The Rooster Who Would Be Immortal — Chapter 15: The Pot That Got Lucky

[ { "type": "reversal", "title": "One Throw", "hook": "One seed won. Then Hua said: one throw.", "script": "One seed won. Then Hua said: one throw. Brass the rooster had set out three bowls of mustard seed in the same sun: plain earth from the ends of the bed, earth from beside the pine root, and plain earth with fresh pine needles. One seed in each. On the fifth evening Ling held the notched stick to them. Plain earth, three notches. Root earth, four. Needles, five. 'The needles,' said Hua. 'I said so.' Brass puffed up his chest to crow. Hua held up one hand. 'One seed in each? Then that is one throw.' So they did it again: fifteen bowls, five of each, mixed along the bench. Every root-earth bowl stood at four notches or more. 'Fresh needles made no difference,' said Ling. 'Not in five days. The first one was luck.' One seed won. Then Hua said: one throw.", "loopLine": "One seed won. Then Hua said: one throw.", "images": [ "three cracked rice bowls of dark earth in a row on a bench against a wooden coop wall, a small golden-red rooster with one folded wing dropping a seed into the last one, a girl in grey robes kneeling to watch", "a girl in grey robes holding a notched stick beside a tiny green seedling in a cracked bowl at sunset, a tall young man in blue robes crouching beside her, a small rooster with his chest puffed out and his beak open", "fifteen mismatched bowls of earth in a mixed row along a bench against a coop wall, charcoal marks on their sides, a stout old cook handing a girl in grey robes one more bowl with a pained face, a small rooster supervising" ], "onScreenText": "One seed is one throw.", "cta": "Full episode: The Pot That Got Lucky" }, { "type": "trick", "title": "Only One Thing Changed", "hook": "Brass the rooster ran a fair test.", "script": "Brass the rooster ran a fair test. The gold pods grew fattest in the middle of the bed, round the pine root. 'Sun,' said Elder Mo. 'It's the earth,' said Ling. 'It is the needles,' said Hua. All three in the middle of the same bed. Brass filled three cracked bowls. 'This one is plain earth, from the ends,' said Ling slowly. 'This one is earth from beside the root. This one is the plain earth, with fresh needles. Each one is the plain one, with only one thing changed.' Same seed, same water, same stick, all in the same sun. Change one thing at a time, keep everything else the same, and keep one unchanged to compare. One small test can fool you by chance, so do it again. And a fair test shows what happened, not always why. Brass the rooster ran a fair test.", "loopLine": "Brass the rooster ran a fair test.", "images": [ "a stout old cook, a tall young man in blue robes holding up a pine needle and a girl in grey robes with buckets arguing at a garden fence, a net weighted with stones over gold bean pods behind them, a small rooster on the fence post between them", "three cracked rice bowls of dark earth in a row on a bench against a wooden coop wall, a small golden-red rooster with one folded wing dropping a seed into the last one, a girl in grey robes kneeling to watch" ], "onScreenText": "Change one thing. Keep one the same.", "cta": "Full episode: The Pot That Got Lucky" }, { "type": "joke", "title": "Not Roosters", "hook": "Beans banned. Even for Brass the rooster.", "script": "Beans banned. Even for Brass the rooster. The pods in Elder Mo's garden hung pale and gold and fat. Senior Brother Hua said a herbal in the Pavilion calls gold flowers a spirit plant. 'Does it say which gold flowers?' said Mo. Hua was quiet a moment. 'No.' 'Then nobody eats a bean nobody knows. Not from my kitchen. Not disciples. Not hens.' Mo looked down. 'Not roosters.' Brass, who had been looking at the nearest pod in a way he would not have liked to explain, looked at the sky instead. Mo fetched the old net he kept the sparrows off with, threw it over the whole bed, and weighted it down with stones, so that not even a hen could get at a pod. Beans banned. Even for Brass the rooster.", "loopLine": "Beans banned. Even for Brass the rooster.", "images": [ "a long fenced garden bed of bean plants at sunrise, the pale gold pods fat and heavy in the middle where a thick pine root pushes up through the split earth, thin and small toward both ends, a small golden-red rooster with one folded wing walking along the fence", "a stout old cook, a tall young man in blue robes holding up a pine needle and a girl in grey robes with buckets arguing at a garden fence, a net weighted with stones over gold bean pods behind them, a small rooster on the fence post between them" ], "onScreenText": "Nobody eats a bean nobody knows.", "cta": "Full episode: The Pot That Got Lucky" }, { "type": "heart", "title": "Another Way", "hook": "Hua knew Brass's secret. Hua asked for lessons.", "script": "Hua knew Brass's secret. Hua asked for lessons. Senior Brother Hua crouched by Ling's pebbles. 'I have known since the bell, bird. I told the girl to lose the final, or I would tell the Hall whose footprint was in her clay. She won, and I told the whole terrace anyway. Then I tried to steal from you. By my count, I have used it three times, and every time to hurt someone. So I will try another way. Teach me something. Not for a tournament.' Brass the rooster looked at him for a long time. Then he started where he had started with Ling: ten pebbles in a row, and one more pushed into it. 'Interest,' said Hua. 'I know this one better than you think.' Ling sat down beside him without a word, and slid her own pebbles over. Hua knew Brass's secret. Hua asked for lessons.", "loopLine": "Hua knew Brass's secret. Hua asked for lessons.", "images": [ "a tall young man in blue robes crouching on a gravel path with a pebble in his hand, a small golden-red rooster laying out pebbles in front of him, a girl in grey robes sitting down beside them, a stout cook watching from a kitchen doorway at dusk", "a girl in grey robes holding a notched stick beside a tiny green seedling in a cracked bowl at sunset, a tall young man in blue robes crouching beside her, a small rooster with his chest puffed out and his beak open" ], "onScreenText": "Teach me something.", "cta": "Full episode: The Pot That Got Lucky" } ]

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