A cracked voice comes from the corner. The woman is old, her face veiled
in black, but the grey of her hair is apparent. She must have come in out
of the cold this night, but none saw her enter.
"Stories?" her ragged voice says, laughter in her chuckle and in her black,
bright eyes. "Stories I can tell. I will tell a story of the void, Scorpion-sama's.
Then you will knoww I earned my rice this night."
She leans forward and begins her tale. "Once upon the time, Lady Sun and
Lord Moon created all things, beautiful and foul. One of the creatures they
created was the Scorpion, who was well known for his wit. It was in those
early days that Shinsei walked the land, unknown to all of the creatures,
and he greeted each creature with great courtesy. As a gift of welcome into
the world, Shinsei gifted each creature with a gift. To the Lion, he gave
a great roar, so that all the world would know of his glory. To the Crab,
he gave a hard shell to protect him from his many enemies. To the Dragon
he gave the power to fly to the Celestial Heavens, and to the Phoenix he
gave the secret of rebirth from ashes. To the Crane he gave feathers so
white that the other creatures wept at their beauty, and to the KiRin, he
gave speed beyond all other living things. But to the Scorpion he gave a
special gift. He gave the Scorpion the ability to see the flaws of others,
no matter how their gifts might try to hide them.
The Scorpion was very proud of his gift, but was not sure if Shinsei was
telling the truth when he told him about his gift. So he went to test it
out. First he tried it on a simple frog, figuring that it would be easy
to defeat a creature whose only gift was swimming well, should his gift
fail. But, to the Scorpion's secret surprise, his gift did not fail! It
succeeded wonderfully, and he had managed to trick the little frog using
his flaw against him.
"Now the Scorpion was truly excited, for Shinsei's gift had worked, and
he could test it against all of the creatures, and find out whether he was
truly the greatest of Ameterasu's creations. So he did. "He went to the
KiRin, and used its flaw of Naivite to defeat it. He called himself Truth,
and the Kirin had nothing more to say.
"He was disappointed, but decided that, as fine as the KiRin was, it deserved
to die because it had such a silly flaw. So then he went to the Lion, and
used its flaw of Pride to defeat it. He stung it when it was not looking,
and the Lion had nothing more to say.
"The Lion fell easily also. He went to the Crane, and used its flaw of Vanity
to defeat it. He said the Crane would lose everything, and the Crane had
nothing more to say.
"The beautiful Crane fell as easily as the rest. He went to the Crab, and
used its flaw of Foolishness to defeat it. He spoke to it, coaxing it out
of his hard shell. And the Crab had nothing more to say.
"A hard shell did nothing to for the Crab. He went to the Phoenix and used
its flaw of Contemplation to defeat it. It left him so afraid of being tricked
that he was caught and bound. And the Phoenix had nothing more to say.
"Even the gift of life could not help the Phoenix. He went to the Dragon,
and used its flaw of Inactivity to defeat it. He showed the Dragon how he
had done nothing. And the Dragon had nothing more to say."
"But the tale does not end there." The old woman rubs her hands together
with the cold and looks around the room from one to another.
"So the Scorpion did to each living thing under the light of Ameterasu,
and each fell before the power of Shinsei's gift, for each creature had
a flaw. With each flaw he saw, the Scorpion became more convinced that only
that without flaw was worthy, and they fell before him. When the last one
fell, he was filled with pride. The open land was before him, and he ruled
over all, the greatest of Ameterasu's creations. He looked over it and smiled.
"But as the days wore on, he grew bored of looking at the empty lands, and
decided that there had to be more creatures for him to test his power against.
He went to south, thinking that that the Crab knew all sorts of creatures
that he had never heard of who he could challenge.. He called out 'Crab!
Come, tell me of the strange creatures you have seen, so I can challenge
them.' But the Crab did not reply. The he decided that he needed to summon
creatures to him to challenge, since he could not find them. But the only
voice loud enough for all the land to hear was the Lion's. So the Scorpion
went to the plains and called out, 'Lion! Roar! Call the creatures to me
so I might challenge them.' But the Lion did not roar.
"After more days, the Scorpion grew more desperate to prove his worth. He
had to leave the Empire and challenge those creatures far away if he was
truly to be triumphant, he went to the northwest, and called out to the
KiRin 'KiRin! You are the swiftest of creatures. Carry me to the next land,
where there will be more beings for me to defeat.' But the KiRin did not
reply. The Scorpion hurried, then, to the Coast, hoping there would be lands
across the sea where he could find creatures worthy of his challenge. He
called to the Crane 'Crane! On your white wings, fly me to the lands across
the ocean!' But the Crane did not respond.' The Scorpion could see no creature
to challenge now. 'Well, I see no living who I can defeat,' he said resignedly,
so he went to the East and said 'Phoenix, show me the paths to the dead
and back, for I must show them that I can defeat all things!' But the Phoenix
did not respond.
Finally, he decided that only Lady Ameterasu and Lord Moon would be able
to meet his challenge, for he knew they would be in the sky the next day
and be able to hear him. He climbed the highest mountain he could, and called
to the Dragon, 'Dragon! Carry me to the Celestial Heavens, because only
Lady Sun and Lord Moon remain for me to defeat. But the Dragon did not answer.
In Despair, the Scorpion started back down the mountain. At the top of the
mountain was a lake of purest crystal. He was about to go down the mountain
again when he saw movement behind him. He looked, and there, in the lake,
he saw another creature. He froze, unsure of what to do, and the other creature
silently watched him in return. The Scorpion was overjoyed. Here was another
creature for him to test himself against, and if he could defeat it he would
be above all things.
He looked down at it carefully, using his gift from Shinsei. He could see
it was quick...he could see it was wise, but he saw it had a flaw, there
in the middle of it's back. If he struck there, and quickly, he would defeat
it. He leaned forward...and forward...and struck! He tumbled head over feet
into the still lake, and with his feet in the air, and his tail over its
back like that, there was no way he could get his feet under him to swim.
And so, in the cold waters of the mountain lake, the Scorpion drowned."
The old woman laughed, pointing a withered finger at the rings. "Leaving
nothing at all."