Puppet Tick
Can you discern the outer guise? Who cares when hidden from our eyes? When hung up high, what use retains? A puppet's dance, its fleeting gains.
Tales told of Zhu's Estate in Webbed Ridge, the ancestral home of the wealthy textile family in the Kingdom of Zhuzi. Rumors claimed the estate housed vast amounts of gold and jewels, but those riches were never found.
In the Kingdom of Zhuzi lived two thieves who called each other brothers. The elder, a broad and forthright soul; the younger, a handsome and clever spirit. Fleeing a warrant, they sought Zhu's Estate in the mountains as their next target as well as a hideout. For days, they scoured the hills, their rations spent, and their hope lost. Weary and famished, they chanced upon a tea hut. The young thief called out, "Let's rest there, brother!" The elder replied, "We've seen no one for days; how could there be a tea hut?" But driven by hunger, the young one hastened toward it.
The elder chased after him, pleading. They tussled until they entered the hut. Crude and dirty, it had rough log tables and stone stools. There were no patrons inside, only a hunchbacked old man with a cane brewing tea. The young thief asked, "How do you sell tea here with no one around, old man?" The old man pointed to a dim village behind the hut. "This humble one lives in the hilltop village. This hut serves but to eke out my living." He then served two bowls of thick, strange-smelling brew. The young thief reached for one, but the elder stopped him and asked the old man, "Do you know of Zhu's Estate?" The old man grinned, ""It lies within the village. Drink your tea, and I shall guide you there."" The young thief beamed, but the elder grew warier. He snatched the bowl from the young one. "I shall try it first." With that, he downed it in one gulp.
No sooner had the tea hit his belly than he collapsed, writhing in agony. The young thief turned to the old man, only to witness his true form revealed as a hunchbacked, cane-wielding creature, its body entangled in silk. Lifting his eyes, he saw a colossal spider perched in the rafters, tugging the strands to prompt the bug to tap its cane with a resonant "ting-ting." At this signal, the stone stools shifted and unfurled their legs. They became little stone spiders. They spat silk at the elder thief to entangle him. At this sight, the younger thief turned and fled, as if he had not heard his brother's pleas for help.
