** The White Jigsaw **
by yuez
by yuez
The battle cries of a 10,000 strong Royal Army resonated across the desolate plain, shaking the ground with the wild galloping of their Turkmen steeds. Reddish dust was swirled up in currents, obscuring the frightened faces of helmeted warriors as they charged towards the rebel lines. Leading this vast army was a stocky warrior with a golden helmet and yellow croak, blandishing silver tipped spear. Attached to his horse, was a huge yellow banner painted with symbol of a phoenix.
“Onward! My brave soldiers!” The golden-helmeted horseman encouraged his troops. “Your King is by your side! Remember, vanquish your fear and you will never be conquered. Defeat the rebels, unite our kingdom in harmony, and then we can flourish in peace!”
Opposite the King’s army, at the rebel lines, a group of six generals gathered on top a hill, their urgent voices engaged in intense discussions. The odds were against them; with only 3,000 pike men in command, it would be miracle if they could survive the onslaught. Yet, they remained optimistic for victory. As former generals who worked under the King before rebelling against his oppressive ways, they knew the various weaknesses of their former master.
In a matter of a few minutes, the King’s army had swept across the battle plain and came within two hundred meters of the enemy lines. At a prearranged signal, the rebel archers unleashed a deadly torrent of arrows. While the King managed to raise his shield in defense, his horsemen beside him fell rapidly like kingpins, turning tail and fleeing in panic. With the King's army formation in disarray, the rebels then charged forward, flinging javelins at the incoming calvary.
Far above the battle scene, on top of a hill, a wise, elderly Sage looked at the deadly conflict in sorrow. Upon seeing the yellow phoenix banner fall into the swirling red dust, he understood that the King was had fallen in battle. Wasting no time, he mounted his donkey and trotted slowly down the slope. He would need to return home soon, for a distinguished visitor is expected tonight.
Darkness had fallen. Sitting silently by the pavilion, the Sage plucked the zither and sang to a mournful tune. After he stopped, there was an unnatural silence in the air, broken only by the ominous crowing of vultures, which had flown in to feed on dead bodies on the battlefield. Reddish dust generated from the battle still clouded the atmosphere, giving the full moon an eerie, orange tinge on the sky.
What a deathly silence. I must fill it up with hope.
He swept his nimble fingers across the silk strings, giving rise to a fluid, imaginative melody; it spoke a time when peace reigned in the kingdom, where food and water were aplenty, and different ethnic groups would dance together by the fireplace, singing hymns of joy, instead of the songs of battle. It told of era when villagers lit firecrackers to celebrate the peach harvests, instead of beating drums of war.
Perhaps the Sage played too passionately, or maybe the silk strings were too old. With a snap, the fourth string broke, and the sweet melody with its happy memories evaporated into the darkness. The Sage frowned and proceeded to replace the string, before his ears picked up a distant sound of galloping. He looked up, smiling.
Time to receive the Guest.
The galloping got steadily louder and clearer until, with a sudden gust of dusty wind, a majestic brown horse erupted out the darkness. The animal, with its elaborate golden armor, revealed the exalted status of its rider — an unconscious sovereign wearing a golden helmet. His spear was bent, his shield peppered with arrows, and his thigh bleeding from an open wound.
The Sage hastily carried the unconscious King off the saddle and laid him down on a stone table. After undoing the golden armor, the Sage washed the wound with spring water and bandaged it carefully. When the bleeding stemmed, the Sage allowed the King to rest, occasionally forcing some water down his throat.
For the next two days, the King burned in fever, hovering between deep sleep and traumatized nightmares. He would refuse food and water, curse his enemies, or grimace in pain. The Sage looked after him meticulously, patiently enduring his abuses and antics. Gradually, the King’s condition improved. On the morning of the fifth day, he was well enough to sit up, survey his surroundings, and talk to his benefactor.
The Sage looked kindly into the eyes of the King. While the sovereign may be the most powerful man in the known world, he was nothing more than a child in the bigger world of wisdom. Instead of the submissive behavior an ordinary peasant or minister would display around the King, the Sage treated him almost like his own son.
“Why are you feeling so down?” The Sage quizzed. “You survived the deadly battle, shouldn’t you be grateful and happy?”
“It is my fault.” The King sighed. “I underestimated the rebels. They tricked my army into a valley, where they cornered us and massacred us. Now I am a defeated King.”
“I see.” The Sage nodded. “Many young lives had been lost tragically. Why don’t you negotiate with the rebels for peace, and work together to build this Kingdom?”
“One Mountain cannot have two tigers.” The King replied. “The six generals rebelled against me, and I must protect my throne. But fear not, the people listen to their King. In time, I will make them submit.”
“Why did the generals rebel against you?” The Sage asked.
