Once upon a time, in a village at the foot of a mountain, there lived a boy named Pon who loved his grandmother more than anything else in the world.
But Grandmother had fallen seriously ill, and no medicine could help — until a traditional healer said there was only one way: a golden flower that bloomed at the summit of the Mountain of Wind, a mountain where the wind blew so fiercely, all the time, that no one had ever managed to climb to the top.
Pon tied a rope to his belt, put on his thickest shoes, and set out.
The base of the mountain was fine, but after climbing for a while, the wind began to blow, growing stronger and stronger, as if someone were blowing hard from the summit.
“Turn back,” the wind seemed to say. “No one has ever made it to the top.”
“I have to get there,” Pon said, and kept climbing.
The wind blew harder. Broken branches came flying at him. Pon ducked and kept walking. Along the way, he found a huge boulder blocking his path and used his rope to climb over it.
Halfway up, there was a steep cliff face, the wind so strong he could barely stand. Pon sat down on the ground, closed his eyes, and slowly inched his way up, finger by finger. His knuckles turned white, his hands shook, but he never stopped.
“Why won’t you give up?” the wind asked.
“Because the person waiting for me down below matters more than my own fear,” Pon answered, and kept climbing.
At the summit, the wind suddenly grew calm.
Pon opened his eyes and saw a small cluster of golden flowers blooming among the rocks, beautiful as if lit from within.
He gently wrapped the flowers in cloth and began his descent.
Going down was easier than going up, as if the mountain had decided to let him go.
When he arrived home, Grandmother drank tea brewed from the golden flowers and slowly began to improve. Within three days, she could sit up, smile, and hug Pon again.
“Where did you go for three days?” Grandmother asked.
“I went to get medicine for you, Grandma,” Pon said softly.
Grandmother held him tight, saying nothing, but a single tear rolled down her cheek.
And Pon knew that the journey had been worth every bit of what he went through.
Moral: Love can turn an ordinary person into someone brave. When we do something for someone we love, fear and hardship always become something we can overcome.
