"The Bridge Of Birds"
Part 3
by Osiris Brackhaus
- the rice farmer youth (Orli) -
Sitting in the mud, my face splattered with dirt, I laughed like I hadn't
done since my lover so unceremoniously had left me.
In front of me, sitting on a small patch of moss among reeds and ginger shoots, the largest and, by all means, grumpiest toad I had ever seen in my whole life stared at me so incredibly reproachfully that I couldn't help but laugh.
"Oh Master Toad", I said only partially in mocking, "please excuse me disturbing your home, trespassing on your grounds."
Still, the ugly animal stared at me most disdainfully, but I hadn't seriously expected to see it change its attitude.
"Please Master, I have been sent by the honorable Old Ping, who used to come here to collect her ginger before she got too old for the walk. Allow me to gather just as much as the old woman needs, and my humble gratitude will be added to hers."
The toad blinked, lazy, with one eye first, then with the
other. Suddenly, it hopped away, leaving me alone among the reeds.
Apparently, I had been given permission to continue my task.
And Old Ping had been right, up here, where ancient fields
had been overgrown over the decades, the water was still so clear that the
ginger growing here was fine and crisp, smelling more of fresh flowers or
vegetables than of lemons like the ones growing in the valley.
Carefully, I dug the bulbous roots out of the mud, ensuring I didn't break
their thin barks so they would keep fresh for many days.
Once more I had to snicker about the incredible, furious noise the toad had made as I started to wade through the reeds. Then suddenly, it had leaped up right in front of me, startling me so much I lost my footing in the slippery mud and fell over almost headfirst. But it had been right, of course. One can't just walk into somebody else's home, intent on stealing some furniture, and expect to be welcome.
But I chose the ginger roots I dug for with care, so there wouldn't be gaping holes in Master Toad's living room, nor did I take more than I needed. Also, I left a portion of the root with the stem, setting it back into the mud so there would be a chance it could grow back to a healthy plant again. I was quite sure he wouldn't be too upset.
Still grinning, I took the small reed basket I had brought
with me, silently thanking the plants for generously adding to our daily food.
Of course I knew it was a bit odd, but still, it felt right.
Plants eventually had to be gathered, stock had to be slaughtered, wars had
to be waged. Thus was the way of the world, but that didn't relieve any one
of us from observing the proper forms of conduct.
And that toad truly had been most furious.
I took the gathered ginger from the overgrown field to a
small creek nearby, where I could wash it clean from the mud and myself as
well. The water was coming down right from the mountain, so cold it pricked
my bare feet.
And while in my hands, the muddy roots one by one lost their dirty shell and
revealed their shining bark the color of honey, the way the water chuckled
across the pebbles made me think of a night long past yet never forgotten.
Just like this one, the stream where I had met the Starherd had chuckled, just as joyful and lively. And just as cold as my heart had felt the moment he was torn right out of my arms by his master's thunderous voice.
It hadn't come as a surprise, not really. At least, not to me. There was a place and reason to everything and everyone, and the Starherd's place surely wasn't in my tiny hut at the river. Each night, a single glance at heaven told me so, but my sweet lover wouldn't listen.
"Just one night, my little starling, just one more night...", he had whispered each time, and each time, I had been most eager to give in to his pleas.
The days we had spent together had been full of laughter, and the nights had been filled with tenderness and love. I knew I would never see him again, not in the days of my mortal life, and the knowledge that I had lost him weighed down my heart. My sadness, though, couldn't overrule the joy I felt at the wonderful time we had been able to spend together; each time I felt alone, I remembered his gentle smile at my side, and I could laugh again.
I knew that I had been graced with love far beyond any mortal’s
share, and still, there were nights I wept in silent grief.
I knew I was acting ungrateful, for I had gotten already so much more than
I deserved. Yet this was one case where my heart just wouldn't listen.
I knew he loved me, and that he would never hurt me of his own free will.
Yet there were nights when I just stared up at the stars, wishing for nothing
more than a last embrace and a final kiss.
With a sad smile, I took up the basket filled with now gleaming ginger roots, shivering slightly as I was wet from head to toe and just as cold as the little mountain creek by now. Descending down the narrow path that led towards the village I lived in, I wondered what it would feel like to know the names of each stone on the way, and I made a game out of greeting each one of them, thanking them for their support and guidance.
One day, I decided, when I would come home from the fields and crossed the place where I had met my lover, I would build a small shrine of river pebbles. Just for the spirits of the place to remember my gratitude.
"My greetings, good farmer", a voice shook me out of my musings.
Looking up, I found a man sitting on a stone next to the road, his traveling robe splattered with mud, leaning on a plain carved staff.
