There once were three vines that wanted to reach the sun. The first vine dreamed all day and all night about reaching the sun, and it spent all its energy in the dreaming that it didn’t grow much at all. It didn’t even notice that it wasn’t growing, so vivid and ardent was is dreaming.

The second vine grew and grew, fast and furious, faster than any vine had ever grown. When it was higher than the mountains, it stopped to look at itself and exclaimed, “Look at how much I’ve grown!” It spent all of its energy admiring its growth, and so it never grew again. In fact, it started to wilt but it never noticed this, so vivid and ardent was its admiring.

The third vine also grew and grew, but when it got tired, it rested and built back its energy. When it started to wilt from pestilence, it noticed this and tended to its illness. When it could go no more and yet was so far from the sun, the third vine cried out, “Sun, I have done my best and I can do no more! I have just wanted to be with you and have done everything for this end!” The sun’s heart was moved and said to the third vine, “Come with me,” and it reached down and drew the vine into itself. The moment that the sun touched the vine, the vine immediately burst into fire.

© Meisaan Chan