(6)...The Jungle of Maths

When the Little One reached his home, things were pretty much going on as usual. Everyone was angry and sulking. From time to time someone would kick another Number or pinch it and send squealing. They did not notice the Little One at once. So he went and sat in his corner and took out the magic ball, Zero, to play with. But very soon the glow of the ball and the rainbow colors shimmering through it attracted the attention of the others. They all started staring at it in wonder and slowly came and stood around the Little One.

Nine was the first to speak. “Here, give this ball to me,” he said.

“It is mine,” said One. “But you can play with it if you wish.”

“I’ll teach you to answer back to me, you little idiot!” shouted Nine. He made a grab at the ball...

...and One snapped his fingers, once.

Nine stopped in his tracks, too scared to move. He saw the Number Ten before his eyes, One and Zero side by side.

“What is this?” cried Nine. “Am I seeing ghosts, or is it Ten himself?”

“Yes,” said One. “I am Ten himself and this is my magic ball Zero.”

Nine started trembling now, afraid that Ten would beat him up. He fell to his knees, and begged for mercy. All the other Numbers also fell to their knees and begged for forgiveness.

“O Great One,” they prayed, “please forgive us for being so rude to you when you were only a Little One! Please do not punish us!”

One laughed and said, “Do get up, all of you. I am still your little brother! We can all play together with Zero. But all of us must promise never to fight each other again!”

“We promise!” shouted the Numbers and crowded around to touch the magic ball and play with it.

Then the Little One showed them how Zero could be made into many more golden balls by snapping his fingers. Soon they had thousands of balls in the small hut! They rolled on them, tossed them, hid under them and threw them at each other. The Numbers had never had so much fun in their lives. They sang with joy. They shouted in delight. There was no hard word spoken. Instead they tried to make things easier for the smaller Numbers.

So now started a lovely time in the tumbledown hut. Every day was full of fun and laughter. They quite forgot their fear of the giants, and went for walks outside. They had picnics in the patch of sunlight. Sometimes the little blue fairy would join them, bringing gifts of nectar and dew drops, which they all loved. They tried to find some other Numbers too, but the jungle had become almost empty because of the four terrible giants.

The sound of their laughter reached the ears of the blind old giantess Trign O’Metry. “Ho ho ho,” she said, “this is very funny! Who dares to laugh so loudly in this jungle without any fear of us?”

She told Al Gebra, and he told Statis Tics and Ge O’Metry. All four of them crept closer and closer to the corner of the jungle where the small tumbledown hut was hidden. They were amazed to hear the sounds of carefree laughter coming from the hut. They gritted their teeth and rubbed their hands and waited for whoever it was to come out. Soon they saw all the nine Numbers coming out to play in the sunlight. They tossed their magic ball and danced about happily. Statis Tics came thumping towards them with his wide open mouth.

“Aaaaargh,” said he, “let me eat them all! Let me average them out!”

“Gimme some, gimme some,” squeaked Trign O’Metry, groping about blindly with her long arms.

“Gibber gibber gibber gibber,” went Al Gebra, while Ge O’Metry tried to hook the Numbers with different angles.

The poor Numbers rushed here and there to hide. They cursed themselves for having forgotten the danger in the jungle. But they could not quite run away from these terrible giants.