Zhen Xu and the Lotus Courage

The first time I met the frog, I was on my way to the imperial city of Ivy.

It was a strange encounter, unlike any other I'd ever had. The frog hopped towards me across the rocky ground of the mountain pass, pushing its tiny body forward with great effort. It made a curious croaking sound that echoed in the silence around us. It came to rest in front of me and looked up at me, its bulging eyes staring into mine.

"Oh!" I said, startled. "Hello!"

The frog croaked again, this time more loudly and urgently. It was still looking at me, so I imagined it wanted something from me. I though for a moment and then realized what it wanted. "Are you hungry?" I asked.

The frog croaked again and hopped over to a patch of moss nearby and settled down onto it for a moment before hopping back to where it had been staring at me moments earlier.

I dug out some bread from my pack and offered it to the frog. It ate the bread eagerly, croaking happily all the while. After it was done with the bread, it hopped closer to me and looked up at me expectantly. When I didn't offer anything else to eat, it shook its tiny head and croaked reproachfully at me before resuming its journey in my direction. "Okay," I said, taking out some nuts from my bag. "Here you go." The frog took them gratefully and ate them greedily before returning to look at me expectantly again. When no more food was forthcoming, it hopped away disappointedly down the mountain path to continue its journey ahead of me. "You're welcome," I muttered under my breath as I watched its fading shadow disappear into the distance down below on the road below us both.

A little while later, we passed by each other again as we reached a small flat piece of land near a riverbank that seemed like a perfect place for a mid-journey break for lunch and for my new friend Mr Frog to take a quick dip in the water before going on his way again! "Hi!" I called out cheerfully when we met again by chance at this spot but Mr Frog had no time or inclination for idle chit-chat today! He gave me an annoyed look as he breezed past me without stopping or even slowing down before he jumped into the water beside us and disappeared underwater. "Fine," I said grumpily to myself as I sat down by myself on one side of the little clearing we’d arrived at and opened up my bag of food once more while Mr Frog continued with his swimming routine further downstream in the river! No friendship there!

After finishing my lunch alone, I decided that it would be better if we went our separate ways after all so leaving Mr Frog behind in his happy froggy world of underwater swimming fun (he hadn’t even bothered looking up once at where I'd taken my lunch), I got ready to continue my journey by myself once more! Just then however, Mr Frog emerged from the water far downstream from where he’d been last seen doing his thing with a lovely little fish between his mouth! He seemed quite pleased with himself as he nonchalantly walked back upstream towards where he’d left me sitting without even bothering to look around him just now! He stopped right in front of me where he had left me earlier and looked up at me expectantly! “What?” I asked him dumbly since Mr Frog clearly wanted something else from me now! “Want some fish?” But no! Mr Frog shook his head and croaked impatiently at me instead before resuming his journey upstream towards where he’d left his fishing gear lying around earlier! “Huh?” What did he want now? “All right!” I said finally getting exasperated enough with all this mystery drama from Mr Frog today! “I’m coming already!” And following reluctantly behind him uphill along our previous route together, we continued onwards together towards...the Imperial city of Ivy??