In the beginning there was magic. It had no face, no limbs, no sight, no smell, no feeling, no mind, no speech, no time, nothing. It was all there was.

Into the no-place that was magic stepped the Great Magicker and recognized it. He sniffed to test it and, smelling nothing, was convinced. He breathed deeply and with every breath infused himself with magic. He kept on and inhaled magic until it was all inside him and he was all there was, which was everywhere. His name was Ch'un Gengin.

He then let out his breath and as he exhaled, matter formed. He created the world and on its surface, the seas, the rivers, the woods and prairies and the mountains, the sky and the clouds floating in it. Snows capped the mountains, birds flew through the air, fish raced in the waters and deer cropped the succulent green of wood and prairie. He made light and with it came sight along with cold and heat. He made everything.

As he strolled about the Garden of Eternal Fragrances, delighting in the Glory of Being and in the Beauty of It All, one day there came to him a being still more glorious: A young woman sweet as the morning dew, who radiated the Essence of Exquisite Elegance, and his creation palled beside her. Her features were as chiseled of the finest white jade, her figure supple as bamboo in the wind, her robe as the budding spring and her hair a crown of night. Her beautiful eyes were downcast and from them tears as large as pearls rolled to fall like pebbles.

The Megaster of All There Was created thunder by being struck as he stood and stared at this wonder. "Why do you cry?" he demanded and, seeing that his gruffness pained her, added more softly, "What makes you so sad?"

She replied, her voice soft as the susurration of noon air as it is about to fall asleep and sweet as the murmur of a brook rolling across dawncooled stones, "I cry because of the Suffering in the World."

"Suffering?" The Lord of Everything felt a constriction in his chest as of a hand of steel crushing his heart. "Who suffers, and why?"

She then lifted her eyes and her glance, so soft and yet he felt penetrated and his core laid bare. "You created for your enjoyment," she said and her voice, barely audible, still cut him like a sword. "Thus your creatures suffer."

"My creatures!" Though the air was still he swayed like a reed in a high wind, and had it not been for a strong tree nearby whose branch he grasped, he might have fallen. The tree was ablaze with red roses in high bloom. "What - " he choked, for it had not occurred to him that his creation could have caused discomfiture to anyone, whether created or aloof. He pulled himself together, for was he not the Creator Of Everything, and began over: "What must I do?"

"This is your first test," she said demurely, her head bowed again so that he could not read her expression.

"My Lady," he said, speaking formally. He broke a rose from the tree and, presenting the scarlet flower he bent his knee before her. "My lady, will you marry me? Marry me and teach me all those wonderful things I must know to be wise and just? Marry me and become the mother of my sons?"

She accepted the rose and as it changed hands it changed color. Thorns grew from its stem and wounded her, and as blood dripped from her slim fingers the flower turned a snowy white.

She raised her eyes to his and seeing his sincerity, hers became frank and clear. Slowly she shook her head, once. "This I cannot do, for I am virginal and so I must remain forever."

Seeing the consternation and hurt reflected in his countenance she continued, "But I will do this." She raised the bloodstained flower to her lips and as she kissed it the rose shimmered and transmuted and became an infant. With a scarf the texture of moonbeams and the color of dawn she dressed the babe and laid her in his arms.

"I give you this child," said the Virgin of Tears. "Her name shall be Jade, in my memory. Raise her and love her so you will know love. This is the second test."

Holding the tiny, so fragile, bundle of life to his quaking heart, he raised his eyes to Her Who Was Aloof, for suddenly she seemed to soar high above him. As he stared after her, in the minute instant that eternity seemed to hold its breath, he underwent the profoundest change and became A Man. "The third test," he murmured forlornly, "what is it?"

He spoke to empty air. The Virgin, His Lady, had disappeared as mysteriously as she had come. But she is not gone from the World, for on many a moonlit night, whoever seeks solace in solitude and turns his eyes to the sky, will find himself bathed in her mild light.

As for the Emperor, for all his trials and though it was there before him every day of his long life, he never understood the nature of the third test.



(The above text is extracted from my novel Trehellion)