Description

Once upon a time, there lived a group of carps in a lake. They lived happily there. As they were growing up, they all had the same hope of someday going to the big blue sea. So one day, they all decided to swim together from their lake to the sea. When they reached the end of the lake, they found a channel leading to the sea. But a rock gate was blocking their way. This gate was called the Dragon Gate, and it looked like it had been there for a long time. The little carps swam to the surface of the water, and saw a huge stone gate which divided the lake from the sea. If they wanted to get to the sea, they first needed to find a way to jump over the gate. One big carp jumped up and said, "Follow me. We'll jump over the gate and get to the other side." So they all used the strength they had to jump over the gate, but none of them could jump even close to the top of it. After trying for a while, the little carps started to feel so tired that they could hardly move anymore. Then one little carp sadly said, "This gate is too high. Maybe we should just go back to the lake." But one brave, little golden carp said, "We can do this. Let's try again!" The other little carps still thought the gate was too high for them. They wanted to give up and go back. One of them even told the little golden carp, "There's no way we can jump over that huge rock!" The little golden carp didn't want to give up. He looked at the Dragon Gate and told himself, "I'll surely jump over the gate one day!" From that day on, the little golden carp tried to jump over the Dragon Gate every single day. Although he failed every single time, he never gave up. Time flew by quickly. A few years had gone by when one night, the little carp came to the Dragon Gate again. Looking up at the huge, tall gate, he didn't want to give up. He decided that this would be the day he'd finally make it over the gate. He used all his strength and jumped up so high into the air, he felt like he was flying. He flew right across the top of the gate. He was surprised to see that he had jumped right over the big Dragon Gate and into the sea. "I've made it!" he said happily. "I've jumped over the Dragon Gate!" When the other carps heard him, they all swam to the surface of the water and were shocked to see the little golden carp on the other side of the gate. Just then, they saw an old man with a white beard standing in the sky. "Congratulations on jumping over the Dragon Gate," he told the little golden carp. "I'm the guardian of this gate, and it's been a long time since anyone has jumped over it." "Was it you who helped me to jump over?" the little golden carp asked. "How lucky I am!" But the old man said, "It wasn't me who helped you. It's because you didn't give up. You just kept trying very hard, and jumped a little higher every single day until you finally got over the gate." When the other carps heard this, they regretted not having tried hard like the little golden carp. If they had, they would've also been able to jump over the gate. Since then, the little golden carp often jumps over and plays in the sea with his new friends there. He has become more confident of himself.