The children of the mountain wear colourful jackets in cold summer. They can be found working close to the ground trying to find caterpillar fungus to sell.
The children of the mountain all know of a child, who can find the most caterpillar fungus amongst them all.
The child of the mountain seems to sense the location of the fungus and gathers them at a speed that no one has ever observed, all the while being completely unaware of what's around them.
The child of the mountain lives alone in the village, where others keep a distance with them fearing what's unknown in their spirit.
A few years back, when one of the two sacred beasts of the mountain took their father's life, the child's yield of caterpillar fungus increased the next year.
Soon after, when one of the two sacred beasts of the mountain took their mother's life, the following year the child's yield of the caterpillar fungus was the most abundant and since then continued to be plentiful.
The children of the mountain are wary and jealous of the child, yet since the child lives alone at a young age it is hard to not also feel their pain.
One summer, the child gathers the fungus at the foot of the snowy mountain, and senses the tree next to them, they stop to look up.
The tree grows both vertically and horizontally, it is a tree that has the shapes of rivers and streams of this place.
The child listens as the voice of an elder speaks through the tree.
The elder tells the child that they know of the parents of the child, and if the child wants to ease the pain of being alone, they should not enter the room where the food is stored this winter, and stay inside come next summer harvest.
The elder claims that if the child follows these instructions, they will hear the voices of their parents once more.
The following winter, the child keeps clear of the food storage, and relies on the food the villagers occasionally leave for them at the doorstep.
As the days get colder, the sounds from the room where food is stored get louder. The child of the mountain listens.
Come next summer, the child stays inside and does not harvest a single caterpillar fungus.
Unshielded from their connections to their pain, they could hear the thunder roaring over the mountain, and so the child listens.
As they step outside when the season of harvest has passed, the child of the mountain continues to listen to the sound trails of the sacred beasts.
Being unable to gather caterpillar fungus like they used to, the child is once again one of the children of the mountain.
The Child of the Mountain in Tibetan
Story and Paintings by Shen Xin