The Lazy Ox Climbing the Grass Leaf
Not all people are clever, everyone knows this.
But not all oxen are hardworking, which might not be as widely known.
Long ago, there was an ox, a rather beautiful little ox. This little ox was very pampered by its parents, growing up doing nothing but eating and playing, never working at all.
As the little ox grew bigger, it turned into a big ox.
The big ox became very lazy, spending all day sitting or lying down, finding something to eat, and not wanting to do any work.
Seeing many oxen busy plowing fields, the big ox thought it was too tiring; seeing many oxen pulling carts in the scorching sun or rain, the big ox thought it was too foolish.
The big ox became lazier and lazier. Many oxen came to persuade him, saying that as an ox, he should work hard. They told him that hard work and endurance are the nature of oxen; if he just ate and slept all day, others might mistake him for a pig.
“No!” The big ox replied to this, “I have horns on my head; no one will mistake me for a pig. I just don’t want to work; I want to be an ox that doesn’t work.”
However, to be honest, the big ox’s life was not happy. Because people always criticized him, either to his face or behind his back, saying he shouldn’t be so lazy and that they had never seen such a lazy ox.
No matter where the big ox went, people were always pointing and talking about him.
Thus, the big ox no longer wanted to live with the others. He escaped into the forest, wanting to be a free ox that didn’t need to work.
After the big ox entered the forest, his life was not pleasant either. The forest was large but had no shelter from the wind and rain, unlike the field where there was a cow shed, although simple, that provided some cover. Living with family had its protections, but here he had no home and felt very lonely. Moreover, not all the grass in the forest was edible; some grasses couldn’t be eaten at all. The delicious grass often hid poisonous snakes and giant pythons, and there were also terrifying wolves, tigers, and leopards lurking around.
The most unbearable thing for the big ox was a bird in the forest that often sang on the branches: “Ox, go plow the field, ox, go plow the field…”
At the edge of the forest lived a confused witch.
At that time, the confused witch was at home studying a book called “How to Make Your Magic Less Confusing.” Actually, she had read this book several times, but the more she read, the more confused she became. As she read, her eyelids started to fight each other; she had never been so sleepy. The words in the magic book seemed to merge and dance a hypnotic dance; the twisted spells turned into lullabies, causing her eyelids to stick together as she read.
“Thud!” The magic book fell to the ground without her noticing. The confused witch snored loudly, very loudly…
The confused witch slept so deeply that she didn’t wake up for three days and nights.
When the confused witch finally woke up, stretching and yawning, she noticed that the weeds in front of her house had grown quite a bit, tall enough to cover her knees. The confused witch was not happy: “Look at these weeds, I just cleared them a few days ago, and they’ve grown so tall again, really annoying.”
Muttering continuously, the confused witch looked up and saw an ox in the distance, eating grass.
“Got it,” the confused witch clapped her hands and said, “I have a way to get rid of these weeds without much effort.”
The confused witch walked to the big ox eating grass and said, “Ox, I see you have a good appetite. Can you help me eat all the weeds in front of my house?”
The big ox looked up at the confused witch and said, “With my usual appetite, eating these weeds would be nothing, but now I can’t, I’m already half full. Besides, the grass in front of your house doesn’t taste good. Also, I’m not in a good mood these days. Moreover…”
“Why so many reasons?” the confused witch said, “I never let others work for free. If you’re in a bad mood, I can make it better. I, the confused witch, have that ability.”
“Ah, you are the famous confused witch!” the big ox said happily, “Of course, I’m willing to eat the grass in front of your house, no matter how much there is. But you have to do me a favor.”
“Go ahead, although I can’t help with everything, there are many things that my magic can handle.”
“I really need your magic!” the big ox said happily, “It’s a deal, I’ll eat the grass right away.”
The big ox then rushed to the confused witch’s house and ate all the grass in front of it in one go, eating until he was full.
“Moo, moo, moo—” the big ox said to the confused witch, “I’ve eaten all the grass in front of your house. Moo, look how full I am, now you should help me, right?”
Seeing the big ox in this state, the confused witch sympathetically said, “Tell me your wish, I’ll definitely help.”
“I want a small house to shelter me from the wind and rain.”
“This request is not excessive, I can do it.”
“The small house should follow me wherever I go. I want it to run to me whenever I need it. This way, I can save a lot of effort, rest whenever I’m tired or when it rains.”
“You are really lazy,” the confused witch said, “Is that all?”
“No, there’s more. I want to find the best grass effortlessly and be able to eat it for many days.”
“You have a big appetite, this is a bit difficult.”
“Didn’t you say you could do it? You can make my appetite smaller too, I don’t mind.”
“Alright, I can try. I can chant several spells at the same time to give you a house, a house that follows you wherever you go; I want you to find good grass easily and be able to eat it for many days; I also have to make your appetite smaller… To be honest, you are very lazy, and this magic is quite difficult!”
“But…”
“No buts, you worked hard for me, so I should help you, I promised you after all. But if I chant several spells together, sometimes I might make a little mistake. I need to ask, what if there’s an accident?”
“As long as I have a house, a house that follows me; as long as there’s enough delicious grass for me to eat; as long as I still have two horns on my head and people still call me an ox, nothing else matters. What’s a little accident?”
“Since you say so, I’m confident,” the confused witch said as she went into her house to consult her magic dictionary. She memorized several spells and returned to the big ox. Raising her hands to the sky, she chanted some words, and finally, in a hoarse voice, she said, “Transform!”
A cloud of smoke rose around the big ox. After a while, the smoke cleared, and the big ox was gone.
The confused witch was puzzled, knowing that something had gone wrong with her magic again.
But then she thought, even if her magic went wrong, it shouldn’t have made the big ox disappear without a trace. The confused witch carefully searched where the big ox had stood and saw a small creature with a round, hard shell on a grass leaf. The little creature was sticking its head out of the shell, looking around curiously.
At this moment, a butterfly flew by and said, “Ah, there’s a little thing here, carrying its little house through the grass. It has a pair of small horns, like an ox. Ah, I’ll call it a snail.”
The confused witch said, “That’s right, this little snail has a house to shelter from the wind and rain, and it can carry it everywhere. The interesting thing is that it always lives on the grass it loves to eat, and every tender leaf is enough for it to eat for days.”
Looking at the snail with small horns eating grass, the confused witch sighed, “Although I made a little mistake, my magic still fulfilled the big ox’s wishes. He should be satisfied.”
Was the snail satisfied? Of course not, he had turned from a big ox into a tiny snail, how could he face his family and companions?
The little snail no longer needed to work, had enough delicious food, but he wasn’t happy. Often, he would cry while moving. Wherever he went, he left a shiny trail…
Thank you for reading! ” Sitestorys “
