Snowflakes
A Winter Court 5 story by Kakita Kyoumi (Retold from Way of the Crane 1st Ed)
It was the depths of winter, and the Lady Doji looked outside the Palace windows to see, huddled in the snow, a beggar. Heart moved with pity, she sent out the guards to fetch him in, to find him a warm bed and food for the night. The guards went at once, but returned, telling the Lady that the beggar would not come.
Concerned for him, thinking he may be afraid to come, Doji sent out her handmaidens to him, bearing a hearty hot bowl of soup with fish and rice. He accepted the gift, but still refused to come in from the cold.
Finally, the Lady herself picked up a heavy blanket and left to go to the beggar sitting in the snow. She offered him the blanket."
The beggar looked at her, and asked "Why did you come?"
Doji answered, "I came because I feared you would freeze to death. The night is very cold."
"Die?" the beggar laughed. "You say that word with dread, My Lady."
"Are you not afraid of Death?"
"Rather," said the beggar. "I am not afraid to live. Look around you. What do you see,?"
Doji looked. "The snow? Only snow, everywhere?"
"But do you see the snow" he asked. He caught a flake on his sleeve, and held it up to her. "There, just there. What do you see?"
She looked closer. "A blossom...six petals from a single point," she said, questioningly.
The beggar gestured at another that had fallen on her wrist. "And that one?"
The kami looked. "Three spires, from one point, it looks like a dove in flight....I had never noticed."
The beggar cackled gleefully. "In all the thousands of snowflakes, in all the thousands of snowfalls in all the world, there are no two alike. No two in all eternity. If I were to go inside with you now, I would never see that snowflake. Its pattern would never occur again."
The snowflake on her wrist melted to water. "It is only a piece of water," she watched in fascination.
"And life is only a single day, one upon the other, until years have passed, and then you have grown old, and then where have all the days gone? Our lives are like the snow. We see only the storm around us, the years, and miss the moments. We cannot change the passing of the years. But you can choose what to do in each moment. Will you do something you will remember, or will they pass by like the melting of the snow? When the storm is past, who will remember it? Who will remember you?"
The Lady sat to join him in the snow, watching the snowflakes fall.
A Winter Court 5 story by Kakita Kyoumi (Retold from Way of the Crane 1st Ed)
It was the depths of winter, and the Lady Doji looked outside the Palace windows to see, huddled in the snow, a beggar. Heart moved with pity, she sent out the guards to fetch him in, to find him a warm bed and food for the night. The guards went at once, but returned, telling the Lady that the beggar would not come.
Concerned for him, thinking he may be afraid to come, Doji sent out her handmaidens to him, bearing a hearty hot bowl of soup with fish and rice. He accepted the gift, but still refused to come in from the cold.
Finally, the Lady herself picked up a heavy blanket and left to go to the beggar sitting in the snow. She offered him the blanket."
The beggar looked at her, and asked "Why did you come?"
Doji answered, "I came because I feared you would freeze to death. The night is very cold."
"Die?" the beggar laughed. "You say that word with dread, My Lady."
"Are you not afraid of Death?"
"Rather," said the beggar. "I am not afraid to live. Look around you. What do you see,?"
Doji looked. "The snow? Only snow, everywhere?"
"But do you see the snow" he asked. He caught a flake on his sleeve, and held it up to her. "There, just there. What do you see?"
She looked closer. "A blossom...six petals from a single point," she said, questioningly.
The beggar gestured at another that had fallen on her wrist. "And that one?"
The kami looked. "Three spires, from one point, it looks like a dove in flight....I had never noticed."
The beggar cackled gleefully. "In all the thousands of snowflakes, in all the thousands of snowfalls in all the world, there are no two alike. No two in all eternity. If I were to go inside with you now, I would never see that snowflake. Its pattern would never occur again."
The snowflake on her wrist melted to water. "It is only a piece of water," she watched in fascination.
"And life is only a single day, one upon the other, until years have passed, and then you have grown old, and then where have all the days gone? Our lives are like the snow. We see only the storm around us, the years, and miss the moments. We cannot change the passing of the years. But you can choose what to do in each moment. Will you do something you will remember, or will they pass by like the melting of the snow? When the storm is past, who will remember it? Who will remember you?"
The Lady sat to join him in the snow, watching the snowflakes fall.
