Beggi’s story
Beggi lived at the zoo in Tbilisi. He had a pool, a fence and quiet days. He was not famous, and he did not want to be.
Then came the June night when the water rose.
It came where water had never come. By morning Beggi was standing in the middle of the city — on a wide square, in the rain, alone.
He was frightened. The city was frightened too. People came. Nobody shouted at him. In the end they brought him home.
Beggi was quiet for a long time after that. He had seen the world from outside his fence, and it turned out to be bigger than he had been told, and sadder, and much more beautiful.
He found he had things to say. First one sentence. Then a page. Then a shelf. Then the shelves were not enough.
That is how Beggi came to have a library — his own, and then everybody’s.
