Far, far away beyond deep blue seas, in ancient times long ago, when nothing but birds and butterflies flew through the air, on a remote island lost among the seas and oceans called Mathematics stood an old, very old, enormous palace.
It was so far away that people only heard rumors of 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 ruled 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 the Number One. She was very proud and stubborn. She took pride in always being first, everywhere and always. One was somewhat like a little bird, for she had a similar little beak. But the problem was that she walked on one leg, so she often fell and grumbled about it discontentedly.
One's neighbor was the Number 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 cunningly evade the question and explain that it was absolutely impossible, otherwise everything would fall apart.
But Two did not lose hope and believed that someday she would be rid of her bothersome, grumbling, one-legged neighbor.
Two's other neighbor was the Number Three. She lived to herself, did not like noisy gatherings, and did not really befriend anyone.
Four was somewhat similar to One, but her character was completely different. She was cheerful, always in a good mood, jumped around the palace, humming a little song.
And although sometimes she felt sad that she was not as beautiful as Five, but sad thoughts quickly disappeared and everything returned to its place.
Five occupied a room on the second floor. She wandered through her room searching for her place, for she was beautiful and important, and therefore always needed to be the center of attention.
To the left of Five was her neighbor—the Number 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 located one floor higher. Endowed with respect and love for herself, she was impeccable. Seven assumed that all 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 spring cleaning. It was in the basement of the palace. Without much deliberation, he called all the digits to open together 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!
It's 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 it was him—Zero.
One nearly fainted at the sight, but Zero quickly and skillfully offered her his round little shoulder.
That's Ten!
All the digits said in chorus.
Two was afraid of falling behind and quickly positioned herself next to Zero.
And that's One Hundred 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 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 wrote something 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 the walls, poured out of the palace, rolled down the cliffs, counting everything they encountered along the way: trees and bushes, flowers and birds.
Night fell upon them during this activity, 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: in the east the dawn turned 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, they were always accompanied by the Little Old Man of the Pine Forest. He gave them confidence, offered services of addition and subtraction, division and multiplication.
Thus, the digits settled among people, and life on Earth became much simpler. New things appeared, using 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 has long since crumbled, and the island has become impassable, overgrown with trees and bushes. And 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, but very useful Digits.