“They were unhappy with the way I ran the Kingdom.” The King explained. “I do not understand, after uniting our country, I have done many good things. I have standardized trade, standardized currency, and even came up a common script. The economy has flourished, and people should be happier.”
“Then what happened?”
“I wanted lasting peace for my Kingdom long after I die.” The King said. “And lasting peace cannot come about if there are too many different opinions and different cultures. Therefore, I have embarked on my most ambitious project to date, to standardize thought.”
“Standardize thought?” The Sage laughed.
“Why you laugh, Sage?” The King was irritated. “Wouldn’t this world be better if everyone believes in the same philosophy and practices the same traditions? Conflicts between minds lead to conflicts in real life!”
“If you are to standardize thought,” The Sage wondered. “What ideas would they all follow?”
“Mine of course!” The King said indigently, as if he could not believe the Sage could have thought of an alternate answer. “I have defeated all the previous nations of the Old World, and united all of civilization. Therefore I am the wisest, and they will follow what I say. My word is the law.”
“Including me?” The Sage winked. “What if I disagree with you?”
The great Sovereign stared hard at the Sage, thinking deeply. For most of his life, he had been brought up to be a King. Since young, he had learnt to give out orders decisively, making sure the subordinates were obeying promptly. When there were battles to be fought, he welded his sword with courage. When there was a threat to his moral authority and power, he did not hesitate to give out punishments.
Yet, given his fearsome reputation, this old defenseless Sage had the audacity to disagree with him. Without an army, and far away from his ministers and court, the King felt strangely powerless. He is now an ordinary human being, in the middle of an isolated forest, talking to this strange old man who saved his life. He felt helpless.
“I am a leader of vast realm, old Sage.” The King tried to explain in an amicable tone. “To survive, I need to be firm. Saving my life doesn’t mean I must agree with you. Rather, I prefer to reward my benefactors by showering them with gold, land and women. If you get me back safely to my palace, you will be the richest man on Earth after me.”
“I do not need to be richest man.” The Sage shook his head. “Money has never been my object of desire, neither is land and women.”
“Then what is it?” The King asked. “Speak! I will grant!”
“I want you as my disciple.” The Sage said. “I had spent my whole life in the quest for truth, wondering to the four corners of this Earth, gaining many deep insights into humanity. Today, Fate has brought you to my humble pavilion, and I hope to teach you something.”
“Disciple?” The King scoffed. “Teach me? You have a great sense of humor. I am a King, and as wise as you are, you are my subject. Get this clear: disciples are for lesser beings.”
The King stood up, and began to pace around. The Sage watched his movements with great interest. Despite the King’s lack of wisdom, the Sage knew that this was the only chance to influence this young leader, for he held the key to bringing the war to an end.
“Alright.” The cunning Sage thought of a plan. “I shall be your military adviser then. I have a secret battle formation with me, and if you learn it, you shall be invincible.”
As soon as he spoke those words, the King turned to face the Sage, trembling with triumphant excitement. The Sage reached into an old wooden chest, and recovered a jigsaw puzzle box. Opening it, he tipped its contents onto the stone table — ten thousand pieces jigsaw pieces of different shapes and sizes.
“However, applying this battle formation needs exceptional intelligence.” The Sage told the King. “You must piece the ten thousand puzzle pieces together, and then it will form a outline of an army. Using this outline, you will then return to the battlefield and win the war.”
“But… “ The King picked up the pieces, baffled. “The pieces are all white!! They look almost identical! Solving this jigsaw is impossible!”
“Not impossible.” The Sage winked again, and he disappeared into the bamboo forest, living the King pondering over the puzzle.
*
For the next week, the King spent his time recuperating and solving the jigsaw. He found it immensely difficult, for the pieces are all pure white. There was no trace of a different color, an object or a symbol. He began to get frustrated, staring at the white mess and wondering if the Sage is fooling him. After several cups of wine, he observed the puzzle pieces carefully again.
There are differences, the King realized. At least, the individual pieces had different physical shapes, if not different colors. Perhaps he could make some markings to distinguish certain pieces that match? Using this new approach, he began to categorize the puzzle pieces into separate piles, using a quill to make specific markings like squares, triangles and circles. To begin, he separated the border pieces first, for being completely straight at one side, they were the most noticeable.
“The square group, the circle group, triangle group and border pieces.” The King murmured. “Now… can I divide them further still?
After working for two hours, he realized that the markings were not sufficient. Therefore, he decided to implement a second system, adding numbers into the squares, circles and triangles markings on the white puzzle pieces, hoping to make them more unique. It was still very tough though, and seven days into attempting the Jigsaw, he had only barely completed the borders.
From time to time, the Sage returned to the pavilion, providing the King with meals and wine, but gave no hint on how to solve the puzzle. The King was worried if the Sage would “disqualify” him for adding markings on the puzzle, but luckily the Sage did nothing except smile in approval, even giving encouragement to him. Spurred on by the prospect of obtaining the powerful reward, the King tried harder.
