Good morning, dear Sophie
In the magic forest, the sun and the moon co-exist, alternating along the color change of four seasons within one day, from the morning in spring to the winter at night. While the early sunshine carpets the forest with florescence, the evening snowstorm sweeps autumn decay with cold and white. Living in the magic forest since a baby squirrel, Sophie loves the spring the most for she sees the life in trees, the color in flowers, and the warmth in friends: every tree and every flower in the magic forest is a dear friend Sophie holds close to.
Every morning, Sophie is the first getting up from her tree hut, running to the forest glade, frolicking around the lake, bringing the first streak of sunshine with her laughter and warm greetings to the new life after a cold winter at night. ‘Good morning’ she says to every sprout that’s burgeoning under thick snow, whisking off with her tail the frost on the greening twigs of the pine trees, and watering buds with thawed water in lake. She enjoys very much the morning view in the forest glade. The sun sheds through the first light that is branching away the winter cloud into rainbow shades, cascading gold in light into the jade-like lake under which the fish flocking around where the light jumps and flows.
If spring is the season that Sophie loves most, then autumn is the season when she cries most. For every evening when the sun sets as autumn falls, the view of the fading, withering, and blight of every flower and every tree she says ‘good morning’ to breaks her heart every day. When the touch of death yellows through the first leaf vein to the end of forest, she feels there’s nothing she can do. And when the ruthless wind wipes barren every branch and every twig, gathering in waves the browning leaves in sky where even the last drop of sunlight cannot get through, she could see how winter has already come by frosting the lake of life.
Ugglas the owl is the one who has raised Sophie since she’s only a baby squirrel. As both the oldest and wisest guardian in the magic forest, he decides to tell Sophie that there’s one way to change all as he doesn’t want to see her cry anymore. So he tells Sophie that there’s one way and one way only to set the season to spring all the time so she can enjoy the life and stay with the life and not to see it die again. However, as an exchange, she needs to give up her eternal life in magic forest to have only one normal lifetime. And during this life time, she’ll have one flower fairy who’ll be her loyal friend as a lifetime company until it ends when the magic forest will return to the way it always was.
After seeing much of death and experiencing countless times of loss, Sophie sees hope in what Ugglas has told her. For her, an eternal life in loneliness doesn’t worth to live than a mortal life with friends. So she decides to act upon it.
She asks, ‘What should I do?’ Ugglas says, ‘In magic forest, you need to firstly find a flower fairy and bring it to life. The moment it awakes, it’ll bring eternal spring to the magic forest until this lifetime with you ends.’
‘How should I do for that then?’
Ugglas continues, ‘You need to get up every morning before sunrise, and go to the lake of life, waiting for first sunshine to come in. When you see the water from lake form morning dews on grass, that’s the life fruit you’re looking for. You need to gather them quickly before they vaporize with the sun. And water the fairy sprout you choose with both these life dews, together with the care and love that you can ever give.’
Sophie asks, ‘How long will it take to awake a flower fairy?’
Ugglas says, ‘1000 days. Cannot miss one day, or it’ll never work again. ’
1000 days is like one day to Sophie in her disciplined work of getting up early, gathering morning dews to run to another end of the magic forest to water the fairy sprout which lives under the rainbow tree. But she loves this for not only it gives her hope but also she loves the land. It’s a land of spring. The rainbow tree itself is a sun that nurtures the fairy flowers around and the leaves are only leaves seen at distance. Seen from close, they are shining lights that take shapes at their own will with colors dancing from amber brown to sapphire blue, from emerald green to golden red, like the magic pigments of the life in spring that is on the pallet of a master painter.
Under the rainbow tree, Sophie found a fairy sprout that she knows she’d love for life. It is a rainbow flower that has long hair in magenta with a main stem in blue. Every morning, Sophie would say to it, ‘Hello, good morning.’ 1000 days, never missed a single day.
Eventually, the 1000th day comes earlier than she realizes. When the last drop of life fruit is in the soil, the flower fairy wakes up with a blinking curious eye, looking at Sophie who smiles like the first drop of sunlight. The moment it awakes, the whole magic forest stays in the prime moment of spring.
Slowly, it flies with its magenta wings around her as if it’s trying to know who’s given the life, and after a while, it lands in her hand, saying back for the first time what Sophie has said to it every day.
