Land of Snails /Grotesque/,

by J. W. Cassandra

"Land of Snails", by J. W. Cassandra: a short story, grotesque. The story takes place in an imaginary land, where sinners are punished in the form of snails for the crimes they previously committed as humans in the past. I created classes or kinds for them. Accordingly, the terms "housed snail", "blocked snail", "castled snail" refer to the building they carry on their backs. Every building resembles that of humans. I inserted the story into my anthology entitled "The Unknown Pathway". I have shared an excerpt from it before, so you might find it familiar. I removed the previous headlines. Here you can read the whole short story.

On a winding path disappearing around that can't really be called a road, two snails run against each other. One carries such calciferous trusses on its back that intertwine into several castle-like shapes to form a storeyed "castle block". The other, compared to this one, moans under a formation "merely" forming "blocks of houses". Further away, under the dense tendrils, leaves, and sub-shrubs of the undergrowth, a simple "housed" [1] snail crawls slowly. The two snails sinking under the castle block and the block of houses give the housed snail an eager by-glimpse full of envy. But it does not care about them, moves away at its usual snail's pace, and moves on impassively.

The snail carrying castle blocks addresses the one with blocks of houses, "If I could be a simple housed snail again, my friend! I would give a lot for it!"

"Oh, believe me, my friend and companion in distress, castled snail, I would be happy if I had to drag merely a single house on my soft body for the rest of my life!"

"What did you do to become a block-housed snail?"

"I scrounged, I did the poor people out of their little money, I made outlaws the families, I made homeless the poor, the old, the sick people. For a pretty sum, I let out their flats, houses obtained by false pretencies or I sold them for a huge profit, and in addition, I despised those whom I myself had deprived even of the possibility of a normal human life. And now I have to carry this horrible block of houses till the end of my life… Its lead weight bears upon me and forces me down to the ground, but I cannot stay in one place for long: I have to wander on and carry this horrible weight! ", sighs the block-housed snail. "And what was your sin, my castled snail friend and fellow?"

"Do not even ask! I was a politician. With my laws, I plundered the citizens of the country entrusted to me; I bought castles, palaces, houses, lands, mines, shares. I despised the unfortunate people plundered, ruined, done out of their money by myself; I humiliated them, brought them down to their knees… And now I am crumbling under the lead weight of castle blocks; my soft body is constantly becoming flattened under the weight. Then a deep gorge opens up in front of me, I fall into it as if into the depths of a mine, and I have to struggle my way up to the surface, with the castles on my back… When my soft body is only a millimeter thin under the weight, I somehow struggle up from the depths, then I crawl on.

The castled snail's words are interrupted by a scream: a block-housed snail is falling down rapidly. An earthquake strikes as it hits the ground, all three fall into the abyss, struggling mute to crawl up the steep wall up into the sunlight, where they hope for liberation. Then, when they finally succeed after a long struggle, they rest for a while, and the third one says so panting:

"My companions, I was a politician, I stole, cheated, I did business in combat helicopters and planes, dealt with drugs, I made secret pacts at foreign embassies with which I created war situations. I abused my power in every respect."

Its words fade in a dying scream: a henbane grows out of the ground next to him suddenly, and its toxic juice percolates under the block of houses into the soft body of the falling block-housed snail.

It is writhing, the blocks of houses on its back are crushed to dust, then the snail pops out from beneath them, then more blocks grow on its back. After a long lament, it says, "The henbane is the punishment for the drugs! And it always goes like this: the block of houses grows on my back, then a hurricane grabs me, later it drops me down, I have to struggle out of the crater I've hit, and then the toxin-rain of the henbane soaks me… Oh, if only I had not committed my sins!"

"We say the same for our own sins, comrade! But we have to leave you here because the footsteps are heard already…"

And indeed: shuffling - tapping footsteps are approaching. Man picks up the snails in a bag with a long stick: housed snails, that of block-wielding, falling-block-wielding, castle-blocked snails… For the punishment is that just as they once have chased out the plundered, betrayed people and have forced them to wander in eternal homeless wandering, now they cannot stop on their backs with the deserved castle or house blocks for a longer rest. Because if they stop, the Snail-Picker will come. Or the sun dries out their soft bodies.

And they look enviously, longing for the fate of the naked snail: he can hide in the undergrowth, he can stop, he can even move on. "Of course, he was just the executor of the decisions, the laws, not the inventor!"

And the falling snail with the block of flats is picked up by the hurricane, the snail with the castle block crashes into the opening depths, and the snail with the block screams in horror: the shadow of the snail-picking rod casts at him, and he rushes in horror at a speed belying the snail, flattened under the weight of the blocks.

And the three snails unceasingly see before him, as human beings, usurping their illegitimate compositions in happy arrogance. Then the Earth suddenly jolts in its rotation, a shadow falls on everything, and then a glowing creature, whose word judges, takes shape. And the shadow falls on the hitherto known cities, countries, continents, landscapes, men - animals, everything, and then when it disappears, the face of the Earth is changing: there are no cities or people anywhere, the hitherto known face of civilization has disappeared. Instead, snails cover the ground as far as the eye can see: rivers, paths meander, the greenery of forests is dotted with picturesque patches, smaller and larger animals nest in the undergrowth, in the grass, which in some places rises up even to the heights of the trees of previous forests. And footsteps shuffle and knock, sticks reach for the snails to pick them up in sacks… Only naked snails can hide from them.

Then a message is heard from somewhere:

"Snail society pays for sins committed as human beings, to live over while living on this magical Earth that it has committed against others. All who have scrounged castles, palaces, houses, land, mines, all who have amassed wealth, let them carry the castle-blocks on their back! Let them fall into the opening depths, let them fight themselves to the surface, then crawl on! There is no break, just as there was no compassion in them for those they wrapped out of their wealth, despised… On this magical Earth, such snails let belong to the class of castled snails! Whoever steals as a politician, cheats, trades in combat helicopters and airplanes, drugs, makes secret pacts at foreign embassies, who pushes humanity to the brink of war, they are placed in the class of falling, block-housed snails! Whoever harasses, twists his fellow human beings out of their possessions, steals, cheats, let them languish in the class of block-housed snails from now on! And whoever was the executor and servant of these as a human being will be placed here in the class of naked snails! In each case, release depends on the gravity of the sins committed. Bailiffs are humanized beings who are actually the overseers of this magical punishment. If punishment compensates for the sins committed, then there is a release…

And the guilty man awakens, sloppy…

Written: 03 / 12. 2020, by J. W. Cassandra
Translated: 22 / 07. 2021, by J. W. Cassandra

[1] With this expression, I would like to emphasize that this class or kind of snails always wear or carry a complete house on its back, not as a snail with its shell. This house resembles that of humans' houses.

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