A monkey once came over from the other side of the mountain to play near the villages. During his travels, he found a red candle. Red candles are fairly rare--there aren’t a lot of them just lying about. The monkey assumed that the red candle was a firecracker, since those were more common.
The monkey picked up the red candle and carefully carried it back to his side of the mountain. The red candle caused quite a stir. The deer, boars, rabbits, turtles, weasels, raccoon dogs, the foxes that lived on the mountain had ever seen something like a firecracker before. The monkey was aware that he’d picked up something quite special.
"Wow, amazing!"
"It’s so pretty!"
The deer, boars, rabbits, turtles, weasels, raccoon dogs, foxes and all the others pushed and shoved each other to take a peek at the red candle. Then the monkey said, "Be careful, be careful! Don't get so close. It will explode!"
All the animals were scared and recoiled from the candle.
Then the monkey told everyone about firecrackers—what a loud sound they made as they flew up, and how beautifully they fanned out in the sky.
If it's really that beautiful, I would love to see it myself, all the other animals thought. Some of them voiced their thoughts aloud.
"In that case, let's go to the mountaintop tonight and fire it off there for everyone to see," said the monkey. The animals were extremely happy with this plan. They were all entranced by imaginary visions of the firecracker’s light fanning out in a bright flash, like stars sprinkled across the night sky.
Night fell. The animals all went to the mountaintop together, their hearts thumping in excitement and anticipation.
The monkey had already tied the red candle to a tree branch and was waiting for everyone to arrive.
The time to launch the firecracker came at last.
But there was a problem.
The problem was that nobody would light the firecracker's fuse.
All the animals liked the idea of seeing the firecracker explode in the air, but no one wanted the task of lighting the fuse. But of course, a firecracker can’t take off into the sky unless it’s lit first.
In the end, it was decided that the animals would all draw lots to determine who should be the one to light the firecracker.
The first animal to lose the draw was the turtle.
The turtle braced himself and made his way toward the firecracker.
But could he successfully light the fuse? No, he couldn't. When the turtle came near the firecracker, his head pulled automatically back into his shell. He refused to peek out again.
And so the lots were drawn again, and this time it was the weasel's turn.
The weasel, compared to the turtle, was somewhat better suited for the job. At least he couldn’t hide himself by pulling his head into a shell. However, the weasel was awfully nearsighted. All he did was wander around the candle and look around restlessly.
At long last, the boar dashed forward. The boar was a truly courageous beast. The boar actually went all the way to the candle and lit the fuse.
Everyone was amazed. All the animals leaped into the grass and firmly covered their ears and their eyes.
But the candle only burned quietly, without so much as making a pop.
THE END
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