The Brave Old World — the archery bow, swimming snake, and flying goose
“The Brave Old World” stories continue.
Leung was a wise man.
One day he invited friends to his house for a dinner party. He made the starting toast, all wine cups raised among his friends. One of his best friends, Guang, felt something wrong in his cup. He got close to it, to his shock, he saw a little snake swimming in the cup. He remained calm and emptied the cup in one gulp like all others did. He didn’t want to ruin the party. The snake was small enough that he didn’t feel anything, but he felt really sick right away. He couldn’t stay any longer. He left without telling anybody, including the host Leung.
Leung didn’t notice Guang’s abrupt departure in the night until he heard it from other friends a couple of days later. He was surprised that Guang didn’t tell him before leaving, more surprised yet, he didn’t come back to explain it. “Something wrong about him,” he thought. He made a visit to Guang’s house and was shocked to find Guang’d been very sick. Heartbreaking, he asked him, “How could you get so sick in just a few days? You looked fine in the dinner night.”
Guang was evasive. Leung sensed he was trying to hide something. He feigned to be upset, “You are my best friend. You must tell me what exactly has happened to you.” Reluctant, Guang told him about the swimming snake.
Leung came back home feeling so sorry and guilty. Being a meticulous man, he tried to recall all the details in that dinner night. He was pretty sure that the preparation was thoroughly conducted. It was hard to believe they could let in a snake, let alone leaving it in one of the wine cups. He went to the dining room and examined carefully. An archery bow hanging on the wall caught his eyes. He waited until the night and took a cup of wine under the bow. At certain position it was reflected on the wine in the cup and looked like a little swimming snake. The root cause of Guang’s illness was found, he had to get his friend out of this delusion. He got an idea.
He invited Guang for a private dinner. He sent aides to help Guang come to his house, led him to the same table as the dinner party. Raising his cup, Guang saw the swimming snake again! He couldn’t disguise the fear anymore this time, his face going deathly pale. Looking surprised, Leung came over to check the cup. Then he shouted, “It’s the bow on the wall. The snake is actually the bow!” He took down the bow, the swimming snake was gone. So was the weight in Guang’s mind, and his illness.
One day Leung went hunting with his friends. A lone wild goose was flying in the sky, slow and crying sadly. Leung watched it for a while. He turned to his friend and said, pointing at the flying goose. “I will shoot it down with a bow. I mean, no arrow, I will be pulling the empty bow.”
“Really?” shouted his friends in great bewilderment. “What skill is that?”
He looked up at the bird and took out his bow. The left hand raised the bow, the right pulled the string with full force. Bang~~a sharp sound shot up to the sky, and the goose seemed to be really hit by something. It struggled to flutter its wings, trying to fly higher. But it only flipped for a short time before falling down like a stone.
His friends watched open-mouthed as the bird hit the ground. “Superpower!” some exclaimed.
“No, I have no superpower,” Leung said. “I happen to know it was a wounded bird.”
“How do you know?” they were even more perplexed.
“If you’d watched the bird carefully, you would have found that it was flying very slowly, crying very sadly. It flew slowly because it’d been shot by an arrow, the wound still hurt, the shooting sound still horrible. It cried sadly because it had lost its fellow birds and felt lonely. It was in great fear. When it heard the sound from my bow, the fear would drive it fly higher with all its force, which would bust open the wound, and ultimately, cause its falling.”
His friends stood there, struck dumb.