"My greetings, traveler", I replied, wondering why this man seemed so familiar to me. "This path leads up to nowhere but the old fields on the mountain, have you lost you way?"
"Seems so", he replied, his eyes sparkling with mirth and wisdom. He wasn't old, even too young as he could have been my father, and yet there was something in his eyes that made him look as if he had seen eons pass by. He wasn't a mortal, I was instantly sure of that.
"Was it you I heard laughing up in the fields some moments ago?", he asked, a friendly, benevolent smile in his face.
"Yes, good traveler, I think it was me." Somehow, there seemed to have been quite an increase of immortals in my life of late, I wondered. "Would you like to follow me to the next village? I am sure you can find your way from there on."
"Yes, I would be very pleased."
It was his voice. I was sure I knew his voice, and yet I couldn't say where I knew it from.
For a while, the stranger and I walked down the path in silence, then he asked:
"Tell me about the village you are living in, young farmer. Have you been living there for long?"
"All my life. It's nothing more than a plain village, some farmers, some fishermen and a priest. Nothing a traveler like you hasn't seen a hundred times already."
"You'd be surprised", he replied with a mirthful chuckle, "even after all my travels I find that there are miracles hidden in the most unlikely of places."
Once more, silence wrapped around our little company, and all there was to be heard was the singing of the birds and the distant murmur of the river.
"Is it a happy life you lead there in your village, farmer?", the stranger asked all of a sudden, and for a change, my heart was reluctant to answer.
"Yes, dear traveler. We have all we need and no one ever has to hunger or freeze. We are happy."
"It wasn't your village I asked about, but you own life. And somehow, it sounds as if there's some grief hidden in your heart."
I stopped and turned around to look at my mysterious companion.
What kind of malicious spirit had come to see me suffer?
But there was no guile in the traveler's eyes, in contrary, only genuine concern.
"There is grief in my heart, but it is not hidden", I replied hesitantly. "I just think I shouldn't grief for having lost something that never should have been mine in the very first place."
"Now that's very proper thinking, boy." The traveler seemed lost in thought for a moment, then he added: "Yet how do you know that whatever you have lost wasn't meant for you?"
I smiled fondly, trying hard to keep my eyes from getting moist. "There are things so far above my place it's obvious they can't be mine."
"Yes, that's often the case", the traveler behind me said, sounding intrigued. "Tell me anyway. What's it that a farmer as content with his simple life as you can long for that is so obviously beyond his place."
Softly, I tried to swallow the answer, but it was hard to ignore the stranger's guileless question.
"I fell in love with a noble man...", I whispered, my voice choking on tears despite myself.
"Oh I see..." The man's voice was filled with concern and sympathy, and he asked: "But the fool didn't love you back, did he?"
"No, he did...", I replied, now finally feeling the first tears running down my cheeks. "That's the whole problem."
"Oh, shh," the stranger said, and as I slowed down my steps not to stumble under tears on the stony path, he gently put down his large hand onto my shoulder. "Shh, little one, please don't cry. Here, come on, let's sit down and rest for a moment."
Carefully, he led me off the path to a place where a creek gathered into a small pond, and taking the ginger basket out of my hands, he sat me down on a flat stone, kneeling before me. With a piece of cloth he had taken out of his robe, he dried my face, gentle as the touch of a bird.
"What a fool that man must be", he said, his voice still full of concern but also ringing with distant anger. Where did I know him from? "Now tell me, little one, did he drop you?"
I shook my head, fighting tears that were welling up again despite my firm resolve not to cry again.
"No?" The stranger seemed confused. "Is he dead?"
"No." Still fighting tears, I decided I could just as well tell him my story, a harmless version at least, for I felt I had humbly born my fate long enough. And a little sympathy felt just like something I really needed. So wiping away the moisture from my eyes, I said: "He loved me dearly, and I loved him back. But even though he was a mighty noble, there is always a mightier lord to obey."
"Tell me about it," the stranger grumbled softly, as if only to himself. "But no Lord, however mighty, should make you cry, little one. And seeing your humble heart so sad is a crime in itself. Tell me what has happened."
There definitely was anger ringing in his voice, and it struck me tremendously odd that it felt so familiar though I was sure I never before had seen this man.
"His lord called him home, called him to fulfil his duty. And so he left."
"All the thousand hells!", the stranger called out, fury now burning in his voice. "And he didn't take you with him?"
"I am not allowed to go where he is...", I whispered, afraid and confused by the traveler's wrath.
"Who is he?", he all but bellowed. "Who is that heartless fool that places the duty to a liege above the duty to a lover?"
