In this story a man saves animals from children by paying the children money. Out of money he steals from the king, is caught, and locked in a box with holes, water and loaf of bread and tossed into a river. The animals he saved try to break him free but cannot with out the help of a magic stone. The man gets the magic stone and wishes for a castle. After a while merchants come to the castle and the man foolishly trades his stone for some clothing. His castle disappears and he is back in the locked box in the river, the animals connive to steal the stone from the merchant – but then when they are swimming to release the man the bear forces the monkey to make idle chit-chat and drops the stone. They then scare the frogs into collecting all the stones from the river. One old fat frog finds the stone – because it has a red ribbon – the man once again wishes for his castle and lives happily ever after with his animals.

What the hell is this! Well it is not a story where love conquers all. Again it is a story about transaction, money, value, identifiers. I am so fucking tired. Colors: red. Elements: stone, water. Symbols: Boxes, Bread.

Who are the animals – our elemental nature. I have been reading about huddhism and the 6 realms: gods, jealous gods, humans, animals, hungry ghosts, and hell. In each realm there is a path towards liberation – freedom – liberation from the 6 realms all together. The 6 realms are on a wheel. Do we experience all the realms in one life, one realm per life. On my vision quest I saw wheels. When I see a wheel in my minds eye I see a decoder wheel.

The story reminds me of the origin of the chinese zodiac story where a bunch of animals try and cross a river.

How do we remember to find our magic – our transcendence our freedom – remember the red string.