by Cristian Andersson
Every morning, Sun Ce's parents would leave to work in the fields, leaving young Sun Ce home with his grandfather. As soon as he heard the front door close he would peer out his window to watch his parents walk deep into the field. Then he would get up and run into his grandfather's room and jumped under the covers next him.
"Dear Grandfather! Dear Grandfather! It is time to wake, the sun has risen and there is not a cloud in the sky!" With childlike like enthusiasm Sun Ce would shake his grandfather who was sleeping next to him. "Grandfather, get up!"
With a stir the old man would wake, rub his eyes and smile at the face of the young boy, anxious to see him everyday. This was the greeting that the grandfather got every morning, and when he saw Sun Ce he was glad to be alive one more day.
When Sun Ce was positive that the old man had awakened he would ask his
grandfather the same question. "Grandfather, tell me a story please. Tell me one before I die." And with the mischievous actions of a little boy he would pretend to choke, gurgling and waiting for the old man to respond.
"Dear me! To have you die would be the last thing that I would want, dear Sun Ce," his grandfather would play along, "of course I have as many stories as the winter has snowflakes. Let me see, which one should I tell you?"
"About the bear...and the woodsman?"
"That is the one that you always want to hear! Don't you tire from the same story?"
"No Grandfather. And every time you tell it you say it differently. Please tell it to me nowÉ"
"I know something even better, dear Sun Ce. Come closer and listen to what I have to tell you."
Sun Ce moved a little closer to the old man, anxiously awaiting his story.
"What I have to say my Grandfather once told me, as his Grandfather told him. And so I will tell you."
"A new story?"
"No, not a story, but something fantastic. And here it is. Sun Ce, as long as you live, you will never breathe the same breath of air twice."
"What? A riddle instead of a story? What do you mean I cannot breathe the same breath of air twice?" And with that the young boy took great gulps of air, one right after another in hopes of catching every last bit of the air that he had just expelled. Over and over he did this until he turned red and faint and fell out of the bed. "Did I not do it Grandfather?" Sun Ce asked, lying on the floor, "did I not breathe the same breath of air twice?"
"No, dear grandson. You did not."
"Please tell me the secret why I cannot, because if you don't I will try and try until I finally do. And then I will prove you wrong!"
The old man laughed. "That, dear boy, was what I said to my grandfather. And what he said to me I will say to you. Go out into the great forest and there you will find your answer."
"Is this a trick? Do you just want to sleep longer? Are you trying to trick me Grandfather?"
"Of course not, sweet Sun Ce. Go out and find your answers."
With that the young boy rose from the floor of his grandfather's room, gave the old man a pat on the forehead and went out the door. The rice fields lie to the west and the forest sat to the east and so waving one way to the place where his parents were working, he set off to find his answer.
He walked for what seemed to be hours, deeper and deeper into the forest. Humming to himself he thought over the statement that his Grandfather had told him. It seemed magical to him. When he had walked as far as the open field within the forest he sat down to rest his little legs.
A tiny caterpillar was inching its way up a long blade of grass. Sun Ce watched as the the caterpillar got to the top, bending the thick blade slightly and began to nibble on the green leaf.
"Oh dear caterpillar, my grandfather has told me a most horrible lie. He told me that if I came into the forest I would be able to know why I cannot breathe the same breath of air twice. And all I became was tired and hungry." He watched the caterpillar longer until it had stopped munching on the grass. "Do you know caterpillar? Do you know why I cannot do what my grandfather says?"
With a final swallow the caterpillar spoke in a faint and tiny voice. "I do not know why this is so child, but I also am young and not yet wise to the ways of the world.
Perhaps if you wait for my older sister the butterfly to come she will be able to tell you the answer."
"Wait, wait, wait! I have no time to wait! I must know the answer now!" And with that Sun Ce rose and walked further, out of the field and even deeper into the forest. The caterpillar watched the boy leave, sighed, and resumed his lunch.
Further and further Sun Ce walked, until the hot sun made him not only tired but thirsty as well. He could hear running water off in the distance and so he walked towards it, looking despondently at his feet as he walked.
Finally he came to a small pond that was fed by a tiny creek. He bent down to the water's edge and cupped his hands, scooping some of the cold water to his dry throat. As he was drinking he looked into the water and saw a little form moving about. Peering closer he saw a tiny tadpole swimming in fast circles through the clear water. Cupping his hands once more, Sun Ce scooped up another handful of water, this time with the tadpole as well.
"Hello, tadpole. Can you answer a riddle?"
"I will try, young boy, if you promise to let me go."
"Of course. Tadpole, why is it that one cannot breathe the same breath of air twice?"
"What a strange thing to say. In fact, I have never heard anything stranger. Then again, I am new to the world and have little ideas about what is and is not possible to do. My uncle, the old bullfrog, is sure to know the answer to that. That I am sure! If you wait here for him he will be able to tell you the answer!"
