BRUTUS

Caelum caught sleep on the winds and drifted over the hills and vales, the oceans, deserts, and forests. In slumber upon gales he sojourned the earth as if upon sails. When he was rested, he stretched his wings, yawned out a flock of birds, and opened his eyes. To his delight, just beneath him he found a large city, its tall stone walls, spiraling streets, and so many busy, little bodies scurrying here and there! Never had he seen such a sight, of men or beasts and their daily doings, for he had always been perched at greater heights, from which mountains were no larger than his thumb. 

Caelum smiled. He stretched his neck over the edge of his cloud bed, and looked down with great interest. It all made him chuckle aloud: dogs chasing cats, peddlers shouting what’s for sale, constables in pursuit of thieves through the streets, paid girls flashing bare thigh and breast from alleyways, a mule so startled by a snake it breaks loose, causing its cartful of melons to tip over, sending its contents splattering the ground.

The beasts without wings lead such curious lives! The god mused.

When nighttime arrived, Caelum’s curiosity had become too much. He needed an even closer look. So, in the form of a gentle breeze and wearing a cloak of darkness, he leapt from his clouds and landed ethereal foot onto dusty cobblestone.

Projections of flickering lanterns, the shifty shadows of men and women, reached through windows and onto the streets. A staggering man followed a beckoning whore into a dark alley and disappeared; only the clinking of coins into her open palm could be heard, followed by rustling and grunting. Horse drawn carts slowly clicked their wheels and hooves away past dusk. Patrolling militiamen knocked drunken men on the heads with batons to help wake them up and send them scurrying home to bed.