STEP FOUR
Knight of Pentacles - Tarot of Prague
4.1
Once upon a time a young boy named Chun wanted to go to the Dragon Wars. He had heard of the exploits of the famous knights who had gone, had seen them trotting down the road beside his family's farm with their iron-tipped spears and their jewel-encrusted swords, had smelt the sweat and the smoke as they returned, tired and tight-lipped, to their castles and mansions, had tasted the special flavor of the dust raised by their horses hooves as they trotted along the road, had dreamed of the honor and glory that would attach to his work worn mother and father. One day, he decided to make his dream real. He took Stick, the old plowhorse, from the ramshackle shed where he was stabled, jumped on Stick's back, and set out toward the setting sun and the eerie glow evening brought to the distant Dragon lands in the west. He gave one glance back at his family's poor farmhouse. His dream grew and he KNEW he would kill dragons and become famous.
He traveled west for many days, following the burnished glow of the setting sun. One day, shortly after entering a forest, he passed a glade lit with dancing beams of sun. In the glade was a large blue war stallion, peacefully cropping grass. Chun approached cautiously. Fully saddled, and draped with rich golden reins, the horse raised its head, looked at him, then shook his massive head toward a sapphire gleam in the grass. Investigating, Chun found a complete set of burnished knight's armor in a strange blue metal. A quiet hound, of the type that frequently companioned the passing knights Chun had seen, lay beside the armor. At Chun's approach, the hound stood and trotted over to the boy, gently taking his tattered trouser leg in his mouth and pulled Chun toward the armor. The glade was silent; there was no sign of knight or warrior. Chun fingered the armor lovingly. It seemed rather small for a great warrior. Chun tried the helmet -- it fit. One by one, he pulled on the other pieces of the sapphire suit, and as he fastened the leather straps, the armor seemed to mold itself to his thin body.
The warhorse and the hound had watched him, approvingly it seemed. Fully armored, and feeling very awkward (he clanked a bit when he walked), Chun approached the horse. When he had reached the side of the horse, the steed neighed and nodded his head. Chun lifted himself into the intricately decorated leather saddle and grasped the reins. The stallion began to trot across the grass, pausing only long enough to rub noses with old Stick, who immediately began walking back towards the distant farm.
For days, months, perhaps years, Chun traveled west, seeking dragons. He passed through large walled cities and visited richly furnished castles, always asking the way to the dragons. People always looked disturbed when he asked, said nothing, and mutely pointed west. Chun kept moving on.
At last he met an old man walking back in the direction Chun had come from. He asked the old man if he was headed in the right direction to fight dragons. The old man, stooped and grizzled, nodded mutely, then said "but you can find dragons in any direction, young man." Chun asked if the glow he saw beyond the distant hills in the evening wasn't the glow of dragon breath. The old man looked surprised for a moment, then gently said, "There be dragons there, true, but there be dragons in this direction too," and pointed to the south, "and this," pointing north, "and even that", and pointed east. "What you see, young knight, is merely the glow of sunset. When you stop seeking dragons, and realize they surround you at all times, you'll have found them." The old man limped off. Chun sat immobile astride old Stick, his tattered rags blowing in the breeze, and wondered.