In the mind of the universe, the events in this story occurred thousands of years ago. Even so, all the events have yet to happen because you are the chief player, and although you are free to do what you will, your actions are already foretold. Yes, I am speaking to you. 

                One day, as you--Destiny knows your name, therefore I will not speak it--walk through a marketplace (I will not tell you which), you will begin singing The Song of the Yellow River. You will sing this because you will have just completed a cruel deed and your mind and your body will need rest and The Song of The Yellow River has always soothed your mind ever since childhood.

                The song will not be powerful enough to soothe your mind, however, because the crime you will have committed will be so great that your conscience will not be able to endure the memory of it. To further hide your mind from yourself, you will search among the vendors of the marketplace, looking for sweet, fermented, and spicy dainties, anything to excite your flesh and numb your soul.

                Your feet will take you toward a vendor, a white-haired old man in a faded green cloak. His trembling hands will be lovingly-but-firmly grasped by his plump, gray-haired wife. In spite of the guilt and remorse nipping at your heels, a smile will flash across your face and you will think, “What a loving, faithful old couple.” Then you will bend low near the reed mats in the vendor’s barrel and spy an ancient yellowed parchment. You will ask what the parchment is.

                He will lift the crumbling scroll toward you and tell you that it is a puzzle-tale, one well-known in the annals of your country’s literature.