The Father of Waters

The moment that Ole Johnny Mudd arrived in China, he began to look around, and he realized that he was standing near the longest river in Asia and the third longest river in the world. It originated in Holy Tibet, and it flowed eastward toward the East China Sea, ending near Shanghai. It was often called “the cradle of Chinese civilization.”

The Yangtze River approached Ole Johnny Mudd gently coming through a grove of tender bamboo trees, treading on a rainbow of various colors. He explained to him that each of the colors in the spectrum stood for only the reality of that color at that moment. Sometimes the colors seeped into one another, creating complimentary colors extracted from the three basic ones. The rainbow created the total reality in the world, but it was often eclipsed by crystal prisms, and it was only seen as the sum of all its colors: white, which incorporated all the others within its sphere at every time.

The various seasons called forth their own type of dragon. The Azure Dragon or the Green Dragon was the East dragon god and the essence of spring. The Red Dragon was also called the Cinnabar Dragon, which is associated with the South and winter. The Black Dragon or the Dark/Mysterious Dragon is the god dragon of the North, associated with winter. The White Dragon, or the dragon god of the West, is an auspicious sign. Legend has it that the white dragon could bring fame and fortune. There was so much for Ole Johnny Mudd to learn from the Yangtze River.

The earliest men known on earth, were spread along the Yangtze River since time immemorial. The mountains and peaks bespoke of the beginning of time. Among the twelve peaks found in Wu Gorge, the most significant peak was the Goddess Peak. Of the twelve peaks, Goddess Peak was the highest, and it was the first peak to greet the sun’s glow every day. For this reason, it is also known as Wangxia Peak, which is translated to mean “looking sun-glow peak.”

Next in importance was the rocky image of Luozu. She was the wife of the Yellow Emperor, Huangdi and she was regarded as the mother of Chinese. Luozu taught her people how to make silk by raising silkworms. Ole

Johnny Mudd sat next to the Yangtze River, who offered him chopsticks to eat from a bowl of rice and fish.

The Yangtze River was tickled about Ole Johnny Mudd’s inability to handle the Chinese eating utensils therefore to spoke: “Way back in the beginning, Chinese people had learned to use knives and forks, but the Yellow Emperor taught his subjects that all butchering should be done in the kitchen before the food was brought out and set on the table. The chopsticks were a more graceful way of savoring and tasting fine Asian cuisine. Ole Johnny Mudd nodded that he understood, and he learned to slow down and enjoy every savory moment.

As he sat by the water, Ole Johnny Mudd realized that he was no longer by the Yangtze River. Instead, he was back sitting on a bridge, next to the Father of Waters. The Mississippi River welcomed him back home after his long visit to all the major waters of the Earth.

When he saw that Ole Johnny Mudd was very happy, he started questioning him in order to find out just what he had learned.

“I found out,” replied Ole Johnny Mudd, “that water is the source of life on Earth. Every being has some water in his body. The human being contains 60 percent of his total weight in water. We are all more similar despite the color of our skin or who we are. The lesson of the waters had been a good one for Ole Johnny Mudd.”