Serpent
Online Source: Red Ice
The Tub, the Serpent, and the Fight
“There once was a woman who wanted to teach a very important lesson to her child. She told him that a family is a lot like a tub. In order to have order, in order to be one, each part must fulfill its appropriate place. If any part fails to perform its duty, the tub falls apart, and all is scattered.”
“A very wise observation,” commented Guan Yin. She looked at Guan Yu and Wen Chang, waiting for either one of them to make a snide comment. Neither did. She looks surprised for a moment, and then looked back to Yu Huang.
“In order to further show the importance of order and family,” Yu Huang continued, “she then told her child this story.”
“Wait,” Guan Yu interrupted, “so this is a story within a story? What kind of story is this?”
“Good observation,” Wen Chang said. The look he got for his comment came not from Guan Yu – he surprisingly seemed amused by Wen Chang echoing Guan Yin – but from Guan Yin. “What?” he said, looking back at Guan Yin. “What did I say?”
“Go on,” Guan Yin said to Yu Huang, regaining her composure and giving her attention back to the story.
“The story told of a man with three daughters. Each was very skillful at sewing, and every day the man would bring flowers home to his daughters for them to use for their designs.”
“How sweet,” said Guan Yin. Guan Yu and Wen Chang both rolled their eyes.
“One day, the man could not find any flowers on the path home, so he entered a forest to look for flowers. He was seized by a fairy serpent, and in exchange for his life, the man promised one of his daughters to be the serpent’s bride.”
“The man was distraught, for he knew that if he did not fulfill his promise, many calamities would befall him and his family.”
Guan Yu started to laugh. Everyone looked at him.
“Good observation,” he said, and bellowed out laughing. It took a moment for him to calm down before Yu Huang continued.
“He was so upset at this that he did not eat. His daughters, fearing his health, each went to plead for him to eat. To each he told of his plight, and asked if that daughter would be the wife of the serpent. The oldest refused, as did the middle daughter. But the youngest daughter, knowing that she needed to do her filial duty, agreed.”
“She became the wife of the serpent, and lived in a rich and lavish house. She grew to care for the serpent. One day, when realizing that the well had gone dry, she had painstakingly gone in search of water. She returned with water, only to find the serpent dying of thirst. She plunged the serpent into the water! In an instant, the serpent was transformed into a handsome man, and she and the man, once a serpent, lived in peace and happiness all their days.”
“Ok, so what you are telling us,” Wen Chang began, “is that the people down there just need to go and find enchanted reptiles to plunge into the water that flooded their villages and they will all have happy endings?”
“No! My point was clear,” Yu Huang said, “that each person has a proper place, and in order for there to be…” he paused for a moment, “order, each person needs to perform in their place. One of my posterity would understand that order, and would give each task to each man, that they might recover their lands by order.”
“That’s the point that I made in my story!” Wen Chang shouted. “Each person has a task that is suited to them! The principle is the same as in the story that you just told!”
“That it may be,” Yu Huang answered, “but my story was told better.”
“My story was told better!” Guan Yu jumped in.
“If you consider a near catastrophe better than my story!” said Wen Chang.
“Your story lacked a clear moral, and I gave my moral even before I told my story!” said Yu Huang.
“You mean that ridiculous story within a story?!” asked Guan Yu.
By this time, all three of the gods were standing at the table, shouting and pointing fingers at each other as the arguments continued.
From her chair, Guan Yin reached forward, picked up three Mahjong pieces, and then hit each of the other gods in the head. They all stopped, looked at her, and sat down.
“Boys, boys,” Guan Yin began. "All of you are missing the obvious answer to these people’s plight. Though each of you have sound principles that you are trying to defend, none of you can do it peaceably. You only prove my point. Compassion is the answer those people need. Nothing will be able to be done if everyone is fighting over principle or procedure. Compassion, my boys, is the answer they need.”
The three other gods all looked at each other, and then looked back at Guan Yin.
“One day,” she began, “compassion was the answer…."
Adapted from: The Fairy Serpent
Author's Note: This story was harder to put together than I originally anticipated. Finding stories about principles such as peace, harmony, war, wisdom, were all fairly easy. But it was hard to find a story that could clearly depict the principle of order. Upon reading this, I knew that it would lend well to that of order; each piece of a tub much perform in it's proper place for there to be order. Just as the girl performed in her proper place, and in the end was greatly rewarded for that service.
I had a lot less banter in this story than I had in the previous stories. I wanted the focus to be on the story itself. Yu Huang is an authoritative figure, and I was trying to pay him that respect in the story by having the other gods (specifically Wen Chang and Guan Yu) give their attention to the story. Of course by the end of the story, that sence of respected authority is gone.
I tried to have fun with the ending, because I knew that I needed a lead-in for the next story, which would be about compassion, and I figured that a fight breaking out would be a great segway to the next, and final story, in this storybook.