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 such a tiny beak. But the problem was that she walked on one leg, so she often fell and grumbled about it discontentedly.
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 craftily avoid answering and explain that it simply could not be done, otherwise everything would fall apart.
But Two did not lose hope and believed that one day she would be rid of her bothersome, grumbling one-legged neighbour.
Two's other neighbour was Three. She lived to herself, did not like noisy gatherings, and did not really befriend anyone.
Four was somewhat like One, but had a completely different character. She was cheerful, always in a good mood, hopped about the palace, humming a little song.
And although sometimes she felt sad that she was not as beautiful as Five, these gloomy thoughts quickly disappeared and everything returned to its place.
Five occupied a room on the second floor. She wandered about her room searching for her place, for she was beautiful and important, and therefore 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 did not take advantage of her kindness.
Seven was situated one floor higher. Endowed with respect and self-regard, 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 had not stumbled upon a hidden door during the general 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, which was locked with a bolt.
All the digits skipped down into 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 did not even know what he looked like. But everyone immediately felt that this was him—Zero.
One nearly fainted at the sight, but Zero quickly and skilfully offered her his round little shoulder.
This is Ten!
All the digits pronounced in unison.
Two was afraid of falling behind and quickly positioned herself near Zero.
And this is One Hundred and Two!
The digits announced.
Pleased Three, waltzing, took chubby Eight into her arms, and they began to dance.
Ohhh, Thirty-Eight! Eighty-Three!
The delighted and terribly surprised digits kept shouting. Five could not resist and decided to join them too. All the digits formed a circle around Zero, danced and created amazing combinations, 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 on the way: trees and bushes, flowers and birds.
Night fell upon them during this occupation, 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 count everything.
And in the morning the digits saw indescribable beauty: on the eastern horizon the dawn blushed red, and the sun rose.
The digits stood beside one another 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 the services of addition and subtraction, division and multiplication.
In this way, the digits settled amongst people, and life on Earth became much simpler. New things appeared, using all sorts of different calculations: cars and trains, space rockets, radios and televisions, telephones and computers.
All the digits live amongst 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 has long since crumbled, and the island has become impassable, overgrown with trees and bushes. But life on Earth seethes and bubbles, progress moves forward, thanks to the Little Old Man of the Pine Forest and his friendly company of such different, yet very useful Digits.
