Political Satire: The Old Man of the Mountain -- A very special marathon (很特别的马拉松)

[reedak]

Narrator: As he travelled along a road one morning, the priest saw many people running on the spot. Some of them even ran backwards.

Priest (asking a bystander): What are those people doing? Are they practising Falun Gong or some other forms of qigong?

Bystander: They are running a marathon.

Priest: Are you sure? Why are they running on the spot instead of forwards? Some of them even run backwards.

Bystander: The chieftains of two rival tribes are .....

Narrator: The bystander was interrupted by a commotion in front of the road. Two bearers, carrying a plump, elderly man with a two-hand seat carry method, were heading in their direction. Behind them was a large group of about fifty or sixty people, singing, rapping and clapping rhythmically: "Backward ho! Backward ho! Heroes of righteousness and fair play, Hope on; fight on; till our tribe rules the whole world after sending the emperor has no clothes to hell!"

Priest: Whom are those people carrying? He seems to enjoy himself very much for being carried around like an emperor or a very important person.

Bystander: He is the arch-rival and sole competitor of a powerful tribal chieftain in the marathon.

Priest: Sole competitor? Then why are there so many runners on the road?

Bystander: The chieftains of two rival tribes are competing in the 42km marathon. All those people you see around here are slaves of the powerful chieftain. They are being disguised as runners under the order of their master. As to your earlier question why they are running on the spot, you should be able to guess the reason now. Do you think the slaves dare to disobey their master by outpacing him? They are just marking time for their master to reach the finish line.

In order to win the so-called competition, the powerful chieftain employs all the tools at his disposal such as ordering his men to block the way of his arch-rival, even forcibly carrying him backwards to the starting line

Priest: The guy seems completely unperturbed by the chaos around him. He seems to be living in a world of his own.

Bystander: That guy has sought to project an awe-inspiring image to his subjects. He looks at them with half-closed eyes and an expressionless face like an immovable statue. However, by his look with half-closed eyes, I suspect he has severe cataracts.

Priest: I doubt whether an old man like him could ever win the marathon. How old is he?

Bystander: He is about seventy years old, but his opponent is much older -- over eighty years old and is "running" at a snail's pace to complete the 42-km marathon. That is why the older chieftain is doing whatever he takes to outcompete his younger rival. That is why I still bet on the younger chieftain to win the so-called competition despite his opponent's foul play.

Narrator: When the tribal chieftain was almost forcibly carried backward to the starting line, he struggled and managed to free himself to continue the marathon. He made a great leap forward in the air and landed on the head of one of the men in the crowd. Then he started leaping and running all the way on the heads of the other men who are blocking his way. His feet landed deftly and lightly on their heads like a dragonfly landing on grass blades.

Bystander: Now you are witnessing a lost art of gongfu known as 草上飞 (pronounced as "cao shang fei" meaning "flying over grass"). It is one of many lost anti-gravity gongfu footworks called 轻功 (pronounced as "qing gong").

Narrator: The "flying" chieftain, however, was blocked by waves after waves of people. After sometime, he let them carry backwards again almost to the starting line. This "ritual" was repeated at least a dozen times. Getting tired of watching the same "ritual" over and over again, the priest bade farewell to the bystander and walked towards the border of another tribal land.

On the way, he thought: "Even if the unscrupulous powerful chieftain could eventually reach the finish line at a snail's pace, he will collapse like Pheidippides, the legendary Marathon messenger of ancient Greece."

Reference:

https://armymedical.tpub.com/MD0001/...e-Field-55.htm

https://www.time-to-run.com/marathon/articles/history

https://www.history.com/news/why-is-...hon-26-2-miles

[Gunny]

Narrator: As he travelled along a road one morning, the priest saw many people running on the spot. Some of them even ran backwards.

Priest (asking a bystander): What are those people doing? Are they practising Falun Gong or some other forms of qigong?

Bystander: They are running a marathon.

Priest: Are you sure? Why are they running on the spot instead of forwards? Some of them even run backwards.

Bystander: The chieftains of two rival tribes are .....

Narrator: The bystander was interrupted by a commotion in front of the road. Two bearers, carrying a plump, elderly man with a two-hand seat carry method, were heading in their direction. Behind them was a large group of about fifty or sixty people, singing, rapping and clapping rhythmically: "Backward ho! Backward ho! Heroes of righteousness and fair play, Hope on; fight on; till our tribe rules the whole world after sending the emperor has no clothes to hell!"

Priest: Whom are those people carrying? He seems to enjoy himself very much for being carried around like an emperor or a very important person.

Bystander: He is the arch-rival and sole competitor of a powerful tribal chieftain in the marathon.

Priest: Sole competitor? Then why are there so many runners on the road?

Bystander: The chieftains of two rival tribes are competing in the 42km marathon. All those people you see around here are slaves of the powerful chieftain. They are being disguised as runners under the order of their master. As to your earlier question why they are running on the spot, you should be able to guess the reason now. Do you think the slaves dare to disobey their master by outpacing him? They are just marking time for their master to reach the finish line.

In order to win the so-called competition, the powerful chieftain employs all the tools at his disposal such as ordering his men to block the way of his arch-rival, even forcibly carrying him backwards to the starting line

Priest: The guy seems completely unperturbed by the chaos around him. He seems to be living in a world of his own.

Bystander: That guy has sought to project an awe-inspiring image to his subjects. He looks at them with half-closed eyes and an expressionless face like an immovable statue. However, by his look with half-closed eyes, I suspect he has severe cataracts.

Priest: I doubt whether an old man like him could ever win the marathon. How old is he?

Bystander: He is about seventy years old, but his opponent is much older -- over eighty years old and is "running" at a snail's pace to complete the 42-km marathon. That is why the older chieftain is doing whatever he takes to outcompete his younger rival. That is why I still bet on the younger chieftain to win the so-called competition despite his opponent's foul play.

Narrator: When the tribal chieftain was almost forcibly carried backward to the starting line, he struggled and managed to free himself to continue the marathon. He made a great leap forward in the air and landed on the head of one of the men in the crowd. Then he started leaping and running all the way on the heads of the other men who are blocking his way. His feet landed deftly and lightly on their heads like a dragonfly landing on grass blades.

Bystander: Now you are witnessing a lost art of gongfu known as 草上飞 (pronounced as "cao shang fei" meaning "flying over grass"). It is one of many lost anti-gravity gongfu footworks called 轻功 (pronounced as "qing gong").

Narrator: The "flying" chieftain, however, was blocked by waves after waves of people. After sometime, he let them carry backwards again almost to the starting line. This "ritual" was repeated at least a dozen times. Getting tired of watching the same "ritual" over and over again, the priest bade farewell to the bystander and walked towards the border of another tribal land.

On the way, he thought: "Even if the unscrupulous powerful chieftain could eventually reach the finish line at a snail's pace, he will collapse like Pheidippides, the legendary Marathon messenger of ancient Greece."

Reference:

https://armymedical.tpub.com/MD0001/...e-Field-55.htm

https://www.time-to-run.com/marathon/articles/history

https://www.history.com/news/why-is-...hon-26-2-miles

Cute.

[reedak]

Cute.

Thanks. Well said.