The Aphid and the Big Tree were good friends.
The Aphid often stood on top of the Big Tree and chatted with him.
The two creatures talked from poetry to life ambitions,
nothing left untouched, talk after talk after talk,
all their views fitting perfectly together.
One day they were watching the distant sky.
The Aphid couldn’t help but exclaim: “The sky is really blue.”
The Big Tree, born on the edge of a cliff, didn’t move, as if in a trance:
“Yeah, the blue of the sky is more serene than the blue of the sea.”
Looking at the line of sky and sea in the distance, the Aphid also exclaimed:
“Right, the blue of the ocean is deep, the blue of the sky gives me a melancholic feeling.”
The Big Tree shook the leaves on his body:
“I actually feel that in spring, the color of leaves is even more melancholy.
The blue of the sky gives me a feeling of vibrant vitality, I really long for it.”
The Aphid found this very strange:
“That’s not right, isn’t it spring’s green leaves that are vibrant with life?”
The Big Tree laughed:
“You can’t apply biological patterns to color feelings.
Green is inherently melancholy,
especially the faint green of new leaf buds in spring.”
The Aphid said nothing, thought for a moment, and asked a question:
“Then Big Tree, can you describe what the green you see is like?”
“Green, ah, is the color of all things growing in spring.
Like green leaves setting off red flowers, old trees sprouting green buds.
That young man who’s been running around in our area lately,
his hat is also green.”
“Uhm, I wasn’t asking about green’s projection in real life.
I want to know how you see the color green itself,
and more importantly: your feeling about this color.”
The Big Tree tilted his head, thought, and said:
“Well, when I see green,
I get a feeling that’s very peaceful, very melancholy.
It’s like my whole tree gets immersed in green.
As I sink deeper, my whole color also gets paler.
Dark green has a particularly profound feeling,
like this color itself was bestowed by nature,
bottomless, soul-engulfing.”
As the Big Tree kept talking,
the Aphid’s eyes grew sharper and sharper:
“Big Tree, I think the colors you and I see are different.”
The Big Tree, still immersed in color feelings, was stunned:
“How are they different?”
“Let me tell you about the green I see,”
the Aphid thought for a moment and described:
“Green gives me a feeling of vigorous life force.
I mean just seeing this color,
I feel it contains the energy of life within it.
Seeing it makes you feel especially peaceful.
This peace is different from blue.
Blue makes you have no thoughts,
while green makes you feel that life itself is this beautiful,
that you’re being gently embraced.”
The Big Tree, as if realizing something,
slowly said:
“I feel like what you’re describing is blue.”
The Aphid nodded:
“Right, just now I also felt that what you were describing is the blue I see.”
The Big Tree pondered:
“Interesting, looking at it this way, the blue-green in our eyes is actually reversed.”
“Yes. But when I see this color, I call it green;
when you see this color, you also call it green.
Completely consistent.”
“Right. When I was little I learned this is green, my family taught me.
You probably learned colors the same way.
If we don’t discuss our views on the color itself,
we’d never discover that the blue and green in our eyes are actually very different.”
“This is parallax.
Not just blue and green, maybe the whole world in our eyes is very different.”
Xiao Yun, Zhuangzi, and Huizi finished discussing this story,
and high-fived with a laugh.
Zhuangzi sighed:
“Wonderful, I have to write this story down.”
Huizi thought for a moment, and commented:
“Written this way, it’s too direct.
I’m afraid the reader will only see the literal meaning.”
Xiao Yun laughed and slapped Huizi:
“Don’t worry, Zhuangzi is a sly one,
he’ll definitely swap out the whole story shell completely.”
Zhuangzi also laughed:
“Since Xiao Yun says I’m sly,
then in the story I’ll change you into a fish.”
Huizi worriedly asked:
“Won’t readers misinterpret the meaning of the story this way?”
“Doesn’t matter.
This is also parallax.”