Week 2 Story: "An Old Friend"

From my dwelling, I watched the world through moving blue glass, scattering light from the rising sun along the surface. The water of the lake rippled even now as a soft breeze caressed it. From my dwelling, I watched fish dart back and forth, eager to swim in the morning.
It was to be a peaceful day.
The forest surrounding my lake was vast, and I could hear the muffled sounds and cries of nature's wake. A quick silhouette above signaled to me that a bird was flying over, perhaps a mother out for the day to catch food for her little ones. The clumsy rustling of bushes at the water's edge told me there was another creature ambling about. Of all the glorious mysteries that nature had to offer in this forest, I would argue that my lake was one of the best.
It was a water garden.
Water lilies sat prettily with lily pads that littered the lake's waters. Among them sat several beautiful lotuses, of white and of blue. They were in full bloom in the early morning sun, their petals opened as if yawning. I had always been fonder of the white ones, for they caught man's attention best, and so fed my insatiable hunger for flesh. After all, I had seen my last meal only yesterday.
It was a young boy.
Friends who he had boasted to had come to watch him gather the lake's flowers. They urged him to pick the loveliest ones. He, of course, reached for the largest white blossom at the center of the lake, and so had to swim to where he could no longer touch the bottom. Before him, a woman had come to pick the flowers for her hair. Before her, a dog had smelt the sweet scent of the lotus blossoms, and had dived in believing them to be succulent fruit. Before it, a child had wandered near to the edge, mesmerised by his own reflection. I devoured them all. Through thousands of years, I never grew tired of this existence. The flowers of the lake were the greatest deceit of who, of what, lay beneath.
It was only one who had not been deceived.
He had come from the mountain ranges far from my lake, and had used the qualities of three to best his wicked father's intent. After his triumph and cunning, he had earned my respect. For that I had returned with him, bringing the flowers he had been able to pick. I watched him settle into his reign as the monkey king. But that was a long time ago, perhaps a few centuries now. There had never been another like him. Sensing there was no one approaching today, I too settled deeper into my dwelling.
It was to be a peaceful day.
Suddenly, I jolted awake from my unintended slumber. There was someone nearby. Grinding my teeth back and forth at the prospect of another meal for the second day in a row, I waited. To my greatest surprise, nothing but a shadow danced across the water's surface. Back and forth, this man jumped across my lake, plucking the lilies and lotuses without even brushing the water.
It was only one who had done so before.
I parted the waters around me and breached the surface. There a man stood with the ghost of a smile on his human face. Only one had picked flowers from my lake. Only one had the qualities of three. Only one had humbled an ogre, and earned the respect of such a water demon.
"Hello, old friend."

Image credits
White Lotus Flower. Source: Flickr
Shadow on the water, "An old friend comes to visit". Source: Pixabay

Bibliography
"The Monkey who Gathered Lotuses", translated by Robert Chambers from Tayodhamma Jataka in The Jataka: Volume 1. Source: Jataka Anthology.

Author's note: I wanted to use a different perspective when retelling a story based on "The Monkey who Gathered Lotuses", so I decided to tell it from the ogre's point of view. I focused mostly on what his life would have been like as a water demon who devoured all who came to pick the flowers of his lake. I imagined this retelling as taking place many many years after the original story. I also wanted to incorporate the idea of the many different reincarnations of the Buddha as well, because reincarnation is a topic I am really interested in learning and writing more about.