Hanashippanashi 23

Another great one.

Hanashippanashi 23

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Chapter 23: The battle between the clouds and the fog

Look, over there.

You see that forest over yonder in those mountains?

A battle 'tween the clouds and the fog has repeated
many a time over that there forest.

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The morning light shines through and,
all at once, the evening dew throughout the forest become reborn as the fog.

*Chapun

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*Do-

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Has the fog won, or have the clouds?
It's hard to say which one of 'em has taken over the forest.

Because to us,
The clouds and the fog all look the same.

Well, that's how it goes when you watch a fight from the sidelines.
Um,
I wonder how the clouds know.

Hm?
They change into the shape of all those different types of animals and fish and stuff.

Can they see everything from the sky?
No, no.

Heavens no. They remember.
Before they became clouds. That they were the water in the sea, and that they were part of the fish.

That there was a time when they were the grass and the animals.

That there might have been a time when they were you.

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Hmmm