It says, ‘Good morning, dear Sophie.’
37cmx37cm
Mixed Media on paper
《早安，索菲》
在魔法森林里 ，太阳与月亮并存，一天就是一个四季，晨曦与万物复苏的花朵盛开一起来临，而夜幕则与暴风雪一同降临。而索菲，最喜欢魔法森林春天的颜色。因为她喜欢树的生命，花的色彩，以及朋友的温暖：森林里的每一棵树，每一朵花，都是她的朋友。
在每一个春天的早晨，她是森林里最先起床，拂过覆盖在冰雪下，悄然盛开的花草，像早上的第一缕阳光，她给位于森林中心的生命之湖，带来荡漾在湖间的欢笑。她拂去刚经历了冬雪的树干上的积雪，冲着嫩绿的新芽说：“早安！”她捧出湖中的一揽清水，浇灌在每一朵鲜花上。在每天的清晨，第一缕阳光会拨开空中冬季的寒云，照进四季长青的松树林，斑点阳光投在湖面上形成七彩光芒，在湖面上空形成彩虹云，映入湖水，像是块彩玉，各色小鱼在其中嬉戏。
如果说春天是索菲的最爱的季节，那么每天当傍晚降临，夕阳西下，深秋的景象，则是会让她落泪的一幕，因为她会目睹每一个在清晨认识的朋友，每棵树，每朵花，在秋色下逐渐从夏季生命的繁盛，退色，枯萎，凋零。褐黄色在叶脉中伸延，从一片叶蔓延到一片林，萧瑟的寒风，将脱离树干的枯叶卷起，飘散在湖面上空，形成褐色的叶海，挡住了随后的残阳，散落在深秋下开始结冰的湖面。
Ugglas是将索菲从一个小松鼠抚养的猫头鹰，他是魔法森林最具智慧的守护者，终于有一天，他不希望再看见索菲每日冲着凋零的树木落泪，于是他告诉索菲，有一个种办法，可以让整个魔法森林只有春天，但这意味着，索菲需要放弃她在魔法森林永生的生命，只能活一辈子。但在这一辈子里，她可以寻找到一朵能陪伴她一生一世的花精灵，陪伴到她生命的最后一刻。而之后，魔法森林则会重新回复到每日一年四季的方式。
在经历无数次与亲人般的朋友别离的痛苦中，Ugglas所说的仿佛给索菲带来的了希望。在与朋友别离的永生中生活对于她，不如短暂的但能与朋友相守的一世。于是她决定找到将魔法森林变成春天的办法。
Ugglas说，在魔法森林，只有一种方式，就是在每日清晨第一缕阳光渗入生命之湖的时候，湖水会在刚经历寒夜的覆满寒霜的草叶上结满露珠，而这个露珠就是生命果实，如果你能在每日4点到4点半的时候，将所有露珠搜集，浇灌在位于彩虹树下的精灵花上，持续1000天，不能间断，那么这朵花则会苏醒，变成花精灵。当这朵花精灵苏醒的时候，魔法森林将会在他所陪伴你的这辈子，永远处于春天。他也会陪伴于你的左右，让你不再孤独。
于是索菲每天在夜幕还未退去时就起身，奔赴林中的空地，等待第一缕阳光让湖水在草叶上凝结的第一颗生命果实。在魔法森林的另一头，她找到了彩虹树。彩虹树是自己的太阳，远远看去仿佛是长着金色树叶的梧桐树，近看才发现，每一片叶子都是一缕阳光，赤橙黄绿青蓝紫，颜色如同血液在每一片树叶的脉搏中流淌，变化，融合，每一片树叶，仿佛呈现的都是生命的一种色彩。
在树的脚下，她找到了一朵拥有紫红色枝叶，蓝色枝干彩虹花。
一千天仿佛如一日，从未间断。每天早晨，她都会对彩虹花说：“你好，早安。”
终于在第1000天的时候，在最后一滴露珠落入土壤中时，花精灵开始苏醒：紫红色的枝叶如同翅膀，飞舞在彩虹树下的金色阳光中，蓝色的枝干脱离土壤。它睁着大大的微笑着的眼睛，看着索菲，像淘气的小鸟一般在她身边飞舞。
落在索菲的手心，看着既惊讶却无比欣喜的索菲说，“早安，索菲。”
