A fable story

[CHUNG Yoon-Ngan <chungyn@mozart.collective.com.au>]

   Life is like a short dream.

   During the Tang Dynasty (618AD to 907AD) there lived a dispirited scholar
by the name of Lu Sheng. He was poor and unemployed and had the habit of
often sighing under the burden of his problems.

   Once he stayed at an inn in the city of Han Dan (present day Han Dan
city in Hebei province). An old monk occupying the next room repeatedly
heard Lu Sheng verbally despairing about his life. He went over and talked
to Lu Sheng who related his life of despair and  hopelessness. The monk
gave Lu Sheng a ceramic pillow to rest his head when he went to bed that 
night.

   It was still daylight and in the inn's kitchen the innkeeper was
cooking yellow millet. Curious about what it could do, Lu Sheng laid in
bed with his head on the ceramic pillow. Before long he fell asleep.

   He then had the sweetest dream. He arrived in an unrecognised country and
married a beautiful girl by the surname of Cui. He was appointed an official
and led a comfortable life. He was later blessed with many sons and
daughters who were extraordinarily gifted. He lived till the ripe old age of
eighty and was survived by many descendants. 
 
   Lu Sheng woke up to see the monk standing next to his bed and became
aware that the innkeeper was still cooking the yellow millet as dusk
approached. He realised that he had just had a dream. He had been a
prosperous man for fifty years with many offsprings. Now he was back to
being a dejected scholar. He concluded that life after all was just like 
a short dream.

A Chinese fable story "Huang Liang Yi Meng".

CHUNG Yoon-Ngan.  chungyn@mozart.collective.com.au