I wrote this short story, without any literary pretension and actually rather trivial, several years ago. If I’m not mistaken it was 2015. Read it, if you like, without expecting too much from it. After all, my purpose, when I write these short passages, is certainly not to create literary works, but to focus on a thought or a reflection, so that it sinks its roots into my soul.
۩෴۩෴۩෴۩෴۞۩۞෴۩෴۩෴۩෴۩
Old Sun Zhi Bao walked slowly along the road to the county capital. The road was wide and well-kept, especially in that last stretch which was now no more than a single day’s walk from the city. Even a large cart could have traveled it without problems.
Wise Sun proceeded slowly, with his eyes humbly downcast, to the ground. Despite his age, his step was firm and his bearing composed. The long yellow and simple dress, devoid of any decoration, swayed slightly, barely stirred by the morning breeze. In his quiet clear eyes the tender light of the early sun seemed to illuminate the very depths of her soul. And it certainly did, since, having reached the threshold of his eighty years, he no longer carried within himself any dark corner, any shaded area.
After a long straight stretch, the road veered to the right, heading north, approaching the river and then skirting it. Someone had bivouacked near a huge boulder during the night and must have been back on their way just a few hours before. Sun Zhi Bao stopped for a moment to look around and it was just then that he saw, sitting by the roadside a little further on, under a large tree, a man who might have been perhaps thirty years old and who seemed tormented by some ominous thought.
The wise old man leaned again on his stick and resumed his journey. Soon he reached the seated man. When he was in front of him, he stopped to observe him. The younger man, seeing Sun, stood up and bowed respectfully.
– May I sit beside you for a moment, young sir, to rest my body weary from the journey? – Sun Zhi Bao asked affably.
– It would be a great honor for me! – Humbly replied the young man. – My name is Zhu Hai Zhan and I live not far from here on the other side of the river. –
The old man sat down on a boulder smoothed by time, with his gaze turned towards the wide bed of the river and seemed to immerse himself in his thoughts. The two spent a few minutes in silence, each thinking to himself, and hardly seemed to notice each other. However, suddenly, the younger man began to speak, without looking away, as if he were saying to himself.
– The rush of the river is fascinating. – he murmured in a low voice – the water slides away relentlessly, nothing can stop it. She is free and happy. It wets the countryside and brings life everywhere. –
The old man listened in silence, without any movement, no nod or movement of the face to reveal that he had heard.
– Even the swallows are free – resumed the young man – they go where they want and when they want. They land or soar as they please and fully enjoy the zest for life. –
Still the sage remained impassive and silent.
– I would like to have the same freedom, to be able to fully enjoy my life, as long as I have it, and to enjoy every emotion that the days bring with them! I wish I could stay in the sun, on a meadow, on these spring mornings. Or lose myself in the arms of the woman I love, instead of arguing every night with the one I married! I would like a different life. It would be nice not to be forced to cultivate the fields, to bring hay to the cows in the winter months or to break my back to repair the house and the stable when the bad season is over. The birds, I see clearly, are better off than me: they eat, make love and fly free without having to worry about the cows or the house. –
– And what prevents you from doing this? Who forces you and enslaves you? – the old man intervened quietly.
– Venerable sage, I just can’t! If I wasted my time staying in the sun, my children would have nothing to eat. If I don’t fix the house, it will eventually collapse. And if I followed love instead of going back to my wife, I would make her suffer and my children would lose their father. If I didn’t bring hay to the cows, they wouldn’t give milk. All these things bind me and enslave me. –
When, finally, the young man was silent, the sage spoke quietly.
– You are wrong, Zhu Hai Zhan, you are completely free, just as you wish. Just like birds are too. –
– I don’t think so, venerable sage – the young man retorted sadly – the birds are much luckier than me. Heaven’s will privileged them! –
The old man’s gaze was lost in things that only he could see. At first, he didn’t seem to hear, but then he said speaking slowly.
– Do not speak of Heaven without knowing what you are saying, so that it does not get angry. There is only one difference between you and the birds and you can easily overcome it. Do it and you will be like them! –
Now the young farmer seemed amazed and interested: what could possibly be what prevented him from enjoying the same freedom as the birds? He thought about it for a moment and then couldn’t resist the desire to ask.
– Venerable sage, please tell me what makes me different from birds and teach me what I can do to become like them. –
Elder Sun did not turn his head. He remained perfectly still with the eyes of his face focused on the river and those of his mind lost beyond the visible. Then he lowered his gaze to the ground, slowly got up, picked up his stick and good-naturedly shook off a caterpillar that was climbing on it. Finally, he turned to the street and, without looking at the young man, said softly:
– Birds have neither homes nor cows. Everything you own, owns you and binds you. Give up your house and your cows, leave your wife, abandon what you have and you will become like birds. It’s only up to you to choose between things or freedom. Heaven, my son, has nothing to do with it. –
Then he smiled slightly and continued on his way, leaving behind the farmer with his invisible chains.
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