Fable of Warning

One spring, many years ago, there was a great war to the south and many people came north looking for shelter.  So many people flooded into the small town in the beautiful valley that the town elders could not feed them all and had to turn many away.  One family struggled westward into the mountains rather than going north along the main road.  At dusk, they settled under the great willow tree.

The three children set out to find dry firewood because the area near the willow was damp.  Red pandas climbed down and followed these children around.  At first, they seemed simply cute but each of the children realized that the red pandas were picking up the dry wood in their mouths and carrying it away before the children could reach it.  Unhappily, the three returned to their family without any wood.

One of the adults in the family had taken a bow and arrows into the woods to hunt game for the family’s meal while another had gone searching for edible roots and mushrooms.  Soon these two adults found many red pandas just as their children had.  The furry creatures made such a racket with their cooing and the scraping of their claws as they climbed that all the other animals knew the hunter was coming and fled.  The other adult found edible plants and fungi but the pandas had dug up and eaten all them first.  Frustrated, these two returned to the camp as well without any food.

Cold and hungry, the family was about to go to sleep for the night when they heard the red pandas gathering above them in the limbs of the great old willow.  The family tried to throw rocks and yell the scare the pandas away but the creatures did not leave.  Instead, they began to shake the branches and leaves of the willow and a great deal of water started falling on the family, getting their clothes and beds soaked through.  Angrily, the family packed up and moved farther into the mountains.

Not three hours later, a group of soldiers, spears shining but armor black with blood, marched up the road, all the way to the big willow.  Seeing nobody, the soldiers grumbled and one of them, with a sword and silver helmet, reluctantly motioned for them to turn around and march away.

The red pandas, safely high in the trees, watched the soldiers clank back down the hill.  Their shiny black eyes could see an orange glow in the beautiful valley where the small town was.

Fable of Fruit

One fall, many years ago, a family of farmers just south of the small town in the beautiful valley fell on hard times.  Their bad luck started when all six of their cows fell ill and died in the same week.  Without the livestock to sell, they were unable to pay the local noble when yearly tithes came due, so the noble took their land instead and began charging them rent to farm there.  The family, struggling as it was, could not meet these many burdens the noble imposed and fell further into debt.  Without help, the family worried that they would soon be forced into slavery.

The leader of this family visited the elders of the small town to ask for help.  The elders, hating to see a proud person so hopeless, agreed to talk with the noble lord.  First, they asked the noble to forgive the family’s debt but the lord refused.  Next, the elders asked if they could buy the family’s debt from the lord but, thinking that the family would fall deeper into debt, the noble refused once again.  Finally, the elders tried to simply buy the family and their land from the noble.  At this, the noble grew angry and refused to speak with the town elders any more.

The town elders, before the noble managed to force them off its land altogether, apologized to the poor family that the lord had ignored them and explained that they had no legal power over the nobility outside of town.  They could think of no other option and sadly returned to the town.

The youngest child of the unfortunate family, not yet an adolescent, did not give up, however.  Instead, this child left their task in the fields one day and traveled up into the hills, up to the great willow by the lake.  When this child finally reached the tree, it found a red panda curled up right near the trunk.  The child, not knowing the proper way of things, simply asked the tree to help its family to pay off their debts and keep their freedom.

The red panda stood up, stretched, then grabbed a fruit growing on a bush and walked over to the poor child.  The creature chewed through the fruit until all that was left were the seeds, which it dropped to the dirt before the child.  It repeated this until the child got the idea and began helping; soon there was a small pile of seeds on the ground.  Still somewhat mystified, the child gathered the seeds in its skirt and brought the whole bunch back to its family.

Being farmers, they planted these seeds in a fallow field and, sooner than anyone would have expected, the most delicious and juicy fruit was growing among the rows of low bushes.  At first the family simply sold the fruit to passersby for a little change but, realizing that they needed the seeds to replant the fruit, they came up with a way to make juice from the fruit.  Soon the children of the family could be found in the small town on most days, selling this sweet and refreshing fruit juice.

With this extra income source, the family worked their way out of debt and even managed to buy their land back.  By the time that youngest child had grown into an adult, the family was famous throughout the beautiful valley for their fruit juice.

Fable of Welcome

One day in winter, many years ago, two foreigners came to the small town in the beautiful valley.  One of them was an adult, with red bristle all over his face and green eyes that darted everywhere.  The other was younger, with the same green eyes but darker hair.  You could only tell that this child’s hair was red in the direct sun at noon.  

Everyone, even the town elders, was loath to give these strangers the common hospitality due to travelers because they were afraid of a curse.  Finally, they agreed to let the two travelers sleep in the old, abandoned forge because it was the only unoccupied building that had a hearth and because it already had a curse.  That is why it was abandoned, of course.

The foreigners survived that first night, bitterly cold in the near-ruin; it was clear that this arrangement could not last all winter.  The elders, vexed by the competing demands placed upon them, sent their youngest up to the big willow tree high in the hills to the west to ask for help from the sign-givers.

This young elder arrived at the great tree and planned offer a complicated and long-winded prayer of supplication.  Before she began, however, a red panda walked up and set a delicious fruit on the ground before the elder.  The elder ate the fruit and smiled.

Parts of the prayer involved dancing around the tree.  When same panda came back with another fruit, it followed her around in a circle for a while before giving up and just sitting there.  Finally, the elder sat down and found the same panda giving her another fruit.  It waved its bushy red-and-black tail in her face and then rubbed its red head against her knee.  Confused, the elder ate this second fruit and went back to her prayer.  She would have sworn that it seemed almost impatient but that was impossible because red pandas weren’t intelligent.

She prayed for several hours but the panda did not bother her again, thank goodness.  She waited for a sign from the wise old willow but, by evening, none had been given to her.  She began her long walk down to the town and passed many red pandas walking up the hill past her.  Once she reached the small town in the beautiful valley, this elder was surprised to find the two foreigners in the elder’s hall, with a fine supper and a roaring fire in the hearth.

Just a few hours earlier, a group of red pandas had descended upon the village, bringing with them fire wood, fruits, and vegetables.  They had walked straight to the old forge, then led the two strangers to the elder’s hall.  One of them had even nipped the keeper of the keys when the keeper dithered over the doors of the hall.  Once inside, the pandas had dropped their wood in the fireplace and their food in the elder’s kitchen.  Furthermore, they had refused to leave until the townspeople had a fire going and dinner on the way.  By that time, the entire town had gathered to see the day that the pandas reminded everyone what welcome means.

It was never clear if the disappearance of the town’s entire salted fish stock on that same day was connected or not.  However, since the pandas had reminded everyone what good neighbors do for each other, no one went short that winter and, by consensus, it was the gentlest winter for many years.