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The Waters of Olive Lake

^China

Liu had worked the fields every day, from sunup to sundown, since he was a little boy. He and his mother planted cabbages, turnips, peas, and other vegetables, yet they never seemed to have enough to eat. They lived in a tiny one-room shack, which creaked and shook violently whenever the wind blew.

Liu, who had grown up to be a selfless and compassionate man, wanted very much for his mother to retire from the hard life of farming. On cold winter mornings, he noticed that it took her a long time to get out of bed. He also dreamed of the day that he’d bring home a big piece of meat for their supper. As it was, they never had anything but vegetables and broth. Although they lived near a lake, it wasn’t one that seemed to have any fish in it. Olive Lake, in fact, looked rather filthy. Its smell was so disgusting, Liu could never linger long enough to drop a line in it.

One day, when his mother appeared to be particularly weak and hungry, Liu paused from his work and sat down to think. Why do we work so hard yet stay so poor? he wondered.

Hours later, he was still pondering the same disturbing question. Long after the sun went down, Liu finally decided that he would visit Ru Shou, the God of the West. He wanted some answers.

Liu journeyed west on foot for many days. Then, one damp gray morning, he came across a small house along the road. Tired and weak from starvation, Liu peered into the house through a hole in a wall. He saw a beautiful young woman and an older one, who seemed to be her mother. Both were eating from large bowls billowing with steam.

The older woman looked up just as Liu was licking his lips. She then came outside and invited him in to eat. Rice porridge had never tasted so good to Liu before!

As she ladled another helping into his bowl, the woman asked Liu where he was going.

“I’m on my way to see Ru Shou,” Liu said. “I’m going to ask him why I work so hard yet stay so poor.”

After a moment of silence, the woman looked at him earnestly. “I have a daughter who is eighteen years old,” she said, “but she has never spoken a word in her life. Could you ask him why this is so?”

“Yes, I will ask him,” Liu replied simply. He stayed at the woman’s house that night, and the next day set off again.

After traveling ten more days, Liu stopped at another house along his path. The kind man who lived there offered Liu food and shelter for the night.

“I hope you rest well here,” the man said, showing Liu into a barn and giving him a blanket. “You have traveled quite a distance. Where are you going?”

“I’m going to see Ru Shou,” Liu explained, “to find out why I work so hard yet stay so poor.”

The man’s eyes brightened. “I have a question for the god, too,” he said, “but I cannot leave the animals long enough to go see him myself. Perhaps you could ask him for me.”

Liu nodded. “Of course,” he said. “You have been very kind to me.”

“I have an orange tree in my garden,” said the man. “It is beautiful to look at, but it never bears fruit.” He opened the barn door a little wider, as if to show Liu the tree. “Please ask the god why.”

Liu said goodbye to the man and started off again early the next morning.

Several days later, just when he thought he could no longer go on because he was so tired, he glimpsed an enormous structure just beyond the horizon. Could that be Ru Shou’s palace? he wondered, shielding his eyes against the late-afternoon sun. Oh! It is! It is! Hope and excitement immediately sprang up inside him.

But between Liu and the palace was a river that was flowing so rapidly, its roar was deafening. How can I possibly cross this river? he thought, knowing full well he couldn’t swim.

Liu eventually got up the courage to make his way closer to the river’s edge. Just then, a huge dragon rose up out of the water, its giant teeth flashing in the waning light. Liu screamed and fell backward onto the ground. He struggled to get away as fast as he could.

“Wait!” the dragon called after him. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

The dragon’s voice sounded calm and gentle. Liu turned back and looked at it uncertainly.

“I just want to help you cross the river,” said the dragon, lowering its head so that Liu could climb onto its neck.

Liu swallowed hard before climbing onto the dragon. “Thank you,” he said loudly, so that he could be heard above the raging river. “I am trying to reach the palace on the other side of this river.”

“You are going to see the god Ru Shou,” the dragon said, lowering Liu to the ground on the other side of the river.

“I would like to ask him something, but since you’re going, maybe you could do it for me.”

Liu smiled, happy to help the kind dragon. “Yes. What is it?”

“I always do good things for people,” the dragon began, “but I never rise up to heaven. I want to know why.”

At last Liu arrived at the gates of the palace, and received permission to proceed to the throne room. Seated on the throne was a kind-looking old man dressed in robes of embroidered silk. “I am the God of the West,” said the man.

“Why have you come to see me?”

“I have come to ask you four questions,” answered Liu.

“Four questions are forbidden,” said Ru Shou. “You may ask only an odd number of questions: One and not two,” he said, raising a finger. “Or you may ask three questions, but not four. Or, if you wish, you may ask five”—he shook his head—“but not six.”

Liu cocked his head, puzzled. Gods always had funny rules like that, it seemed to him, but he knew it was best to just follow along. First he asked about the woman’s speechless daughter. Then he went on to ask about the man’s orange tree. Finally—having only one question left—he asked about why the dragon never seemed to make it to heaven.

Ru Shou graciously answered all three questions, and Liu thanked him. He figured he could always come back to ask his own question, as he was young and strong enough to make the journey again.

Once he got back to the river, he met the dragon. “Ru Shou says you have to do two good things before you can rise up to heaven,” Liu explained. “First you have to take me across the river. Then you have to take off that giant pearl on your forehead.”

Upon hearing this, the dragon quickly carried Liu across the river and plucked the pearl from its forehead. Much to Liu’s amazement, the large beast immediately began to rise up to heaven. As it did, the pearl dropped straight down to Liu, who caught it.

Liu traveled on until he came to the house of the man with the barren tree. “Ru Shou says there are nine jars of gold and nine jars of silver buried under your orange tree,” said Liu. “Dig them up and the tree will bear fruit.”

Liu had barely uttered these words when the man got down on his knees and started digging. Sure enough, he pulled from the earth nine jars of gold and nine jars of silver. As soon as he did, fruit sprang forth from the branches, as if by magic. As a reward, he gave Liu some of the gold and silver, and a few oranges to eat along the way. Liu was very happy and thanked the man. He continued on his journey, arriving at the woman’s house several days later.

Liu told the woman, “Ru Shou believes your daughter will speak once she sets her eyes upon the man she is to marry.”

Just then the woman’s daughter walked into the room. She looked at Liu for a long time, and then she spoke. “Who is this, Mother?”

The woman was so happy to hear her daughter’s voice that she immediately agreed to let Liu have her hand in marriage. So Liu once again went on his way, now even happier than before because he had with him his new wife, Ling.

At last he reached his home by the shores of Olive Lake. His mother cried with happiness when she saw him and met Ling. She was overjoyed when he showed her the precious gifts he brought with him: the gold and silver, the oranges, and the giant pearl.

“Everything would be just perfect,” said Liu, caressing the luminous pearl in his palm, “if only the waters of Olive Lake would come back to life.” He looked at the lake’s stagnant black waters, trying not to breathe in its stinky fumes.

As soon as he spoke these words, the lake began to transform before his eyes, turning from inky blackness to crystalline clearness. Liu, his mother, and Ling all rushed to the lake’s edge in amazement. How was it possible?

“That pearl,” Liu’s mother said, as the lake came alive with hundreds of wiggling fish, “that pearl is magical. It just granted your wish!”

Ling, Liu, and his mother had all they needed from that moment forward, and Liu never again had to wonder why he worked so hard yet stayed so poor.