Translation:The Man Who Lost a Button/VII.
VII.
[edit]And the man kept searching for his button.
He searched the forest, the shores of the river and the sea, the orchards and the fields. He feared that the water had carried the button away, into the river or the sea, so he stripped down and waded through the river and the shallows near the coast, carefully observing everything in the sand and in the mud.
Thin, pale, and exhausted, he walked and walked, constantly looking at the ground, his eyes wide open, afraid of his eyelids blinking.
But he couldn’t find the button. Instead, he brought home flowers, shells, nests, insect cocoons, and strange stones, examining them and muttering:
“Mysteries! Divine mysteries!”
He also found rings, little lost crosses, and bracelets. Several times, he stumbled upon gold and silver coins. He handed all of these over to the authorities so they could search for their owners and return them.
And the people in the little town said:
“Ever since he’s gone more mad, he’s become more useful. Before, he couldn’t help himself, his family, or any of us; but now, if you lose somethin’, just watch him. If he finds his button, there goes that usefulness... God must’ve punished him, ‘cause he never cared for nobody. Now too, he hardly sees any of us...”
And the man who lost a button said suddenly:
“Why am I wandering around everywhere? When I go through the forests and the meadows, it feels like I’m no longer even looking for that button. There’s no button out in the fields. It’s surely in the town, with some woman, or man, or child. They found it, kept it. Maybe they don’t even know it’s mine. Now I know that nature is beautiful, full of life, and mysterious. I know the earth is as sacred as the stars in the sky, as the moon, and as the sun. I’ve discovered all of this, I’ve come to understand it. I feel wonder for the small just as much as for the immense. Everything was woven by one hand. Everything was brought to life by one breath. But the earth that feeds us is just a part of All, and I cannot see All without that button of mine. I will find it! They must return it!”
And on that very day, he entered his neighbor's little house for the very first time.
In it he found an old grandfather, a widowed mother, and three small children.
They were all surprised. One of the children even got scared and started crying.
“Uncle Ante, every day I passed by here. Have you ever found, on the path, in front of the house, a button small and gray?”
“We haven't, sir.”
“And yet... the children. I can see that they’re scared of me. Maybe they didn’t want to say if they had found anything.”
“Never no button in their hands. And we’re so poor, we don’t even have those in the house. We make do as best we can,” said the mother.
“And yet... yet...”
With his eyes he searched all around, across the ground and into the corners.
“There’s none, sir! None at all,” the woman said with unease, gathering the little children around her.
“If you don’t believe me, I’ll light a candle so you can see for yourselves.”
And when the old man lit the candle, he saw how the little, dark cottage was cramped and damp, with no wooden floor, all blackened with soot.
“But how can these five live here?” he thought.
“We'll go through the children’s pockets,” said the widow, just to finish it quickly.
The children burst into tears, staring with fear at the strange man.
He no longer even thought about the button.
He looked at the children, ragged, thin, and pale.
“No! No!” he said. “There is no need.”
The mother insisted, though. She just wanted him to never come back to them again. She turned out the pockets; poor, torn little pockets; in one of them, they found a small, colorful shard of a broken plate. The child felt as though they had caught him in a wrongdoing; he started to tremble.
“No! No!” said the man who searched a button. He patted his pockets, but he didn’t have any money on him. He found a piece of bread, for on his long travels, he always carried something with him. He gave it to the child and said:
“Don’t be afraid. Don’t cry.”
As he stepped out of the little house, he paused at the door and for the first time, a new thought crossed his mind.