The Jade Green Heart

If they got back to the palace, he thought...

Then, some ways away, the sound of singing came through the trees to the camp. The brigands seemed to ignore it, but the Emperor was entranced by the tune and the voice. It seemed so familiar to him. He pulled against his restraints, which didn't the men to whom he was tied all that happy, in order to look in the direction from which the song came.

Lightly stepping along the woodland path came a girl. The Emperor could tell that she was a peasant, by her simple clothing and the large parcel she carried about her shoulders. Yet she trundled along so gaily, and sang to the delight of all the birds in the trees! He marveled how such a creature from such a low station could be so carefree, when he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

At last the brigands noticed the singing girl coming along the path, too. The leader motioned to his men and they each found a hiding place, and waited for her to come into the clearing. There were at least fifty in this band of brigands, and the clearing where the Emperor had camped was small, so I've got to say that the brigands did not do a very good job of hiding themselves. When Mikiko came into the clearing, she could see a belly sticking out from behind a small tree, and a hat sticking over a small shrub, and could hear the grumbling of two ruffians who had chosen the same hollow stump in which to hide. Her eyes went wide when she saw the Emperor and his retainers trussed together like dolls. But she said nothing. Instead, she step right to the middle of the clearing and greeted the Emperor and his party as if nothing were amiss.

"Who are you?" asked the Emperor when she had stopped in the middle of the clearing.

She bowed very low. "People call me Mikiko, the Little Flower, for I weave decorations out of the flowers I find as I walk through the land."

She leaned this way and that to inspect the human knot that the Emperor and his retainers made.

"Excuse me," she asked, "is this a game that your are playing? I must say it is quite an amusing one. Tying yourselves into a knot to see who will escape first! I wonder what the prize for such a feat will be?"

She clapped her hands and looked as if she expected to game to continue. "I have a very special prize in mind," the Little Flower went on. "I shall weave a very special necklace with my flowers, and put in it this gorgeous opal that I have in my possession." And with that she sat on a rock and began to weave the necklace of flowers and gemstone, all the while humming her little tune. The opal that the old woman had given her sparkled in the sunlight that dappled through the forest trees. All the colours that ever were glimmered throughout the clearing, dazzling the eyes of the brigands hiding there. Finally, the leader of the band could stand it no more. He bolted from his hiding place to where Mikiko sat. He had to have that necklace!

"This is the most elegant and beautiful thing I have ever seen," he said to her. "You must give it to me at once."

Mikiko focused on her weaving and said without looking at him, "This is a prize for the winner of the Human Knot Game. Surely you would not want the winner to go without a prize!"

The leader of the brigands rushed to the Emperor and his retainers. In a flash he untied them, then rushed back to Mikiko.

"There!" he said. "I have freed them, so the game is over! I am the winner, so give me that exquisite necklace with the dazzling opal in the center."

Mikiko went on with her work. "You have not won the game, you have merely prevented someone else from winning it. I cannot give this necklace to you... unless you have something in return for me."

"Name it! All that you ask will be yours!" cried the leader of the brigands.

"What is it that you have to offer in return?" Mikiko asked demurely.

The leader took off the gold robe and laid it before the girl.

"This robe, made of gold, I offer to you."

Mikiko pulled more flowers out of her parcel without looking at the robe. "It is nice, but..."

The leader of the brigands watched her nimble fingers weave flowers into the most intricate patterns. Her hands were a blur as they created precious jewelry out of the most simple things! He ran to the palanquin and opened its curtains.