K'ang-2

[Guest guest]

K’ang had built his simple home from rock he had wrested from the

mountain to make his simple terraces. Many animals visited him, and he

welcomed them, and fed them, at peace with nature’s way. Sometimes

birds dropped seed there, and he welcomed weeds as well as usable

plants. K’ang nurtured the weeds as well as the usable plants, because

that was his way, and often, the weeds decomposing provided food for the

thin soil.

K’ang new he was wealthy in ways that had nothing to do with the

supposed riches of the villagers below… He had all he needed, and no

desire for more than that.

One day, the boy, making tea, asked K’ang why there was a spring so

convenient for use, so high up on the mountain.

K’ang answered, “The spring was always there, it waited for me to find

it. Do you see?”