Bit by Bit…

THERE, IN THE TOWN where the rainbow never fades, nobody thought the way Sukab did. He set up a firefly farm. From top of the hill, his farm, located near the sea, seemed to give off light, like a spotlight. It was a yellowish green, or greenish yellow, phosphorescent beam. Tourists who just arrived and were strolling by the sea at night were usually amazed to see such an amazing light.

“What light is that?”

“Oh, that’s the light from Sukab’s firefly farm.”

“Firefly farm?”

“That’s right, firefly farm. Nobody in this town thinks the way he does.”

The species of fireflies that Sukab raised was not an ordinary one, but it was the kind from the nail clippings of Mandarin people. That was it. It was believed that Mandarin people always kept their nail clippings. When they died, the nail clippings were also buried. The following night, those small bits turned into fireflies, and they flew out, making the deep dark night in the graveyard bright. Fireflies around the graveyard looked so beautiful, so sweet, as the good heart of man that shines through the dark.

“Fireflies, venturing the woods of pain…”

Thus people usually heard Sukab singing lightly to his guitar in front of his farm. Tourists who were passing always dropped by because they were charmed by the yellowish green or greenish yellow light beaming to the sky, so like a column of light erected by archangels. Ships that passed far away on the sea used it as a signal, as some kind of special lighthouse.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, on the north is a column of light, which means we’re passing the town where the rainbow never fades. That yellowish green or greenish yellow light beaming to the sky comes from a firefly farm. For your information, if you do want to set up a firefly farm in your country, you should know that only fireflies from the nail clippings of dead Mandarin people can be that bright. The night after their burial, fireflies that come from the nail clippings kept during their whole life, from infancy to death, will fly out from the underground. Ladies and Gentlemen…”

*

It all began during a crisis, when life was so hard, and happiness became a rare thing. People suffered, and any hard work did not earn them anything at all. Sukab was thinking about all these when a firefly passed before his face, blinking, as if surrendering. Then Sukab snatched it, kept it in a small pill bottle, covered it with a patch of curtain net, and tied a rubber band around to secure it. All alone, deep in thought, he then meditated on the firefly, and realized how the insect gave a light in the dark. Suddenly, he forgot about his useless life.

That night he went to the graveyard of Mandarin people on the hillside. It was an old graveyard, underneath which were buried Mandarin people from the very far past. Years and years back, in the town where the rainbow never fades, Mandarin people had been hunted as if they were some kind of creature that should be exterminated and were not supposed to live on Earth. They were slaughtered like animals, leaving none, despite the fact that they were the ones who had furthered trade in that town. People said that when the massacre took place, the rainbow, that had never faded, for the first time in the history faded, and even disappeared. Only after people realized that they were wrong, and regretted what they had done, and performed a mass repentance ceremony, the rainbow reappeared. The rainbow that never fades was also another major attraction the town had. Tourists came to touch the rainbow, but of course they couldn’t touch anything because rainbow was not a wall, but light.

It was the story about those massacred Mandarin people that had made Sukab decide to move and live in that coastal town. He liked climbing up the hill where the genocide victims had been buried. There, he saw a thousand fireflies blinking in the dark, flying around like some dance from the dreamland.

“Perhaps, these are the fireflies that come from the nail clippings of dead Mandarin people,” he thought, “their brightness is not an ordinary light of fireflies, it’s an enlightening brightness.”

At first, Sukab only set a small table outside of his hut, and put five pill bottles, each containing a firefly that gave a brightness in the dark.

One of the passing tourists showed interest.

“What’s this?”

“They’re fireflies.”

“What’s a firefly?”

“A kind of small insect that usually flies around in the fields.”

“Aha! The one with a phosphorescent glow?”

“That’s it! Here they are.”

“Why are they sold?”

“Who knows if you are interested in buying them. You don’t have fireflies in Scandinavia, right? Besides, they’re not ordinary fireflies.”

Then Sukab told the story about Mandarin people’s nail clippings. It turned out that the story made people buy his fireflies, and Sukab could establish a firefly farm whose beam became a sky-supporting column. The coming of foreigners who were enchanted by that story finally saved the town from a prolonged economic crisis. Any merchandise related to the story was always sold out. Truly enough, in the town where the rainbow never fades there were various attractions that invited tourists, from those who came for surfing to those who visited sacred caves. However, since the economic crisis started to cause political riots and bloodshed everywhere, the number of tourists decreased. It was Sukab’s firefly farm that stood upright as the major industry to compete with those from other tourist towns, and in fact the seaside town where the rainbow never fades regained its power.

(to be continued)

still, translate by …. (drum roll ever longer) …. me….