Long, long ago, when the time was measured in chishenyah, equal to two hours for our own familiarity, in a peasant village at the foot of Chinese mountains Sunshan lived Nei, who went by - Little Nei . He was already ten years of age, but since both his parents died three years ago, he almost didn't get any bigger and now was no taller then two bundles of firewood, which was collected by the neighbor boys in the woods. When all his peers were playing in the street, dividing themselves into robbers and the Imperial soldiers guarding the convoy, he could only watch the game from the window, feeling sorry that he would never get to play with everyone else, but they would shower him with jeers for his weakness and short stature. His old grandmother tried to persuade him to leave the house but it was like flogging a dead horse; he flatly refused, remembering past wrongdoings inflicted on him by those evil boys...

In this was the summer passed. Little Nei avoided meeting with his peers, but by the sweat of his brow helped his grandmother with house chores and elders at the village rice fields. When the dawn grew nearer, his curiosity drew him to the gates of the monastery, situated in the woods, not far from the edge of the village. From there, from beyond the fence, came the drum beats, climbed the smoke and came a quiet singing, the words of which Nei couldn't make out. One day, when he again heard the sounds drifting, having pressed his ear to the crack in the leaf, behind him he heard a cautious cough. Nei shuddered and turned around. A skinny old man in a black sarong of Taoist monk, whom he had not previously seen in the village, breathed down his neck. "My name is Zhang Fen, and you seem to be called Little Nei?

Having uttered these words, the Taoist opened the gate and gestured Nei to enter. Inside was a large courtyard, which was located deep in the temple. In the courtyard, right on ground set men in robes similar to the one in which Zhang Fen was clothed. The monks were deep in themselves, noticing nothing around. "What are they doing?" - Little Ney asked. "These people are meditating, grasping the essense of Tao - the connection of all things in the world, they are learning to feel and to see broader than usual village residents. And because of this, everyone calls us Taoists - keepers of the eternal knowledge of the Tao, keepers of the path of harmony and perfection " - replied Zhang Fen. "I've been watching you, seeing as how you yearn to play with the other boys, to compete with them on equal terms, but you are falsely upset, thinking that you will never get to what they do. I want you to spend a hundred days in our monastery, studying our science, and I will be your mentor. After that you will return to the village and will realize that your whole life has changed.

That same evening, Zhang Fen came to Nei grandmother's house and asked her to allow him to studying Tao. Gazing after the receding Nei grandmother pondered: "Maybe this is what will help him cultivate the spirits and become braver."

And just like that a new life beyond the monastery walls began for Nei. At the crack of dawn he had to get up and go for water to the stream, help one of the monks prepare a meal for all residents of the monastery and the hardest part – to do weird exercises, which his mentor had taught him on the first day: Nei forced himself to stand still, holding his hands in front of him as if he was holding the trunk of an invisible tree, bend back and forth, twist like a snake into all kinds of knots and freeze in uncomfortable, almost painful positions for long periods of time. Nei's hands and feet soon began to hurt from all of this and he could barely crawl to his bed and slept like a dog ...

In the morning, everything would start all over - Nei almost howled with fatigue while the Mentor just laughed, placing his hands behind his back, and slyly squinting his eyes.

Once Nei couldn't continue this any longer and he decided to leave. He was standing at the threshold, having opened the gates, ready to step out onto the road leading into the village, when suddenly he heard the words of a mentor behind him: "There are many paths, but the Great Way is not the one where this dusty road leads outside the fence of our monastery. This path is not found on the map and it has no name, otherwise it is only words, and they don't convey the essence. This mystery is waiting to be awakened in your heart. You must climb the mountain and find the strength - Tao, then you will see your way. " That night, Nei decided to climb on the mountain top , where he has never been prior, but heard a lot from his grandmother and mentor. There, at the very top, was an invisible temple, the abode of the Lunar rider who is the one which has found the strength to climb to the summit, the one who has a good heart and pure thoughts.

The road to the top was very steep. Nei's feet were constantly slipping and sliding on the wet, after rain, earth, he breathed heavily but steadily moved forward - perseverance was in his bloodt! When he got to the top of the mountain, the moon had already risen, hanging in a dark blue night sky like a bright pancake, as if the bottom of grandma's copper pan was rubbed with a cloth.

Nei took a deep breath, spread out a felt rug on the ground and sat on it, crossed his legs, starting to meditate, as the mentor had taught him at the foot of the mountain.

Nei calmed down by taking a few deep breaths and holding his breath just a little bit longer then usual before exhaling. First, before him flashed a multitude of colorful dots,but after a while the darkness began to dissipate and Nei saw a great picture - the night sky blossomed as if with the contours of a gigantic lotus petals from the center of which, in a shaft of moonlight, was a gray-bearded old man, riding on a white buffalo. "Hail, Nei Gu "- said the mysterious stranger -" My name is Le-Tzu, I'm the one you're looking for to ask the questions and get the answers. But you are not ready to ask them of me, you feel more than you know for sure. The main thing for you now – find the path .

But it can not be found by following someone else, since Tao is similar to a flight of birds in the sky, which does not leave prints. You got scared of tests, which hardly started and decided to leave the monastery and return to your familiar, rural life, which isn't much. Do you remember the first time you got beaten up by the street kids, you've been through so much to live like this? Do not move away from the Tao - the basic principle, do not have goals, but become it at the moment and difficulties will stop appearing on your path ... "

For a long time those words resonated in Nei's head, when the lunar shape disappeared, when he hastily descended the mountain, when he went to bed and even in the morning, when he was banging against the gate of the monastery. From that day forward, Nei turned over a new leaf and has started a completely different life. He began to work and train with great zeal, not noticing the fatigue, keeping in mind the image of a flying bird over a river. Thirty, and then a hundred more days, have passed and the spring came. Nei got taller and got sturdier - becoming as slender and flexible as a young bamboo reed. The term of study at the monastery came to an end and it was time to leave.

Nei said goodbye to his mentor and to monks whom he managed to befriend, stepped out of the gate, and went into the village. There, he was not immediately recognized - the frail, undersized Nei had vanished into thin air. Before the boys, which had once bullied him, was a real warrior, and Nei proved it in the first game. But this was no longer interesting for him; before him he saw the way, the Tao and Infinity. One morning he left the village, going toward the granite mountain of Hua Shan. Why? - ....