Transcript
The Mysterious Old Man.
In the year 644, as a young student of the Wudan style, it was my job to sweep the training area each morning.
Bye.
I started this job at 3:45 a.m. and with vigor would finish with a few minutes to spare before the 6:00 a.m. training.
There was an old man with no hands and no feet, the only man to whom Master Po would bow, who would sit atop a tree trunk and watch me complete this task.
-
Every morning he appeared and watched in admiration.
It was a full 219 years before I mustered the courage to speak with him.
Why do you watch me sweep? I asked, puzzled. Ah, young cobra, what better unison of the hands and the feet than sweeping a floor? If you were in my position, you would savor the task, he replied.
I looked at the stumps where his hands and feet once were, then looked up at him.
afraid to appear disrespectful. Truly it was none of my business.
curiosity got the better of me.
"What happened to you?" I said, looking towards the ground. I was sure he was contemplating reprimanding me.
I was pleased when he began to speak. Wudan was not always such a peaceful place, he began.
Warring tribes fought for this mountain's power, and strange creatures lurked in every corner. Before myself and a few brave others, including Master Po, banished them from the mountain. While fighting bandits near the Yushu River, a water snake grabbed my right foot and began to pull me under. Fearing for my life and unable to see the snake through the bloodied water,
I removed my right foot with one slice of my sword. The only alternative was to drown.
What about your left foot? I asked.
The next day I was limping and slowing the group down. I asked to be left to die, but Poe demanded that I fight. Soon, a daughter of a previously slain bandit had spotted us and fired an arrow from the ridge, which landed squarely in my left foot.
Faring gangrene, I removed my left foot with one slice of my sword.
hands? I asked quickly. My left hand was snared by a golden dragon in that now empty cave you children enjoy. To avoid being pulled into the darkness and killed, I removed my left hand with one slice of my sword. He paused. My right hand was caught in a bear trap that same afternoon. Fearing death, I removed it with my teeth.
Oh
I looked at his right hand's stump.
It was ragged.
Not a clean cut like the others.
It still looked painful.
He looked relieved when the story was over. It pained him to relive the events.
He took a sigh of relief and moved his gaze from me back over to the floor I was sweeping.
I, however, was confused.
How did you find the strength to remove limb after limb in such gruesome fashion?
I don't think I could do that. He smiled. Well, then you would be dead and you would never tell your story to anybody, would you? I didn't find the strength to die.
I bowed and returned to sweeping. The conversation made me minutes late for training. Master Poe beat me severely. The next morning when I rose to sweep,
The man was not there. I never saw him again.
Such is the way of Houdan.