"I cannot wait, tadpole," and he placed the tadpole back into the water, "but I am sure that somewhere in this forest I will be able to find someone who will be able to tell me my answer. Good-bye."
"And a good-bye to you too, young boy." And when Sun Ce's reflection left the
small pond, the tadpole began to swim again, stirring up small clouds of mud in the water. "What an odd boy, and what an odd question," she said to herself.
Sun Ce walked further and further and further into the forest, until he knew he could walk no further. And it was at this point that he realized that he was lost deep within the garden. He thought about his grandfather and his parents. He thought about the riddle. He listened to his stomach groan in hunger.
"I must find my way home or I am sure to starve to death," Sun Ce realized.
It was then that he noticed that he was standing next to a tall tree. Taller than any other tree next to it and taller than any tree he had ever seen. It was taller than any tree he even thought of.
"If I climb to the top of the tree I am sure to be able to see my house, no matter how far away it could be. Then I can get home, eat, and tell my grandfather what a foolish riddle he told me."
And with that the young boy began to climb the tree. Further and further he climbed. When he thought that he had reached the top there was always another branch above him and so he would pull himself higher. At the very top he stopped and felt himself and the tree wave in the air. He was quite higher than any other tree that he could see, and he could see the entire forest and even further off he could see the rice field and even further he could see the mountains cutting away from the earth. But he could not see his house.
Young Sun Ce began to cry. He was scared and lost. All he wanted to do was to find the answer to an unanswerable riddle and now he was never going to be able to get back home. Tears streamed down out of his eyes and fell onto his hands which tightly gripped the branches. The tears made his palms slippery and he lost hold of the tree and began to fall. He crashed through leaves and branches as he fell further and further down the impossibly large tree. He hit the ground with a thunk and
everything went black.
When he awoke he felt pains shoot all over his body. He felt too bad to even open his eyes. He did not want to know what he had broken in his body during his great fall. Reluctantly he opened his eyes and stared in awe. Facing him, not even two feet away was an enormous head with enormous eyes.
"Well, my little friend, it seems to me that you have taken quite a fall," a loud voice boomed. "But do not worry little one, you are perfectly unharmed. Sore perhaps, but otherwise fine."
"WhoÉwho are you?" Sun Ce questioned.
With that the mighty head moved back and Sun Ce saw what he was talking to. An enormous dragon towered over him. "I am the master of all animals and the keeper of the forest that you have been walking through and have been so since time began and will be so until time ends."
"Then, if I may ask, you are old?" Sun Ce asked carefully.
"Old? I do not think anything is older than I."
"Older than all of the caterpillars and butterflies? Older than all the tadpoles and bullfrogs?"
"My dear boy, I am older than anything that has ever walked upon the land, swam through the waters or flew across the sky."
"Perhaps, then, you could answer a riddle that I was told?"
"Of course, my child."
"Why is it that you cannot breathe the same breath of air twice?"
The old dragon lifted its head back and bellowed such an enormous and loud laugh that made it made the tadpole's water ripple and the caterpillar to fall of of his leaf. "That, young one, is a hard riddle to answer."
"So you do not know the answer?"
"Climb onto my back, young one and I will fly you back to your house. While we are soaring through the air I will tell you the answer to your riddle."
And so small Sun Ce climbed up upon the back of the huge dragon and nestled himself between the dragon's shoulder blades. He and the the dragon rose from the ground with powerful swoops of the dragon's wings and they climbed high into the sky, even higher than Sun Ce had climbed on the enormous tree.
"Look down, young one. Can you see the caterpillar in the field?"
Even though they were miles into the sky Sun Ce's eyes were able to focus in on the small caterpillar munching on a single blade of grass.
"And now, my dear boy, can you see the tadpole in the water?"
Once again Sun Ce looked and was able to spot the tadpole stirring up the mud in the small pond.
"And now, little one, what else do you see?"
Looking harder Sun Ce's eyes scanned the ground. "I can see a beautiful butterfly dancing among the flowers! And over their I see an old bullfrog singing on top of a lily pad! And over there, yes, I see my parents working! And now I see my grandfather!"
The old dragon and the young boy soared through the air and cut downward, resting gently in front of Sun Ce's front door to his house. And then the dragon told Sun Ce the answer to his riddle.
"Dear boy. It is true that you cannot breathe the same breath of air twice. You cannot do this because the air always changes, as does everything you see. One day the caterpillar no longer breathes as a caterpillar, but rather as a butterfly. One day the tadpole no longer breathes as a tadpole, but rather as a bullfrog. And one day your parents breathe as young people and the next day they breathe as old grandparents. With every breath life changes. It is the magic of the world. And so, Sun Ce, you must realize that what has happened to you yesterday will not necessarily happen today. And what happens today will not also happen tomorrow. You will grow from your joys and pains and change with the magic of the world. And that, dear boy, is why you can never breathe the same breath of air twice."
Copyright 1997 Parents and Children Together Online. Not to be reprinted, redistributed or archived in any format (including CD-ROM) without the express permission of the publisher.