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，有一條美麗的小河在山谷中，森林里，草地間自由的穿行。開始時，她是一股歡快的細流，一股泉水，唱唱跳跳的從山頂流下來。那時，她還很年輕，年幼的她到了低地后就放緩了腳步。她想著要到海里去。她一天一天的長大，學會了怎么樣讓自己看起來更美，優雅地在山谷、草地里蜿蜒盤旋。

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。五彩斑斕、各式各樣的云彩。那些日子里，她什么事也不做，整日整日的追著云彩跑。她想要一片云彩，屬于她自己的一片云彩。但是云飄在空中，還時不時的就換了個形狀。有時候，它們看起來像是件外套，有時候，又像匹馬。云彩那變化無常的本性，可讓小河受盡了苦頭。她唯一的樂趣就是追趕云彩，一個接一個的，而絕望、憤怒、憎恨充滿了她身體里的每一個細胞。

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?
然而接下來的某一天，一陣大風吹過，刮走了天空中所有的云彩。天空中什么都沒了，小河覺得生活失去了意義，因為再也沒有云彩可以讓她去追逐了。她想到了死?！凹热辉贫紱]了，那我為什么還要活著？”但是小河又怎么能夠結束自己的生命呢？

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審視自己的機會。她追著別人跑了太久以致再沒看見過自己的模樣。那一晚，她第一次聽到了自己的哭聲，嘩嘩的水流撞擊河床的聲音。因著她終于能聽到自己的聲音，她發現了一些很重要的東西。