IT IS IMPORTANT to understand one's own subtle nature — both inwardly and outward in relation with other creatures and the dynamics of "Nature."
The Chinese people, who enjoy a complex relationship with their vast culture — which has one of the deepest taproots in all of history — are often keenly aware of the subtleties of nature: that in which we are embedded and a part of, as well as that with which we are imbued. (The two natures are not two, but one, of course...) Their folklore and tales sometimes illustrate this.
For example, there is a Chinese fable that tells of a man who sat near his cow playing a graceful melody on his lute for her. As he played he noticed that the cow simply kept eating grass and did not respond in any way to the lovely music, just as if she did not even hear it. The lute player therefore allowed this tune to evaporate, introducing into its place a tune of the sound of buzzing mosquitoes and the bellowing of a lost calf. The cow immediately pricked up her ears, began to twitch her tail, and slowly moved about with keen interest, almost as though dancing to the tune.
Another fable shows us a swallow in heated argument with a bat. The matter under contention was which condition was day and which was night — given dawn and then light, and dusk and then dark. The swallow was utterly of the opinion that the former was day, whilst the bat was thoroughly of the opinion that obviously the latter condition was day. They squabbled over this for a long time, neither able to convince the other of anything. By and by they agreed to take the matter to Phoenix — the king of all winged creatures — to decide which was correct. However, on their way they encountered another winged creature who informed them that Phoenix was presently on vacation and was sleeping twice as much as usual; and that in his stead he had asked Owl to handle everything. "So what exactly are you quibbling about, anyway?" was the question.
Folklore is the lore created by 'da fokes' — all of us — as we entertain stories about ourselves and who we are and what kinds of predicaments we find ourselves facing, and how to cope with this whole ball of wax.
