The Old Ape

There is an old tale of an undying ape, who guards one of the entrances to Nirvana. Eons old, he sits and tends to a white lotus, the lotus of the palace. Its aroma is said to attract female apes. So the old one sits and tends to it ever so gently in the hopes to present it to his bride should she ever come.

They say that an undying being is the sign of an infested body, stagnant and corrupted. Stuck between this world and the next, unable or unwilling to move on. Such a long life would surely be lonely, even for an ape.

At one time, the ape shared his den with a mate. But he alone became infested , while the other passed away. Now, even the flowers offered in tribute to her passing have withered unto dust.