Proverb

Κόρακας κοράκου μάτι δε βγάζει. 

(Hawks will not pick out Hawk's eyes.)

As a insightful observation of nature that homogeneous birds do not fight one another, the apothegm from Greek Solomon merits attention, for it also refers to homo sapiens by implying that one’s friends and families ought to be his primary source of support. A beneficiary who maintains a tightly knitted social network or a victim who suffers from a fragmented family or fratricidal conflicts may give the words to lecture people about the importance of kin ties. Interestingly, this aphorism appears to be against traditional western individualism by advocating collectivism, which is featured in eastern culture, where individuals are mostly subjective to group direction and subjugate to group interests. Nevertheless, nobody wants to stay in a community of recrimination, where people plot against each other, believe in no one, and cudgel their brains to profit from others. Such community will extort a member’s energy, inundate his life with suspicion, and drag him into quagmire of loneliness and exhaustion. For example, in late 18th century, the cold-blooded prince of Indian Mughal Empire eliminated dozens of his brothers by poison, intrigue, and assassinations. With only servile admirers or bitter antagonists around him, he was eventually overthrown due to domestic conflicts. Consequently, the empire collapsed into revolts and beldams. Individualism has caused the downfall of many societies; however, collectivism has also proven to be detrimental in other cultures (e.g. developing countries in Asia). Conflicts between individualism and collectivism remains unsolved even given the former views.

The Tale: The eagle rider

  In the ancient kingdom there was a man called Azure who was the bravest and swiftest eagle rider of the kingdom. 

  On his adventure, he encountered the sky bandits who were chasing after a bird; it was an eagle he never saw. He repelled the bandits. The bird fled away, so fast that he could merely catch a sight of its snowy tail. He was fascinated by the eagle and swore to conquer one himself. 

  He visited an old mage and asked about the bird; the mage said it was the legendary eagle of the Dragonhawk, the swiftest bird in the world living on the forbidden peaks; they lived so high that nobody ever found them.

  Obsessed with the eagle, he traded with the warlock and turned himself into an eagle. He was told he could only won loyalty of a hawk by taking its white feather on the tail. 

  He found the Dragonhawks on the peak; they approved of his staying; yet no hawk flew with him——he was just different. He often appreciated the birds alone on the peak. A month later, Dragonhawks had their festival; all hawks flew to the sky and changed their tail feather in the moonshine. He tried to catch up but failed. He was left behind, appreciating the hawks alone.

  The eagle troops of the kingdom appeared. They carried bows and arrows on battle eagles; they shot at the Dragonhawks. One of the arrows hit Azure. He fell down. No troop cared about an ordinary eagle nor did any Dragonhawk. He ended his life in azure sky.

Stony

Five-Sentence Story

I was absorbed in my work when I leaned on the back of the sofa, backlit by a beam of sunset leaked from the curtain.

From an oblique projection, a hunched figure took a vague shape of an old lady, tottering in the dim living room.

She seated herself in another sofa at the other end of the teapoy, took an apple from a thin plastic bag, peeled it with a knife a bit rusty, and cut the apple into pieces.

"You should alway take a rest." She murmured, in a faint voice.

My eyes are still staring at the screen of my laptop when the apple pieces waited on the teapoy with her.

The Gull

A horde of gulls was hovering over the sea. Their feather was sharp grey spotted with shining white. They flitted on the sea like blades. No one knew where they were from, but it was obvious from their dusty wings that they had been traveling a long way. 

The night was gathering and all the gulls rallied on their stark rocky cliff. They had a really nice day with fish and fresh water. However, they knew food would never be unlimited. It was midnight, and the new pioneer was to be sent away for their new island to live. 

When the sunlight reached the cliff, he set off with his package, some salty meat as wet as sea. He flapped his wings, long, strong and steel grey. He felt himself raised by the first gust from the ocean. He saw the sea shining, bloody red under the sunrise. 

He flew all the day above the sea. He flew on and on, till his food was done, his sight was blurred and the wind began to scratch. The ocean remained unchanged, red in the sun and blue in the dark.

He was exhausted and dropped down. The end scene was the endless blue, bluer than the sky.

Days later, the horde of gulls found him by the sea. The water sent him back, salty and wet as sea. They took his feather off and pared his muscle to the bones. They carefully prepared him and packed the meat. The night was down and another pioneer gull awaited for the sun.

Hi, this is Clare, with Qiyue Zhang as my given name.
First, sorry for the late self-post as it takes so long to have my mac fixed now.
I'm an awkward traveler from southwestern China, Chengdu, where time flows so slowly and cuisine is so nice.
A personal tenet: life is to enjoy. And I do hope everyone could be happy and enjoy their lives.
I like to talk, like to read and like to feel. I enjoy thrilling things a lot.
And I love technologies a lot. All the electronic devices, complex games and delicate apps.
And I'm glad to be here at wake.

To be continued.