Deep in the desert was a small village, hidden in the sandy valley where the moonlight was brightest. There w…
Deep in the desert was a small village, hidden in the sandy valley where the moonlight was brightest.
There was a clear spring there that could reflect the sky's light, the clear moon, and the starry river spanning ten thousand miles. Even more wondrous, a disk of moonlight in the water could be caught with a special moon-catching net and transformed into soft, sweet white-flour buns.
The buns felt light in the hand but emitted comforting warmth. After a few bites, a subtle, sweet fragrance lingered on the tongue, and the fire of hunger in the belly was instantly quenched.
Relying on these miraculous moon-buns, the villagers lived a life free from want for food and clothing.
But this world always has multitudes of suffering souls not favored by gods and Buddhas. The sea of sand is boundless; survival itself is a kind of hardship. Years of war further drained the souls of those desperate to live. Starved bodies littered the ground, piles of bleached bones.
A boy born in this joyful realm couldn't bear to see people outside the village suffer from hunger. He took all the moon-catching nets he could find and, step by step, walked out of his homeland bathed in clear light.
He wanted to share the secret of the buns with those less fortunate. After all, the moon wasn't just the moon of the villagers.