The Phantom Man

Tales of Maria Series : I

 

 

 

 

Maria loved to look at her brother's comic book collection. Lately, he had been buying ' The Phantom.' It's a tale of a masked man in his underwear, who rides on his white horse and has a wolf and eagle as companions. He lives alone in skull cave, in a forbidding forest full of heart thumping sounds and natives who all seemed quite lost in what they were doing.

 

Maria figured that the wolf, as an ancient anima instinct, guided the mind of the man to understand the environment of the forest. The eagle helped the man to look within himself and record in memory the lessons that he encountered. The horse of course was the world that carried the man on its shoulders to the place of fulfillment of its impulses.

 

Now, the man. The reason the man wore a mask was due to the fact that he hides his real intent and motivation from others. He can't admit that he doesn't have all the answers and engages in a play of words to create the appearance of knowing.

 

His greatest enemies were the cannibals who lived in the deepest part of the forest. They also practiced witchcraft and could make a man or beast suddenly lose all relation to reality and like zombies would walk right into the cannibal camp like a rat to a python.

 

Maria found it all quite exciting but she wondered about her brother's fascination with the theme. He would turn his attention to the web, the whole afternoon after school. He was a kindly fella, five years older than her. She was nine. He always looked so earnest as he peered into the TV screen.

 

So she asked him one day whether he was looking for cannibals on the internet. ' What? ' he had responded in total consternation. She left it alone, then suddenly asked, ' Is daddy the wolf?' This time he turned to her and seemed determined about knowing what she was asking.

 

So she pointed to the issue of ' The Phantom ' she was looking at. His eyes slowly cleared. Then he turned to her slowly and in a soft voice of understanding said, ' Its just the comics. Don't take it so seriously.' Then he turned back to the screen.