âHey, is it that terrible?â Yin Xiaoxiao asked conscientiously. Could it be that he had rushed into disaster?
At that moment, demonstrating his capability as head of the family, Yin Dabai was the first of the snakes to calm his fear. He even slithered forward slightly. Raising his head to look at the place from which he had recently fled, he hesitated and then asked, âThis is fire?â
Yin Xiaoxiao nodded and he moved to slither towards that thick branchâŠbut Hua Xiaohuaâs trembling body blocked his path. âNo. No you cannot go!â Hua Xiaohuaâs voice was shaking. âFire is dangerous. Xiaoxiao, donât you know not to go near fire?!â
âPop, did you forget that I was the one who had you and Dad light it?â Yin Xiaoxiao responded as he stuck his head out from behind Hua Xiaohuaâs body. âOf course Iâm not afraid of the fire that I, your son, had you make!â
From the midst of his alarm, Hua Xiaohua began to get an inkling of an idea. Right. Yin Xiaoxiao made this fire. But how had Yin Xiaoxiao known to how to light a fire? Hua XIaohua unconsciously looked at Yin Dabai to find that Yin Dabai was already looking at him. In his gaze, aside from his fear of fire, was trust in his son.
Silently, Hua Xiaohua stepped aside and watched as Yin Xiaoxiao approached that thick branch. He evenly silently allowed Yin Xiaoxiao to stick his head above the fire.
Yin Xiaoxiao found that a fire really had been lit, even if it was small. He then began to light the twigs, one by one, and pile them together. And so it was that, at the base of this mountain, in the seat of this mountain range, that for the first time in perhaps several hundred years, or maybe even several millennia, a fire was intentionally lit by an organism.
By this time, darkness had already descended. The only light came from the fire which illuminated all the snakes in Yin Xiaoxiaoâs family and which cast, on the ground, shadowy snakes. Indiscernible, immaterial <sup>1</sup> .
ââŠSo beautiful.â Unexpectedly, it was Hua Xiaowu who was the first of the young snakes to recover from his fear so much so that he approached the open fire and stood next to Yin Xiaoxiao. Yin Xiaoxiao was somewhat astonished, but, after careful thought, realized that it was quite in-character for Hua Xiaowu to be the first to stand beside him.
Yin Dabai and Hua Xiaohua glanced at each other and then silently slithered over to snuggle together next to the bonfire. Yin Dabai and Hua Xiaohua had been alive for 40 to 50 years, and this was the first time that they had found that the night could also be warm. Slowly, Hua Xiaoer, Hua Xiaosan and Yin Xiaoyi moved closer. By this time, the bonfire was encircled by several snakes. As for Yin XiaosiâŠactually, Yin Xiaosi had immediately woken up after Hua Xiaowu. Only, the first thing that Yin Xiaosi had done after waking wasnât to approach the bonfire but to look for a dark corner where he could hit his head against the ground and mutter, âXiaoxiao is actually smarter than I. Xiaoxiao is actually smarter than I.â *cough cough* This child <sup>2</sup> was actually suffering from a severe psychological shock.
âXiaoxiao, why did you want to light a fire <sup>3</sup> ?â Yin Dabai had been under the impression that no creature in this mountain range was unafraid of fire. Even the special vipers were afraid of fire. So why hadnât this established fact applied to Xiaoxiao?
âBecause Iâm tired of eating raw eggs and wanted a change so I thought that if I could cook them then I wouldnât have to eat raw eggs.â Yin Xiaoxiao spoke without pause. It was a long thought out and well-reasoned justification, and, in fact, was mainly true.
Yin Dabai: ââŠâ
Hua Xiaohua: ââŠâ
The young snakes: ââŠâ
Yin Xiaoxiao mischievously laughed twice and promptly took a bird egg from the ones that Yin Dabai had brought back. He placed itâŠnot! He wasnât able to! Unexpectedly, Yin Xiaoxiao realized that, after all of this, he had a question: could bird eggs be placed directly into a fire to cook?
Yin Xiaoxiao nearly lost his mind. He just wanted to eat a cooked egg. Why was that so difficult?! God wasnât letting him accomplish this! Aaaah!
Hua Xiaohua saw despair and bitterness on Yin Xiaoxiaoâs face and couldnât help but ask, âWhat happened, Xiaoxiao? Didnât you say that you wanted to eat cooked eggs?â By this, Hua Xiaohua meant, âXiaoxiao, quickly toss the egg in! Quickly toss the egg in!â
ââŠHa, haha, that, I think that eggs canât be placed directly into the fire.â Yin Xiaoxiaoâs face was gloomy. âLet me think it over again. I think that, now that thereâs a fire, thereâs no reason I shouldnât be able to eat cooked eggs!â After that, Yin Xiaoxiao fled to a nook, dragging the bird eggs which he ate while thinking of a method.
The snakes looked at each other in dismay, then laughed. What did it matter? Although Yin Xiaoxiaoâs eggs couldnât be cooked, at the moment they were quite warm. It wasnât like this was a bad ending, right?
âŠIn regards to everything that happened before, that person could only say: this whole family, including Yin Xiaosi, was entirely comprised of fools.
By the time it came to sleep that night, the snakes wanted to sleep piled up around the fire. However, Yin Xiaoxiao drove them one-by-one into the cave. âWas this a joke? Did you think that the fire would burn the entire night? Even then, Iâd worry that you would move around in the night. And with all that tossing and turning, werenât you worried about burning your tail?â
After forcing the crowd of snakes into the cave, Yin Xiaoxiao didnât tend the fire. Let it burn and burn. The bonfire was surrounded by stone. It would naturally die after burning through the branches.