And suddenly, like a strike of lightening, I knew where I
had heard the voice before. Filled with anger so scalding even the birds and
the river seemed to hold their breaths, thunderous and all-encompassing.
It sounded different now, but it still was the same voice. The very voice
that had called my gentle Starherd away from my side.
The voice of the Jade Emperor.
Stunned beyond thoughts, I heard myself stutter: "It - it was You, my Emperor."
"Huh?!" Suddenly, the traveler's animated features lost all expression, and he stared at me with pretty much the same slack-jawed expression I must have been presenting him with right then.
"Now damn my bloody self...", he muttered, still staring at me. Gently, he took my chin, examining my face as if he was looking for some proof of my story. "So it's been you all the time..."
Slowly, he let go of my chin, and softly at first, then lively, began to chuckle. His chuckle burst into a laughter so wild and roaring birds in nearby thickets fled confused. And still, he was laughing on, tears of amusement running down his cheeks.
"Oh my", he said breathless as his laughter finally calmed down. "Truly I have made a fine fool of myself. A man of my age should have learned to think before acting, shouldn't he?"
Insecure, I glanced at the stones at his feet. It surely wouldn't be proper to tell the August Personae of Jade that he hadn't acted too gracefully, even if only in agreement.
"Of course you don't answer, little one. If only all
of my subjects would act that properly..." He stood up and sat down on
the stone right next to me. Despite knowing who he was, the instinctual reflex
to flee or throw myself at his feet was surprisingly easy to keep in check.
It was so exceedingly odd to think of the Jade Emperor as a nice guy sitting
next to you.
"Now, what are we gonna do with that pretty mess I've created here?", he mumbled, once more mostly to himself.
"Can't - can't you just let him come back? Even if only for a few days at a time?" Did I really just say that? Who was I that I dared to suggest to the mightiest Lord of all what he was to do?
"No, little one, I can't." Gently, he stroked my hair, a sad tone to his voice. "I've condemned him to stay in the heavens forever, and even I can't undo what I once decreed."
I only nodded. So there was no way for me to see him again.
"Now don't give me tears again, little one." A bit uncomfortably, he handed me his cloth again. "Listen, I've made a mistake, and I am truly sorry."
I just stared at him in unveiled disbelief. Did he really just apologize to me?
"Don't look at me like that, if you ever tell anybody, I'll say I never said so." Grinning companionably, he nudged my shoulder. "I can't let the Starherd back to earth just as I will never let a mortal into the heavens. But that doesn't mean I haven't got a plan."
"But...", I whispered confused, still my voice throaty with tears. "Why do you help me?"
For a moment, the Jade Emperor looked at me startled, then laughed out loud. "Oh, you're just too sweet. You've got a laughter so delightful I had to come see myself who you are, you've got a heart so pure you can steal my most loyal servant out of the heavens and despite what I have done to you, you bear no grudge against me. Dear, all things have a place, and I have placed sorrow where there should have been nothing but joy. I am only redeeming my errors."
I looked at him, trying to see past his mortal guise, and all I could see was a caring, if somewhat rough man.
"Here, have a peach on me." Reaching into the apparently bottomless pockets of his robe, the Jade Emperor got out a peach, ripe and smelling most delicious, pressing it gently into my slightly trembling hands. "And now watch."
Reflexively, I started eating, and watched as the August Personae of Jade stood up, gathering some soft, slender branches from the low willows at the pond. Then he sat down again, most craftily weaving the branches to a circle without breaking off a single of the slender leaves. Finally he plucked three Jade pearls and three white feathers from out of his pockets, fixing them onto the woven twigs that it looked just like a little crown.
"Wouldn't be right at all if I'd ever ran out of ideas, would it?", he asked as he checked his work. "Can't make you a god, but a patron saint's not that far off, is it?"
"But- ", I asked around the remnants of the almost eaten peach. "Wouldn't I have to be immortal for that as well?"
But the Jade Emperor just laughed, pointing at the peach-kernel in my hand. "Think again", he said, grinning as if he just had concluded a practical joke.
For a second, I had no idea what he was talking about, then the only possible solution dropped into my mind with the impact of a falling mountain. "Oh my god..."
"I see, you have already heard of the tree of immortality, growing in the Jade Emperor's personal garden. The peaches on its branches are said to be most delicious..."
He still grinned widely, then placed his makeshift crown on my head and took the kernel out of my hand. Throwing it away somewhere into the thickets, he whistled, softly, almost like the call of a bird, and to my greatest wonder, a tiny sparrow came and sat down in his open palm.
