L egend has it that once, a long time ago, at the beginning of the world, a powerful wizard lived in the sky. His name was Lenimar and he had lived with his twin brother Keskener since the beginning of time. The brothers were twins, but were very different from each other. Lenimar was a very wise being who always searched for Truth everywhere he found himself. He was reserved, even with his brother, and always tried to use his powers in the most responsible way. Keskener, on the other hand, was a dreamer. He was wild and extroverted and cared little about the great secrets of the universe; for him, the universe was just there to be enjoyed.
Lenimar always tried to get his brother to settle down and be more responsible in his actions, but Keskener always made fun of his twin and then went off to watch shooting stars. Other times it was Keskener who tried to make his twin see the beauty of the universe, but Lenimar, always analyzing, could never see what his brother was trying to show him.
And so they lived for a long time, each living his own way and respecting his twin’s approach, but sure that it was wrong.
One day something terrible happened. A massive comet sailed by where the twin brothers lived and Keskener, awestruck by its beauty, climbed the highest mountain to see the comet in all its splendor. He was so impatient to reach the peak that he climbed recklessly, not looking where he placed his feet, but with his gaze fixed on the comet’s luminous, magnificent tail. As fate would have it, as Keskener took one of his impatient steps, the ground shifted under him and he fell off of a great precipice, striking rocks on the way, his body tumbling down the steep slope.
Keskener let out a loud, desperate cry for help as he fell, so loud that Lenimar heard it in the distance. Lenimar rushed toward the source of his twin’s cry, fearing that something serious had happened.
But by the time he reached where his brother’s voice had begun, he saw Keskener lying at the bottom of a deep crevasse, and hurried down to his twin’s side as fast as he could. He found his Keskener collapsed on the ground, covered in wounds, his gaze lost in the heavens. Lenimar called his brother’s name, and Keskener turned his face toward his twin, as Lenimar tenderly took his hand.
“Look at the sky, brother. Isn’t it the prettiest thing you’ve ever seen?” said Keskener
And Lenimar lifted his head and looked where his brother had been gazing, and he saw the huge comet, its lighted tail crossing the sky. With tears in his eyes, Lenimar looked down at his wounded brother and said:
“Oh my brother, it is beautiful.”
“You were right, Lenimar” said Keskener, “my wild, reckless nature has run its course and now I’ll have to pay the price.”
“No, it was I who, in my blindness, failed to see the beauty around me, brother” replied Lenimar. “You have always been able to see what I could not.”
Lenimar saw that his brother’s life was escaping, and, he grasped Keskener’s hand even more tightly.
When he felt death approaching, in a desperate act, Lenimar used his power to join their two bodies in one, intertwining his own spirit with that of his brother in one mangled body that could, in time, heal itself.
Time passed, and the twin’s single body healed. They decided to leave that place and travel the skies to see all of its beauty.
Lenimar again used his powers, and he transformed himself and his brother into a beautiful comet, like the one that they had seen not so long ago, and they began to shoot across the sky seeing all of the wonders of the universe.
Thousands of years passed. The twins saw what no one had ever seen, they learned about what no one had ever thought could exist, and one day, they reached a desolate, lonely world. It was a sad place because there was nothing there. Lenimar and Keskener decided it was not worth staying.
But then Keskener saw a small red spot on a great plain. The brothers looked more closely and saw that the red spot was really a gorgeous red rose, growing in the middle of the nothingness. They drew closer, just to make sure and saw that it truly was a rose. This was not just any rose; it was flowering, full of life and unparalleled beauty. Lenimar was transfixed by the rose’s tenacity, the way it rooted into the barren wasteland, the determination with which it rose up toward the dark, obscure skies. This rose had a will to live that the brothers had never seen before.
Keskener fell hopelessly in love with the rose, with its beauty; gazing at it, he felt as if he were in a dream. The rose was, without a doubt, the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Much more beautiful, even, than the comet that had nearly taken his life.
So the brothers decided to stay there forever near the red rose. Moving away from the rose to shield it, Lenimar again used his magic to turn the brothers into a shining star to fill that world with light. In his wisdom, he warmed the earth and evaporated the water, creating clouds and wind.
And that wind carried the clouds to all corners of that world, bringing water back to the earth as rain. And the rain that fell on the plains formed oceans, and the rain that fell on the mountains turned to snow and rivers.
And because Lenimar had finally learned from Keskener that the world also was to be enjoyed, not just to be analyzed, and because he had learned that dreams were a wonderful thing, he created a rainbow just over the rose, to show just how much love he felt for it.
Keskener asked Lenimar if for half of the day, he could become a brilliant moon, to softly illuminate the beautiful rose and whisper all of his feelings to it throughout the night. And because Keskener had finally learned from his brother’s calm and wise nature, he created tides, so the ocean waters would come and go, never becoming stagnant.
Many hundreds of years later, life was born on this world, and it filled with plants and animals. And much much later, the Hogols appeared. Even today, the two brothers’ love for the rose has never faltered. Every morning Lenimar appears to warm us and fill us with light and life, and every afternoon Keskener bathes the world with his soft glow, encouraging us to dream and to love.
Some say that on the nights that we cannot see Keskener in the sky, it is because the two brothers are with their precious red rose, wherever it is, sharing in one body the love that they feel for their beloved.

Written by : Joan Moret
Translated by : Mary McKee
Illustrator : Bernat Muntés