gold

"Well hello Springtime!," resounded Derby when he discovered himself back in Umpa's lair.

"Ummmm...Mister Monster? Where did you come from?"

Derby recognized the voice, but then it was the glip glop sound that fully reminded him. "The talking fish!," he thought immediately and noticed the jovial freshwater angler, just beneath the surface of the charming stream at his feet.

"Hello there...let me see...yes, I remember!," reflected Derby as he carried on the conversation with the small fish in the big stream. "You've never met a fish you didn't like and you are also fond of worms."

"Yes sir, fond of fish. Sure am. Fish and flying bugs. Love em both. Goo-gurgle-glop," quoted the tail wiggling water treader.


"And you don't like Monsters...right?," questioned Derby.


"Well met a few who were ok. But never met a fish I didn't like. Sure do like fish. Flying bugs too. Yep. Love em both. Sure do," happily confirmed the fish.


"And in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1," countdowned the Derbster, "you're going to tell me you have to go"


"Watch your step there Monster. Glip-glop. Wouldn't want to get your shoes wet. Ever meet a fish you didn't like? Don't think so! Fish and flying bugs. Good as worms. Blub-glub. Sure do like fish. Monsters, not so much. Bye!," said the fish as if the narrator was cutting and pasting lines from Chapter Twenty. (Who would sink to such a sneaky and lazy tactic as that?)


At the line Monsters, not so much Derby was saying "Two." And just as he said "One," the fish had finished talking with, "Bye."


"Exactly as I thought," said Derby, proud of his prediction.


"Hello Mister!," then came the line from a cheerful floppy eared bystander.


"Well hello Kinko!," returned Derby to the convivial bunny. "How is my cotton tailed friend?"


"I'm digging the colors of Spring Mister. My brother got a bunch of bunny chics pregnant since you were here last. Yep, Rumper has been very busy. Lots of nieces and nephews bouncing all around these here woods. Momma says Rumper has been very generous with his seed but maybe it is time to stop sowing so well," quoted the carrot chewing junior.


"Well this seems like the time for it!," replied Derby enthusiastically as he appreciated the daffodils and tulips. "It has always been my understanding that you bunnies are fertile!"


Looking back at his big white ball behind him, and then brushing his fuzzy belly, Kinko responded. "Fur Whater? Rumper is good and furry. Yep. But don't know about no fur tiles or fur turtles or whatever you're talking about stranger. Well, gotta run! Momma told me not to be late. Bye!," and the cute bugs character dashed back into the briar patch.

Derby inspected himself and his surroundings. "I'm back and I'm myself again!"

The last five weeks as Jenninqua in a bottle were bizzarre but somehow very satisfying for him. He felt the tinge of stirring energy below his abdomen which settled in his testicles. For just a moment he worried that some new ugly manifestation was waiting for his discovery. He examined his equipment by stretching the tops of his pants open so he could view whatever new rude awakening he might encounter there.

"Phew," he said outloud when he found the normal skin and other attachments which formed his beloved triumvirate. "Glad you boys are back in the house!," said Derby as his trousers snapped back around his waist, his shoulders were squared, his chest was thrust out and his old self confidence announced itself by his machismo and his stride.

"Easy there big fella," said a familiar voice. "Don't let your masculinity and false pride define you."

"Who goes there?," asked Derby when his attempt to find the source of the voice had failed him.

"It is us," came the reply, "Shrinegold, the spirit of the vein."

As the answer came, the flash of light off some minerals in a protruding rock caught Derby's attention.

"Thank you Shrinegold!," announced Derby as he approached the rocky area in the clearing.

"Tell me Spirit of the Vein," Derby continued, "What does it mean...Spirit of the Vein?"

"We're one of the five main elements of the Earth," explained Shrinegold to their attentive listener. "We are metal, and especially gold. Water, Fire, Soil, Wood and Metal are the elements. But do you mind if we elaborate a little about each one?"

"By all means," assented our familiar hero. "I'm totally enraptured by your instruction. Please continue."

"Water and fire are not more weighted or important exactly, but they also have what you may think of as "cousins" in another realm of the cosmological mysteries," explained the talking minerals.

"I'm sorry," interrupted Derby. "I don't understand what you mean by the cosmological mysteries. Can you elaborate on that before further elaborating on the other elements?"

"But of course my son," assured the loving Spirit. "Perhaps it will be easier if I ask you a few questions. Would that be alright?"

"As I said Master Mineral," acquiessed Derby, "this is your show. I'm at your service! Please, conduct the proceedings how you so choose!"

