The Parable of Pu

I spotted this over at PD and thought I'd post it here.

BTW, Travis wrote it.

Quote :

The Parable of Pu

Pu was bored. So one day she decided to dig a well. Pu found it very exciting but a bit frightening as she dug deeper and deeper. When Pu couldn’t dig any more she climbed out of the hole and sat near the edge. But something startled her and Pu lost her balance and fell into her hole. She hit the ground so hard she forgot who she was and to complicate the matter worse, it was completely dark so far down her hole.

Unable to dig down any further Pu wondered what to do. The hole she had dug now seemed very frightening and treacherous and she wanted to escape it. So Pu began to tunnel around at this new ground but could find no way out and no new light. She had tunneled so long she didn’t even remember where her original hole was. Pu decided she wasn’t going to be afraid anymore and decided to tunnel up.

Pu eventually reached a new cavern that came out into a valley. It had a little bit of light glowing about it and Pu called out if anyone was there. A voice answered her, “Hi, I’m Pre-co.”

“Hello Pre-co”, she answered, “I’m afraid I’m lost and I don’t remember who I am.”

“Do not worry”, said Pre-co, “you can stay here with us until you remember.”

And so Pu stayed with Pre-co and his family and learned his customs explored his cavern and valley and enjoyed herself very much. They called Pu by the name Min-r-al. But one day, Pu sensed this is not where she belonged. She asked Pre-co if there were any other caverns.

“There is one up the rocky side of the mountain and it takes a good leap to get to a good starting place to ascend the mountain side. All of our people are too heavy to attempt the leap, but we have often wondered what or who is up there”, replied Pre-co.

“I will try and see. Why don’t you give me a scarf from your people so even if I can’t take you with me, I can take a piece of you and share it with whoever may be there” suggested Pu.

Pre-co exclaimed, “Great idea! Don’t forget us!”

“I won’t”, assured Pu. She then began practicing to leap up to the starting point.

When Pu was finally strong enough to leap to the starting point, she climbed up the mountain side. She finally got to the cave Pre-co had told her about. She called out, “Hello, is there anyone home?”

A voice came back, “Hello, my name is Sem. What is your name?”

“I’m not sure. I fell down a hole and hit my head. I found my way to the village below and stayed with them for a while. They gave me the name Min-r-al. But I want to find my way home, wherever that is”, answered Pu.

“Well, stay with us for a bit, Min-r-al, and perhaps you will remember who you are,” said Sem.

Pu enjoyed her stay in this village as well, learning their customs and exploring their cavern. She noticed that there were other villages down below near Pre-co’s that were very similar. She wondered if Pre-co even knew about them. Pu was given a new name, Cell, by Sem. One day, though, she began to wonder if there was anything more.

Sem told her there was another village on top of the mountain. The air is thinner there and our people could not venture any further up, however, for it was difficult for them to breathe.

Pu told her how she had taken a scarf from Pre-co to remind her of her time there. Sem thought that was a great idea and gave her a scarf of her people so that she could take a bit of them with her even if not all of them could go.

Pu now reached the top of the mountain, and called out to the great city on top of it, “Hello, is there anyone there?”

A voice called back, “Yes, my name is Connie. Who are you?”

Pu explained, “I’m not sure, I fell and hit my head and don’t remember who I am. I met a boy at a village near the bottom of the valley named Pre-co and he and his people call me Min-r-al. Then I climbed halfway up the mountain and met a girl, Sem, and she and her people called me Cell.”

“Welcome to our city”, Connie replied, “Feel free to stay as long as you like. Since each new place gives you a new name, here you will be known as Mi.”

Pu enjoyed this place very much. The view was exciting and far reaching. She could see there were similar villages to Sem’s just as there were to Pre-co’s. She felt more at home here in the city on top of the mountain than in the other two villages. There was a certain freedom and sensation of something here she had not felt before. In truth, she had mostly forgotten about the other two villages as well as Sem and Pre-co unless she glanced at the scarves they had given her.

Out of curiosity, Pu asked Connie, “Is this all there is”?

Connie replied, most think so. Some think there is something in the clouds. But none have been known to see it let alone reach the clouds. The thought intrigued Pu and brought back the memory she didn’t know who she really was. She had been so enthralled as Mi, referring to herself as Mi all the time that she had come to believe she was Mi. But each day she would go out and watch the clouds and begin to remember more she was not Mi.

“How do you suppose one reaches the clouds”, Pu asked Connie?

“One has to leap and hope they don’t fall, I guess”, offered Connie.

“It seems like a long way to fall if you are wrong”, reasoned Pu.

“It is why none of us try”, said Connie. “If you do decide to try, take a scarf from me as well.”

“Thank you” replied Pu

So Pu practiced jumping, but she got no where near high enough. So she began to dream she could leap that high. She was soon able to blend her dream with her jump and she leapt into the clouds.

“Welcome”, came a strange but slightly familiar voice, “do you know who you are”?

“I am Mi, or at least I was Mi…I don’t know who I am…but you seem familiar. Do you know who I am?”, asked Pu.

“I know where you are from, but you have to discover who you are, only you can do that. Until you know who you are, here you will be called Sol”, answered the voice.

Pu did not even think to ask the voice its name, as it seemed almost nonsensical. Instead Pu pondered who she was as she explored this new realm. She could see all the lands and villages below her. While walking around Pu noticed the hole she had dug, and in a flash of recollection shouted, “I am Pu!”

Pu was so happy to remember who she was that she wanted to tell everyone she had finally figured it out. She stretched her scarves out so they reached down to the valley below, she then fashioned a new rope which she lowered into the hole she had dug. She was no longer afraid of the hole and quickly descended down it. Once she got to the ground, she tied the end of her rope to the scarves at the valley floor and began to climb back up. As she passed each village she shouted, “I am Pu”!

She began to race around and around the path she had fashioned, shouting all the time, “I am Pu, I am Pu, I am Pu!” This produced great joy in her and that joy helped wear a discernable path from the hole to the ground and back to the hole. This continued until one day when Pu was shouting “I am Pu!”, the voice returned.

“Almost”, said the voice.

The statement caught Pu off guard, what did it mean? Almost Pu? No, that couldn’t be it. She began to relax and ponder the voice, and a tranquility came over her, and she and the voice said at the same time, “I am”.

I am was then finally home and able to rest in its knowledge of I am, without a need for anything. The worn path became camouflaged with various elements, but that did not concern I am, for the path and the camouflage were both part of I am. But a little bit of I am thought itself separate and wiggled away, stood up and declared, “I am Pu!”

Pu noticed a hole and went over to look. She precariously peered over the edge and stared down into the hole. I am noticed this little Pu. I am crept behind Pu, and after permitting itself a mischievous grin, shouted, “BOOO!”

Pu was so startled she fell into the hole. Down, down, down, until she came to a sudden stop! And when Pu had regained her senses she was very afraid. She did not know where she was or even who she was. The only thing she knew was that she somehow had to find her way back. And as she began to grope around in the dark, she stumbled upon what appeared to be a path she had not remembered encountering before, but yet felt very familiar.

Oh my, I had forgotten about that! One of the posters there had a difficult time understanding what I was talking about, so I changed the format into a story. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!

-TC