Three Shades of Lotus Life.
I was told to make a house of wood. I wandered once, twice, and thrice, but saw no tree. "Plenty of them, son," mother said. "But if I cut them with my sickle, can I build one, Mother?" "Yes." Twenty-three days and five hours, I have some time left before dawn. The house now had two members, and housed a brown swan that sleeps in silk and cotton near the kitchen. I will bring honey bread from the country, without a worry in my head anymore. I am teaching four children on a green ground of bees and wildflowers. Time passed, my mother is lost, the swan even aforetime. But I have some honey bread left for myself. Eleven years. Two men saw my bones in shadows, pondering whether I am a friend of the ghost of their town. "Who are you?" "I am nobody; I want to see myself for once." "Seldom does such a day come when we witness such a night," one said. "Then where?" I asked in a rush. Another pointed his elongated finger at a...