There is the Beginning you can remember; and there is the Beginning that, if you remember it at all, is something half-glimpsed in the elusive and fading fragment of a dream. This is your long-ago Beginning, when you were a spirit, not yet incarnated. The Spiral of Life beckoned, and you were so eager to enter it, because your self-belief was so potent that nothing could undermine your resolve to truly live. You thirsted for adventures that would both challenge and fulfil, and you wanted to share them with your favourite companion: yourself. You had no doubt that your unconditional love for yourself would lead you true, would be a shield against all the mistaken presumptions about you. Vasilisa the Wise has been on such an adventure. And she would have lost her purpose if it had not been for this little doll, who helped restore her optimism and her faith in herself. Your relationship with yourself is the most important one you will ever have. You are your own little friend. Without this warm, kind companionship, Life becomes as grey and formless as a fog spun from shadows and regrets.