Early in the morning the next day, all rose late without exception.
This was quite normal. Ordinarily, when it was dark the snakes knew to go to bed, and when it was dawn they would naturally wake up early. But yesterday evening, everyone had been having a great time around the bonfire and they had gone to sleep late, so naturally they also rose late.
âCould it be that Iâve started nightlife in this world?â Yin Xiaoxiao thought, thusly.
Yin Dabai and Hua Xiaohua immediately, chaotically rushed to go together to look for bird eggs.
Yin Xiaoxiao looked outside at the weather. At the moment, the sun at the third pole <sup>4</sup> , so Yin Xiaoxiao very determinedly refused Hua Xiaowuâs proposal of âWe should go play with them over at Lan Yiyiâsâ. And so none of the young snakes left and everyone moldered <sup>5</sup> together in the cave
âXiaoxiao, let us make a fire tonight, okay?â There was hope in Hua Xiaowuâs face. After lighting the fire it had been very warm! Theyâd no longer have to dread the night!
Lying on his stomach facing Hua Xiaowu, Yin Xiaoxiao turned his head away. âNo.â
Hua Xiaowu heard Xiaoxiaoâs rejection and his face wrinkled. âWhy?â
Yin Xiaoxiao ignored him. Even after lighting the fire, he had been unable to cook eggs. Why should he light a fire?! Heâd have to travel so far to gather branches and he didnât want to build a fire. He was so damned tired of being a snake!
But Yin Xiaoxiaoâs thoughts about not wanting to light another fire were broken by the return of Yin Dabai and Hua Xiaohua.
Yin Dabai was dragging back bird eggs, but Hua Xiaohua was dragging back a large bunch of branchesâŠHua Xiaohua had found the fire to be very enjoyable and wanted to light another one tonight.
Originally, Yin Xiaoxiao wanted to use âthe branches youâve found arenât thick enough for rubbingâ excuse to reject Hua Xiaohuaâs expectations. But when Hua Xiaohua very proudly pulled what could be regarded as a tree stump with quite a few small holes from that thick and solid bunch of branches, Yin Xiaoxiao grudgingly accepted this reality.
Of course, the eyes of of the masses had been sharp. Yin Dabai had observed everything about that thick branch down to the smallest detail and passed it on to Hua Xiaohua.
"
"
So, this evening, Yin Xiaoxiaoâs whole family again started a bonfire, and Yin Dabai and Hua Xiaohua again rose late.
Why were only Yin Dabai and Hua Xiaohua late? Naturally it was because the previous evening, while the whole family of snakes excitedly surrounded the bonfire, Yin Xiaoxiao was sleeping and snoring in the cave. The next day when Yin Xiaoxiao awoke as usual, Yin Xiaoxiao was in the center of the center of the mĂĄ huÄ and struggled free, thereby waking the many young snakes. Then, the young snakes, with Yin Xiaoxiao yawning incessantly in the rear, set out on a pilgrimage to Lan Yiyiâs â after his refusal yesterday, Yin Xiaoxiao didnât stop them, and they went to go to Lan Yiyiâs to play.
As for notifying Yin Dabai and Hua Xiaohua-what for? After all, Yin Xiaoxiao wasnât going alone. Right. That was that.
After meeting up with Lan Yiyi, all the young snakes involved again rushed off in streaming columns for the riverbank. They repeated this a several times.
Depressed, Yin Xiaoxiao slapped the water with his tail, pÄ pÄ <sup>6</sup> , as he gazed at the shining water.
As expected, without humanityâs pollution, the water was clear. The pebbles at the bottom of the river had been polished for an untold number of years until each pebble was exceptionally smooth and beautiful. Amongst the pebbles, tender green water plants grew, slightly bowed by the current of the water. Even lotuses grew unsullied out of the mud. However, the water plants in this brook, in comparison with the lotusesâŠ
âŠ.hang onâŠwhatâŠ.grew unsullied out of the mud <sup>7</sup> âŠsiltâŠclayâŠ
Yin Xiaoxiao rushed from the brook. Yin Xiaosi was the first to startle, then the other young snakes who were playing at bite-run-bite were startled. Yin Xiaoxiao rushed over to Lan Yiyi then came to a halt. âLan Yiyi, do you know where there is mud near your house? I want mud thatâs quite sticky.â
ââŠI think thereâs some downstream.â
âReally, really? Then letâs go.â Yin Xiaoxiao was now exceptionally excited.
âOut of the question.â From behind came a strict voice. Yin Xiaoxiao suddenly turned his head and saw Yin Xiaosiâs gloomy face. He swallowed the question âWhy?â because Yin Xiaoxiao remembered why Yin Xiaosi refused. Hei Abanâs family was downstream.
Unknown of this inside information, Lan Yiyi promptly said, âItâs not far from here. One only need slither for as long as five or six minutes, thatâs all. Thereâs a fork in the brook, not much water. Itâs slow moving and it has that type of mud Yin Xiaoxiao was talking about.â
Five or six minutes? If it was like he said then it was absolutely impossible to reach Hei Abanâs home. Hei Abanâs home was much further away. Yin Xiaoxiao, gaze brimming with expectation, looked at Yin Xiaosi. Yin Xiaosi was silent for two minutes, then said, âOkay.â
Yin Xiaosi agreed and then all the young snakes in Yin Xiaoxiaoâs family also naturally agreed. Lan Yiyi agreed and naturally all the young snakes in Lan Yiyiâs family also agreed. So the party of young snakes, warm with noise and excitement, slithered downstream.