A girl living on the coast so loved the sea that she went to the shore every day. Sometimes she reached the embankment when day was just breaking and the sea began to stir, opening its eyes to smile at the dawning sky like a new-born baby waking up in his cradle. Sometimes she went at dusk, when the waves sparkled like the autumn fields of ripping golden crops, and the sea hummed a wordless song like a man inf his cups. The music inspired her with loving-kindness and gave her a sense of joy and bright that she, too, became more lovely and light-hearted, as if watching the lovely faces of light-hearted people. In storms when the angry sea raged she was not afraid, as if htis were what she expected, just as all girls anticipate stormy passions.
The sea always pleased her at all hours of the day.
But apparently there was another treason for this, and the sea knew the girl's secret. She had fallen in love with a bronzed young fisherman. He had red lips, Storm arms, broad shoulders and a salty tang about him. She loved this man of the sea.
She met him every day at the embankment. They talked about the sea, praising it as if praising the love between them. They told each other, "Look, the sea is smiling, singing and rolling. How lovely it is!"
They loved the sea and each other.
The girl was happy, and so were the young fisher man and the sea.
But why is it that what gives happiness so often snatches it away as well? Before long the sea wrecked the happiness of the girl who loved and had been loved by it. One day, after their rendezvous, when with a blissful smile she had seen her young man off in his fishing-boat, the sea leapt up and a great wave swallowed him.
This is how the ill-fated girl lost her happiness. The sea, instead of giving her happiness, made her suffer. And to her, the sea had lost its beauty and splendour and become grim and gloomy.
Oddly enough, she still visited the seashore day in day out. She had cursed the sea for this disaster and hated it. But she couldn't leave it. She still loved it even more after the blow she had suffered. Staring at the sea, she said, "You are a giant. I'll fight you and see whether I can get the better of you." So she went to sea and became a sun-tanned, sturdy fisher woman.
When cresting the towering waves of the salty sea, doing the work the young fisher man had done, she experienced a deeper love for the sea than ever before, as well as for the friend she had lost, that young fisher man.
By : Exclusive Editor: Yang Zianyi
When cresting the towering waves of the salty sea, doing the work the young fisher man had done, she experienced a deeper love for the sea than ever before, as well as for the friend she had lost, that young fisher man.
By : Exclusive Editor: Yang Zianyi