"Very well," replied the metallic mentor. "Which are the chief players in reproduction?"

"Why male and female of course," came Derby's instant reply.

"Yes," confirmed Shrinegold. "And what pigments define night and day but are neither primary or secondary colors?"

"Ummmg," thought Derby as he chewed his bottom lip in his thinking process. "White and black!," came his urgent solution.

"Right again!," commended the tutor of tanzanite. "And which orbs rule those corresponding skies?" further quizzed the teacher.

"Well, the sun by day and moon by night," reasoned Derby, while his brain raced ahead to capture the essence of the teaching.

"And is there a corresponding temperature shift?," asked Shrinegold, "that follows the sun and moon?"

"I knew your question would concern hot and cold!," proclaimed Derby proudly.

"So you see, of the five elements," probed the voice of the rocks, "that water and fire are related to male, female, sun, and moon, cool and hot?"

"Yes! I get it!," happily confirmed Derby.

"So, you can understand that they have a direct link with Yin and Yang?," asked the Spirit of the Vein.

"And all things have both Yin and Yang!," blurted the Derbster, as his own reflection further enhanced the nature of the teaching.

"Exactly my boy!," cheered Shrinegold. "But in the five elements, water and fire have an equal role with three others. And they interact as spirits and character. They actually have feelings and goals."

"You mean to tell me that water and fire, soil and wood and you yourself, as the spirit of metals, actually feel and strive to some form of perfection?," asked Derby in disbelief.

"Not in the same way humans behave my son," calmly explained the deep spirit, "but yes, we have work to do and we are alive. All living things care and feel."

"My heavens," said Derby to himself but outloud. "That is an astounding thing to think about!"

"I'm glad you're sensitive enough to appreciate the finer points of the teaching my lad," lovingly acknowledged the tectonic teacher. "May I finish?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," apologized Derby. "I didn't mean to interupt."

"Not at all my love!," corrected Shrinegold. "I'm merely wanting to make sure we proceed at the same pace. This is not simple material to absorb!"

"You're right about that Shrinegold!," agreed Derby. "I'm talking to rocks, who are convincing me they're every bit as alive as the little bunny and fish that I conversed with moments ago!"

"You will soon be a teacher yourself my son," affirmed the monkish mineral. "If you can understand that, and see the life in everything which surrounds you, you will soon discover that there is nothing that divides you from any of it. That it is as much of you and you are as much of it as your own glands and organs are to your own body."

"Please don't delay Rabbi!," said Derby. "Explain further about soil and wood. I have much to learn!"

"OK. So let us consider the cycles of the Earth," continued Shrinegold. "You have learned to love the seasons, right?"

"Yes," confirmed Derby with a smile as he appreciated the signs of Spring.

"Just as winter eased into a melt and the melt eased into small buds opening, this season will gradually change to a more intense time when the summer sun rules and heat dominates the day," said the rockish spirit. "Just when the hottest moment seems as if it is excruciating, again there is yielding, and the leaves which almost seem burnt by the sun's extreme energy, the water will flow backwards and the colors will change into a glorious celebration of golds and reds."

"Yes, the cycle comes full circle and each season is distinct. But there is an inter-relationship. One bleeds into the other," reflected Derby.

"A nice way to think about it," replied Shrinegold. "And so it is with the five elements. Water goes to the trees and the growing green things. These growing things are wood. Wood makes fire. Which then turns to soil (or other forms of Earth). Within the ground, minerals are produced from the activity of life from within that layer of element. And these elements then yield to water.
Thus the cycle runs!"

"So soil is just one example of the Earth or matter element? And wood describes all green living things because they are fibrous?," clarified Derby.

"Exactly," affirmed Shrinegold. "Now there are other ways the five elements interact. For instance, even though Earth (soil) makes metal (me), and water makes wood, Earth has a direct and dominate influence on water and water has a direct influence and dominance on fire."

"And the feminine also is the controlling influence of the male?," questioned Derby, as he wondered about the ramifications of the teaching.

"Your inquisitive nature is impressive my human student!," cogitated Shrinegold. "But you must understand that there are many aspects of male and female, yin and yang. Not to mention there are more than two genders and there are nearly infinite combinations of character."

"More than two genders?," reflected Derby, remembering something Umpa had recently said. "I recall Umpa saying the other day there are seven types of gender. Would you mind elaborating on that.

"As I understand it my boy," peacefully declared the Spirit of the Vein, " we have eyes on us. And we should give them some rest. They have many other pressing things to do than to spend all their time reading what you and I have to say to each other. Shall we give our courteous readers a break?"

"Let's," agreed Derby.