"Now, little rice farmer, wasn't it you who wanted to know the first names of all the birds? To thank them properly for their songs?"
I just nodded, feeling completely overrun by the current events.
"Well, why don't you just ask them?"
Holding his hand with the sparrow sitting there towards me, he seriously expected me to talk to the bird. Well, things were weird enough already, so why not.
"Tell me little sparrow," I asked, "what is your name?"
And although I almost had feared so already, when the bird chirped in reply, I could understand what he was saying.
"My family calls me Fly-eater Wang," the sparrow said, "and I am most humbled to make your acquaintance."
"See?", the Jade Emperor said, chuckling at my bewildered face. "It's not difficult after all."
Then he turned to the bird, saying softly:
"Now, little Wang, all the birds from sparrow to eagle have for a long time complained that of all animals, they still were among the few I had never named a patron saint for. But I think we both agree that this humble man before us is a perfect choice, don't you think?"
"Oh, perfectly," the bird chirped excited. "Thank you, my Emperor!"
"Go now, little Fly-eater Wang, and tell your brethren that there is a saint for them now, and that he awaits their greetings. And I think a present would be most appropriate, don't you agree?"
"Of course, my Emperor, I will fly!" The tiny sparrow took off from the god's hand, "And I already know the perfect gift!" And off he went, chirping loudly, creating a true outburst of birds' voices from everywhere in the valley.
"Sure you do", the Jade Emperor said softly, "that's the whole point..."
Like wind rustling in the top of a tree, a great sound swelled all around us, the flapping of wings too many to count, too many to even see at the same moment. Suddenly, there were birds everywhere, singing and croaking, of all colors and shapes and sizes.
Among the deafening noise, I could still catch a single name every now and then, and generally make out that the birds were overjoyed to finally have a patron saint. And such a nice one on top.
It made me blush.
Laughing loudly, the Jade Emperor took my hand and led me to a small clearing nearby. Still birds were flapping all around us, so many they darkened the sky, but suddenly, they grew less noisy.
"A patron saint is allowed access to heavens," the Jade Emperor told me, "If he has the means to get there." Smiling at me fondly, he continued: "Not many of them do, but I think your new subjects are most gladly willing to help you there."
Right in front of us, a huge eagle landed, dropping a heavy branch he had carried between his claws. With a gracious bow, he acknowledged our presence, then lifted off again. One by one, other bird came, each one adding a twig or a branch, even if it wasn't more than a blade of grass. But with countless birds swarming all around, it took only moments for the branches to have grown to a veritable heap, to a pile, to a towering ramp reaching far above the trees and still growing.
"See?", the Jade Emperor asked, cordially putting his arm around my shoulder. "Each year, the birds will come to you, each bringing a little gift. And they will build a bridge for you, so long and high it'll reach from the earth right to the -"
"Heavens", I completed his sentence in utter awe, tears in my eyes from overflowing emotions.
"Right there. You can't stay forever, as you are not a god, but for quite some time. And eventually, in the year to come, your birds will build you another bridge."
"Oh my Emperor," I exclaimed, completely inappropriately jumping at the August Personae of Jade, hugging him fiercely. "Thank you, thank you so much."
"Err, yes", he mumbled, gently prying my hands of his neck. "Now go, rush, I don't want your lover to get envious. And I bet he's already waiting for you."
Probing, as if not really believing that it would hold my weight, I stepped onto the bridge, watching it go on almost endlessly.
"But - ", I suddenly remembered, "I can't go!"
"And why shouldn't you be able to?" There was a distinct warning in the Emperor's voice, but with my heart almost bursting of excitement, I couldn't have cared less.
"I still have to bring the ginger to Old Ping."
For a heartbeat, the Jade Emperor stared at me, completely at a loss. Then he shook his head, laughing so hard that tears were running down his face.
"Oh good heavens, don't worry about the ginger. I'll deliver it personally, I promise!" Waving me off, he took the basket, grinning. "Now hurry, or do you want to torture my starherd even longer?"
"No, I won't", I replied, and without even once looking back, I hurried up the wooden bridge, accompanied by the joyful voices of countless birds in the air around me.
Soon, I could see the gates of heaven looming ahead of me, and the bridge coming to an end. And right at the end of the bridge, I could make out a slender figure clad in a robe of silk as dark as midnight, with a star at his side shining like a lantern. His noble face was gleaming wet with tears, but even at the distance, I could see him smiling.
"I am coming to you, Starherd", I whispered, changing from a brisk walk to an utterly undignified run. "I am coming to you, my love!"
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The end.
If you enjoyed this story, please send feedback to: Osiris Brackhaus