Far, far away beyond deep blue seas, in ancient times long ago, when nothing flew except birds and butterflies, on a remote island in the seas and oceans called Mathematics stood an old, very old, enormous palace.
It was so far away that people only heard about it, but except for the strongest birds, no one had ever seen it. In this palace, for centuries, lived the Family of Digits.
The digits never left the realm, which was managed and guarded by the ancient Little Old Man of the Pine Forest. The old man often sat in a deep, soft armchair and pondered—reflected on life.
In one of the rooms lived One. She was very proud and stubborn. She took pride in always being first everywhere. One was somewhat like a little bird, for she had a little beak just like one. But the problem was that she walked on one leg, so she often fell and complained about it grumpily.
One's neighbour was Two. She was quiet and calm, unlike the quarrelsome One. More than once she asked the master of the palace to move her to another place, but the Old Man would slip away from answering and explain that it simply couldn't be done, otherwise everything would fall apart.
But Two didn't lose hope and believed that someday she would be rid of her bothersome, complaining, one-legged neighbour.
Two's other neighbour was Three. She lived to herself, didn't like noisy gatherings, and didn't really make friends with anyone.
Four was somewhat like One, but had a completely different character. She was cheerful, always in a good mood, hopped around the palace, humming a little song.
And although sometimes she felt sad that she wasn't as beautiful as Five, those gloomy thoughts would quickly disappear and everything would fall back into place.
Five occupied a room on the second floor. She wandered through her room searching for her place, because she was beautiful and important, so she always had to be the centre of attention.
To the left of Five was her neighbour—Six. She had the kindest soul. She was always ready to help all the digits at any moment, but they didn't take advantage of her kindness.
Seven was located one floor higher. Endowed with respect and love for herself, she was impeccable. Seven supposed that all the digits were shrouded in mystery. In the evenings, when Eight and Nine came to visit her, they tried to unravel the palace's secret, and even supposed that life existed beyond its walls.
And so their life would have continued, if the Little Old Man of the Pine Forest hadn't stumbled upon a hidden door during spring cleaning. It was in the basement of the palace. Without much thought, he called all the digits so that together they could open this door that was locked with a bolt.
All the digits skipped down to the basement. Without much effort, with just a light touch, the bolt slid back and the creaky door slowly opened.
All the digit friends were terribly surprised: the room had no corners, no ceiling, and no floor. There was no furniture either, not a speck of dust, not a particle. Absolutely NOTHING!
This is Zero!
All the digits gasped in unison.
Out of nowhere came a real, round, chubby little Zero. None of the digits had any idea about him before. Moreover, no one had seen him and didn't even know what he looked like. But everyone immediately felt that it was him—Zero.
One nearly fainted at the sight, but Zero quickly and skillfully offered her his round little shoulder.
This is Ten!
All the digits said in chorus.
Two was afraid of falling behind and quickly positioned herself next to Zero.
And this is One Hundred and Two!
The digits announced.
Delighted Three, waltzing, took the chubby Eight by the hand, and they began to dance.
Ohhh, Thirty-Eight! Eighty-Three!
The happy and amazed digits kept shouting. Five couldn't resist and decided to join them too. All the digits formed a circle around Zero, danced and created amazing combinations that were completely unfamiliar to them before.
The Little Old Man of the Pine Forest took out an old notebook and quickly jotted something down in it.
The entertainment continued, and no one wanted to return to their rooms. The palace's secret had been solved, and everyone understood their purpose. Each digit and the ancient Old Man finally found meaning in life.
The palace's inhabitants left its walls, poured out of the palace, rolled down the cliffs, counting everything they came across: trees and bushes, flowers and birds.
Night fell while they were occupied with this, and then they began to count the stars in the sky. To make it easier, the Little Old Man of the Pine Forest taught them to add and multiply. This way it was much faster and simpler to keep count of everything.
And in the morning the digits saw indescribable beauty: in the east the dawn blushed red, the sun rose.
The digits stood next to each other and understood that they would no longer live in their small rooms; it was time to explore the World.
Wherever the digits went, the Little Old Man of the Pine Forest always accompanied them. He gave them confidence, offered services of addition and subtraction, division and multiplication.
In this way, the digits settled among people, and life on Earth became much simpler. New objects appeared that used all sorts of calculations: cars and trains, space rockets, radios and televisions, telephones and computers.
All the digits live among humanity to this day. And no one remembers where that far, far away island is, on which stands the old, very old, enormous palace. And does it even still stand?
Most likely it crumbled long ago, and the island became impassable, overgrown with trees and bushes. And life on Earth bubbles and boils, progress moves forward, thanks to the Little Old Man of the Pine Forest and his friendly company of such different, yet very useful Digits.
