Читать книгу Favorite Children's Stories from China & Tibet - Lotta Carswell-Hume - Страница 7

The Tower that Reached from

Earth to Heaven

Tibet

Far away, on the western borders of Tibet, there is a country called the Land of Sekkim. In the Land of Sekkim there lives a race of men called Lepchas. In the race of men called Lepchas there was a farmer named Wu who had many little pigs.

One day, when the winds blew strong from the mountains of Tibet, Farmer Wu's little pigs all ran away. Now Farmer Wu loved his little pigs more than anything else in the world, so he wrapped a turban about his head and went out to look for them. He climbed steep mountain passes and then he ran down into the valleys. For many days and many weeks he wandered on and on, always calling to his little lost pigs. He wandered so far that one day, to his great surprise, he found himself in Heaven.

Now, Farmer Wu had often wondered whether the country called Heaven was at all like the country called Sekkim, so great was his delight to see lovely rolling hills and many little pigs running about. He was just sure that some of them were his own pigs that had run away. He was so happy that he begged permission to stay there forever and ever. But the people in Heaven replied:

"Oh no, you are not yet ready to stay in Heaven. You must go back to Earth for a few years more."

The way seemed very long to Farmer Wu as he trudged back to Earth. But, when he reached the Land of Sekkim, he told the men called Lepchas all about the country called Heaven, with many little pigs running about. The men called Lepchas were so excited that they all decided they would build a tower to reach to Heaven.

"With a tower to reach to Heaven, we can climb into Heaven from our tower, without taking the long journey over the steep mountain passes."

Every man in the Land of Sekkim worked on the tower. One storey on top of another storey, up and up they built it, one storey atop another storey. As they worked on, they looked up and saw that they were getting nearer and nearer to Heaven.

As each storey was completed, they left one little man of Sekkim there to act as a guard.

So they worked on for many days and many months. Finally, after two long years, their tower needed only one more storey to touch the country called Heaven. Then the little men of Sekkim grew impatient.

"If only we had some big hooks, we could pull ourselves up into Heaven without building the last storey," they said to each other.

This was a fine idea. So the man at the top called out to the man on the storey below him: "Send us hooks!"

And he called to the man below him: "Send us hooks!"

And he, in turn, called out to the man below: "Send us hooks." And he called to the man below: "Send us hooks!"

And so on, from storey to storey, the call made its way down to the Land of Sekkim. But on the way a very sad thing happened. The message was repeated so many, many times that it got twisted and, when it finally reached the bottom, instead of being still: "Send us hooks," it had become: "Cut us down!"

Whereupon the men called Lepchas got out their great stone axes and cut down the tower that reached almost to Heaven. It crashed in a heap on the ground.

And to this very day, far away on the western border of Tibet, there can be seen a flat green spot deep in a valley, right in the heart of a thick jungle forest. And the people say, as they pass that spot: "See that spot in the deep valley, that is the place where the Tower of Sekkim fell down, the Tower of Sekkim that almost reached the country called Heaven, where the hills are green and rolling, and many little pigs run about."