Traveler:
"Oh, Weaver of Myriad Lights, the seventh stop on my journey,
I come bearing the 'light' of a masterpiece, and a 'lonely' 'laurel'.
Why does your celebration never praise the 'hero'?
Can you use your wisdom to solve this 'public case' (kōan) of 'Glory'?"

Glory:
"O traveler, have you seen that brightest star cluster in the night sky?
Has 'any single star' ever dared to say that 'it alone' constituted the 'entire' 'brilliance'?
Have you seen that tallest treetop in the forest?
Has it ever forgotten that it was the 'countless' roots 'underground', 'interconnected', that 'withstood' the 'gale'?"

Glory:
"The 'light' of that 'masterpiece' in your hand was, indeed, 'lit' by you,
O traveler, but, the 'wick' and 'lampshade' that 'make up' the 'light', where did 'they' come from?
The 'ancestors' who taught you the 'craft', the 'soil' that 'provided' the 'materials',
That 'passerby' who, in your 'loneliness', once 'gave' you 'a smile'—
Have 'all' of them, already been 'forgotten' by you?"

Glory:
"Glory is not that 'solitary backward glance' after you 'climb' to the 'summit',
O traveler, that is, at 'the very moment' you 'reach the top', you 'suddenly' see the 'entire' mountainside that 'held you up'.
It is not 'One', but the 'symphony' of 'One' and 'Ten Thousand'.
It is not a 'reward', but a 'compassionate light' of 'once' 'seeing' 'all things interconnected'."

Traveler:
"I understand... My 'masterpiece' is not an 'isolated island',
It is a 'rainbow bridge' formed by 'countless threads' 'converging' in my 'hands'.
My 'glory' lies not in 'my' 'skill',
But in that I, finally, see, those 'unspoken', yet 'equally' 'important', heartbeats."

(Epilogue)

The Deity of 【Glory】, smiling, merged into that myriad of lamplights, no longer distinguishable.
I looked at the 'masterpiece' (its phantom) in my hand.
It was still 'shining', but that 'light' had become 'different'.
In that 'light', I saw the 'wisdom' of 'ancestors', saw the 'gift' of the 'earth', saw the 'encouragement' of 'friends'.
My 'glory', did not, 'diminish' because of this.
On the contrary, It became incomparably vast, incomparably warm.
I walked into the 'crowd', and 'my' 'own' 'one lamp', also, hung upon that 'great tree'.
I, with my 'Glory', had reached a reconciliation.