Once upon a time there was a beautiful river finding her way among the hills, forests, and meadows. She began by being a joyful stream of water, a spring always dancing and singing as she ran down from the top of the mountain. She was very young at the time, and as she came to the lowland she slowed down. She was thinking about going to the ocean. As she grew up, she learned to look beautiful, winding gracefully among the hills and meadows.
很久很久以前，有一条美丽的小河在山谷中，森林里，草地间自由的穿行。开始时，她是一股欢快的细流，一股泉水，唱唱跳跳的从山顶流下来。那时，她还很年轻，年幼的她到了低地后就放缓了脚步。她想着要到海里去。她一天一天的长大，学会了怎么样让自己看起来更美，优雅地在山谷、草地里蜿蜒盘旋。

One day she noticed the clouds within herself. Clouds of all sorts of colors and forms. She did nothing during these days but chase after clouds. She wanted to possess a cloud, to have one for herself. But clouds float and travel in the sky, and they are always changing their form. Sometimes they look like an overcoat, sometimes like a horse. Because of the nature of impermanence within the clouds, the river suffered very much. Her pleasure, her joy had become just chasing after clouds, one after another, but despair, anger,and hatred became her life.
有一天，她在自己的身上看到了云彩。五彩斑斓、各式各样的云彩。那些日子里，她什么事也不做，整日整日的追着云彩跑。她想要一片云彩，属于她自己的一片云彩。但是云飘在空中，还时不时的就换了个形状。有时候，它们看起来像是件外套，有时候，又像匹马。云彩那变化无常的本性，可让小河受尽了苦头。她唯一的乐趣就是追赶云彩，一个接一个的，而绝望、愤怒、憎恨充满了她身体里的每一个细胞。

Then one day a strong wind came and blew away all the clouds in the sky. The sky became completely empty. Our river thought that life was not worth living, for there were no longer any clouds to chase after. She wanted to die. "If there are no clouds, why should I be alive?" But how can a river take her own life?
然而接下来的某一天，一阵大风吹过，刮走了天空中所有的云彩。天空中什么都没了，小河觉得生活失去了意义，因为再也没有云彩可以让她去追逐了。她想到了死。“既然云都没了，那我为什么还要活着？”但是小河又怎么能够结束自己的生命呢？

That night the river had the opportunity to go back to herself for the first time. She had been running for so long after something outside of herself that she had never seen herself. That night was the first opportunity for her to hear her own crying, the sounds of water crashing against the banks of the river. Because she was able to listen to her own voice, she discovered something quite important.
那一夜，生平第一次小河有了重新审视自己的机会。她追着别人跑了太久以致再没看见过自己的模样。那一晚，她第一次听到了自己的哭声，哗哗的水流撞击河床的声音。因着她终于能听到自己的声音，她发现了一些很重要的东西。