Return of the beauty

After he had vanished into the depths of the sea with his prize, the people following the beauty were left on the shore, overwhelmed by this display of the glory of nature.  There was not a single man who dared even to think of stopping the monster or following him to the sea.

There were no winged sandals, no magic swords, no knights in shining armor appearing from anywhere, but just dumbfounded people looking at each other, at the sea and around themselves.  They were speechless at first.

Then arguments broke out among them—who or what was responsible for the loss of the beauty.  But strangely enough, nobody spoke of supplicating the dragon, as they once would have, for her return.

One thing was clear enough to all: Even if there were no means of retrieving her, and even if it meant defying the way of nature as clearly manifested, they could not renounce the beauty as lost.  Their dreams, fantasies, and clues to the secrets of their lives simply had to live on.

Nobody left the shore.  They just stood there watching the sea, which revealed no sign of their beauty.  As the news spread, the crowd increased and the seaside suddenly came alive with throngs of people from all over the country, all bemoaning the loss of their beauty.  They made a lot of noise, some persuading, the others cursing and threatening the dragon.  Some even composed songs on the spot and sang them out of frustrations verging on frenzy.

It was as if the girl were more real and rendered more power and charm over people in her very absence.  Her disappearance made her beauty felt more painfully, drawing greater crowds than her presence had ever done. 

Moreover, it was now uniting the people with one concrete objective.  A true community of men was emerging, resulting from the voluntary expression of their will.

Of course, a handful of men, mostly old and learned, proclaimed that this was somehow not right, completely unnatural.  They told the crowd it was only right for human beings to submit to the ways of nature, and that unless they put a stop to their nonsense, it would be the end of them all.