The markings on the puzzle pieces became steadily more sophisticated. Besides numbers and shapes, the King was even beginning to assign certain white pieces various nicknames, colors and even musical symbols. By now, the puzzle was beginning to look anything but white. A colorful, feisty mosaic was beginning to take shape.
However, the King’s doubts were beginning to grow with the puzzle too. How could this be a plain white picture reveal a battle formation? He had believed faithfully in the words of the Sage, but as the puzzle neared completion, he could not help but suspect he had been a fool. Nonetheless, he continued trying. Being injured, he was unable to make it out of the forest on his own too, so there was nothing else to do.
One month after the King arrived at the Sage’s pavilion, desperately injured, the thigh injury had healed completely. The King was now able to run and ride into battle again. After much effort on his part, the jigsaw puzzle was also completed, but it revealed nothing special. Instead, what appeared before the King’s livid eyes was a messy mosaic of notations he made to give the puzzle pieces their own identities. There was no trace of a military formation the Sage promised.
“You fooled me!” The King shouted at the Sage, unleashing his sword and pointing the razor sharp point at the Sage’s throat. “This puzzle was completely useless! I wasted my effort over four weeks! How dare you do this?”
“Calm down.” The Sage explained. “Listen to me just for this last time. If you do not agree with what I say, you can feel free to take my life.”
“Alright!” The angry King said. “Explain yourself!”
“What have you learn from the white puzzle?” The Sage explained. “It was a very clean puzzle isn’t it, completely homogeneous, and this is precisely why you initially struggled to link the pieces together.”
The Sage sat down and sipped a cup of wine. “This is exactly what you tried to do to your Kingdom. By standardizing thought, you made it more difficult to keep the fragmented Kingdom together, because ultimately…”
He picked up a few puzzle pieces, each with its unique markings.
“Every individual is born unique, with his or her personal ideas. You ambition to standardize thought has alienated you from the opinions of others, isolated you from the advice of your generals, causing them to leave you, and people to rise in rebellion. This is your mistake.”
The Sage then picked up a handful of puzzle pieces and dropped them onto the King’s hand.
“Look, in your attempt to link the puzzle together, you have made several markings on the white pieces. At the same time, as a King, you must recognize the different identities of your people, whether it is by occupation, class, culture, age or thought. You have to give personal space for people to express their different cultures and opinions, not oppress them. Only by tolerating differences, can you truly keep this Kingdom together.”
Finally, the Sage emphasized the different physical shapes of the jigsaw pieces, explaining how they link up in a special way.
“These unique linkages symbolize human relationships, and the role in keeping a society intact. We all have special, unique relationships to different friends, and these relationships span across the Kingdom. Only by handling these relationships well, can the country be stable.”
Finally the Sage put down the puzzle pieces. “That is all I have to say. As a King, you must learn to tolerate diversity in your Kingdom. Seek consensus with your generals and welcome new opinions.”
The King stared at the puzzle pieces, the light of enlightenment dawning on him. The Sage gently removed the sword from the King's hand and returned to the sheath, whispering into his ear.
"Destroy your enemies by making friends out of them."
There was a sound of galloping horses from a distance. The Sage patted the speechless King on his back, assuring him. "Upon seeing your swift recovery, I had informed one of your scouts that you are recovering here. Soon, your soldiers will ride to my pavilion. Taking you home. I hope you had learn how to be a better King."
Tears flowed down the King's face. Feeling overwhelmed, he took the unprecedented move of hugging the Sage warmly, something he hasn't done since he got addicted to power upon ascension to the throne as a minor. Like a candle lighted in the darkness of ignorance, the King finally understood his mistake. When loyal soldiers from his army reached the pavilion, the King invited the Sage to follow him back to palace, so he can be his adviser.
"No thanks." The Sage declined politely. "However, I do hope you can take this jigsaw with you. You had completed it without my help, and I hope this crude mosaic will serve as a reminder for you to rule with kindness instead intolerance."
"Thank you so much." The King bowed, (much to the amazement of his soldiers accustomed to his previous aloofness and obsession with protocol.) "I promise, I will return one day to this pavilion, and you shall be rewarded duly, both for saving my life and the Kingdom's soul."
Indeed, upon return to the palace, the King changed his altitude. He treated his ministers with respect, showed more tolerance for different opinions, and governed better as a result. After years of patient negotiations with the rebel generals, they also finally grew to trust him enough to seek a consensus. Peace came to the Kingdom again, and people became happier.
However, despite his best efforts, the King was never able to find the mysterious Sage again. For some inexplicable reason, the Sage, the pavilion and the stone table vanished from the bamboo forest without a trace. The only thing that remained of his encounter with the Sage is the jigsaw puzzle, something that the King once thought it was impossible to complete.
