The Same Lamp

Tonight a thin fog settled over the park. Outside Leafhaven Cottage nothing was clear, except, far, far away, one warm lamp glowing. Doumi leaned on the square window: "Whose lamp is that?" Taisheng thought for a moment: "No rush. We'll watch from home." Yehe draped old cloth over the children's shoulders, and Suining sketched the lamp's direction on a wood chip. Someone seemed to whistle in the fog, or maybe not. The lamp kept glowing until the whole family fell asleep.

Yeyu wrote this night down, and remembered a story from long ago: in the mountains lived a lonely Mosinnaa who whistled on foggy nights, leading lost travellers deeper and deeper. Until one night she lit a lamp in the fog, and a very small child found the way home. From then on, Mosinnaa set up a little stall after dark and traded instead; and wherever his fog falls, her lamp is lit, so no one is ever truly lost. Tonight, the stall opens.