Gus and Tim Object to Snake Eggs

Linda, Gus and Tim compared notes on the story of Councilor Tam's discovery of the phoenix egg. They loved hearing stories of Storm King and his adventures, but they thought something was screwy in Mom's telling of the story. Mom had said that Councilor Tam hunted in the sand, digging for snake eggs and the eggs of other desert creatures to cook for Storm King's dinner.

"Wait," said Gus and Tim together. "Snakes don't lay eggs. Snakes have baby snakes."

"Yeah," added Linda, who was in a higher grade in school than her little brothers. "On a field trip to the zoo, we saw snakes and their babies in the Reptile House. It was really dark inside the Reptile House, and the snakes were kept inside of cages that had glass so we could see them. They had two snakes that had just had baby snakes, a lot of them. The zookeeper told us that snakes have live babies just like humans do."

Mom stopped in her storytelling to explain. She thought to herself what smart children she had that they would know such a scientific fact when they had not even attended school for very long.

"In the Western desert of the Han Kingdom," Mom said patiently, "there is a crossover between the world as we know it and the world where the gods, goddesses and creatures like the phoenix and the dragon, and even Storm King, live and conduct their wars, adventures, romances and business. It is recounted from time to time that the heavenly creatures," explained Mom, when Tim interrupted.

"And demon creatures, too, don't forget, Mom," Tim added, feeling very smart for his age, especially since he was the baby of the family.

Mom continued, "From time to time the heavenly creatures, and yes, also the demon creatures from the very depths of Hell, cross over into our earthly realm to interfere with humans. For it is true that the heavenly creatures get bored with their perfect lives lived in perfect harmony under the rule of the Old King of the Highest Sky. Such perfection is not nearly as interesting as walking on earth where humans argue and disagree and then take their disagreements to the extremes of wars waged with vast armies and weapons of great imagination and destruction.

"It is equally true that the gods who live under the rule of the Old King of the Highest Sky are a randy bunch, who like to come to earth and romance the Han Kingdom's beautiful maidens. Such beauty is irresistible to gods who love beauty so much, and everyone who walks on earth knows that Han maidens are the fairest maidens among all earthly maidens.

"When the gods cross over into our world, they leave behind in the heavenly skies some of their godly powers, so that they do not appear too frightening to humans. It also wouldn't be fair to the humans for the gods to use their heavenly powers here on earth. Why, the humans wouldn't stand a chance of rivaling the gods in the tea house brawls and drunken fights that the younger gods sometimes get into.

"And, of course, part of the reason that the Old King of the Highest Sky limits the gods and goddesses when they come down to visit the humans is that he must limit the powers of the demons who come up from Hell to walk among the humans, too. After all, the Old King is not only the oldest god, but he is also the wisest one, too, having learned many lessons from his long life lived above the world watching all of its inhabitants live and die since the beginning of the kingdoms."

By this time, Mom saw that the children were tired, and it was time for bed, because tomorrow was a school day. So, we shall have to wait for Mom to continue the story of Councilor Tam's finding of the phoenix egg.