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墨書 Inktalez
In the beautiful East Sea, there is a lovely story that has been passed down through folklore about a sorrowful Sea Princess. It is said that the East Sea is filled with sentimental beings, which is truly unfair to them; they are simply infatuated with a dragon who fell in love at first sight. The same goes for the Dragon Prince.
Once upon a time, there was a kind merchant who drove eight oxen to a distant country called Judo to sell. After many days of travel, he settled into an inn early one day. When he had just crossed a small hill and spotted the inn, he saw a large lake beside it, with vast shores covered in lush green grass. He wanted to let the eight oxen graze by the lakeside before dusk. The merchant brought the oxen to the grassy lake shore, allowing them to graze freely while he sat on a stone in the grass, resting comfortably. Above him was the blue sky and white clouds, and below was the reflection of the same in the lake. The ever-changing clouds were drifting lazily across the sky. On the lakeshore were his eight grazing oxen and other merchants' cattle from the inn. At that moment, a boat came around the bend of the lake. As it approached, people could see that the fisherman was bare-chested, with tangled hair and beard. Tied to his boat was what appeared to be a large fish, thrashing about desperately trying to break free from its ropes.
When the boat reached the shore, many gathered around to watch. The fisherman jumped off the boat and into the water. He pulled the fish up onto the lakeshore. It was a fish covered in black scales, with sharp-looking claws underneath. Strangely, both its claws and each scale's edge shimmered beautifully. The fish struggled in pain, blood flowing from its mouth as it tried to escape from the ropes binding its neck and piercing its nostrils. Its thrashing turned the blooming wildflowers into a chaotic mess stained with blood.
The kind merchant felt deeply pained by this sight and suddenly felt compassion; he wanted to save this fish. He approached the fisherman and said, "This is a beautiful fish. Look at how it suffers; I cannot bear to watch! Why are you capturing this fish?" The fisherman was named Li Che. He made his living catching fish in the lake. Though he looked fierce with his wild appearance, his heart wasn't entirely bad; he had simply become numb from killing too many aquatic lives, making cruelty a habit while compassion faded away.
Seeing this passing merchant's sudden compassion surprised him; he didn't want to miss this opportunity for extortion! He pretended to be fierce and said to the merchant, "I will kill her! Tonight I will have a hearty meal!" "Please don't kill her!" said the merchant. "Let her go! I will give you one ox in exchange." Li Che deliberately remained silent. "I will give you two oxen," offered the merchant. "Not enough!" "I will give you five oxen!" insisted the merchant, clearly determined to save this fish. "Not enough!" Li Che replied. "I will give you all eight of my oxen for this fish." Li Che paused for effect before suddenly saying, "Alright then, I will grant your wish. You can take this fish!" With that, Li Che put on a stern face, coughed loudly, and drove off with the merchant's eight oxen.
The merchant placed Li Che's captured fish on his cloak and carefully untied the ropes around its neck and nostrils, gently wiping away its bloodied wounds. People whispered that this merchant was foolish as they followed Li Che away... The quiet lakeside at dusk turned blood-red under the sunset glow. Suddenly, this fish transformed into a beautiful girl with a radiant smile. She wore colorful silk garments that rustled softly in the breeze while her long hair flowed gracefully in the wind.
She stood before the young kind merchant with joy and said, "Thank you for saving my life. You sacrificed all your eight oxen for me; your compassion deserves reward. I am the daughter of the Dragon King of the sea and came here for leisure but was unfortunately caught by that fisherman. I suffered greatly and could not free myself. Heaven sent you here out of compassion to save me. Now I would like to invite you back to my Dragon Palace; my father and mother, my brothers and sisters will welcome you warmly." Saying this, she stepped forward and took his hand.
"I cannot go back with you to your Dragon Palace," said the merchant. "To me, it is a terrifying place where people are unpredictable and violent; when they are happy they can be gentle like a breeze but when angry they can cause floods and disasters. Just thinking about it makes me tremble; I do not want to go there! Please return alone! My reason for saving you comes from my innate compassion; I seek no benefits or rewards from it. Please let me return home!" The Dragon Maiden replied, "You speak truthfully; I understand your feelings. However, I must tell you that although I am the daughter of the Dragon King, I have taken vows against killing and am always vigilant in upholding these precepts; my heart has transformed from darkness into light.
If it were in the past when I was bound by that fisherman, I could have easily broken free from those ropes or destroyed his boat without effort; I could have turned that fisherman named Li Che into paste without breaking a sweat! You are my savior sent by heaven; how could I harm you? You can rest assured and come back with me! If you fear them, I will ensure they keep their distance." By now dusk had passed and darkness fell upon them. The Dragon Maiden's soothing words made the merchant relent.
The Dragon Maiden turned her face away and muttered some words under her breath; ahead appeared a path lined with flowers where petals fell gently from above as they walked along it together toward the Dragon Palace. Upon arriving at her palace, he saw grand halls adorned with pink walls and green trees along winding corridors filled with dazzling jewels everywhere he looked—everything was vibrant and colorful.
The young merchant entered the Dragon Maiden's bedroom where there were tables made of marble and chairs made of jade alongside intricately carved sandalwood beds—all doors and windows were edged in gold while feathered quilts adorned her bed made from birds' feathers.
The kind merchant felt increasingly uneasy as he had no desire for such eerie opulence; once again he asked her to let him return home. He told her, "I do not like this gloomy grandeur." The Dragon Maiden felt sad as she could not keep him there but had no choice but to give him eight pieces of gold shaped like round cakes saying: "This is gold cake from my palace; take it back—it will provide for your family for life." Tears streamed down her face as she kissed his forehead.
She instructed him to close his eyes while she wept softly and chanted some words... When he opened his eyes again, he found himself standing at his own doorstep. A day in the Dragon Palace equated to a year on land; his family thought he had perished after being gone so long but upon their sudden reunion they initially feared he might be a ghost before quickly turning their fear into joy.
When they spoke of gold cakes everyone rejoiced because earlier they had collected money among relatives due to an epidemic affecting their farming oxen in Judo country intending to buy eight new ones for sale hoping for great profits but ended up losing everything including their loved ones' worries over their plight.
Now this kind-hearted merchant repaid those debts with gold cakes which everyone deemed miraculous—saying these cakes would never run out! Thus those relatives became wealthy while this young merchant remained poor without keeping even one piece of gold cake but did not mind as his parents and family were just happy for his safe return after only one business venture.
Long chapter indeed! Let’s make subscriptions even more intense! The story will only get more exciting!
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