[SS] Snow Monk (410 characters) #WeeklyShortShortNote

Deep in the mountains, there stands a small, old, and quiet temple. An elderly monk guards it all by himself. The monk rarely descends the mountain. Behind the temple is the north-facing slope of the mountain. The temperature is so low that the snow that piles up during winter remains until the following winter.

Occasionally, visitors come to the temple wanting the monk to listen to their stories.
It was said that if you talked through all your troubles, your heart would become lighter and the rest of your life would become brighter.

The monk welcomes visitors by inviting them into the warmed main hall and serving them a cup of tea.

The visitor sits before the white monk wearing a surplice and continues to talk about their worries without hesitation. They never fall silent, and while staring at the monk, they earnestly pour out their troubles. The monk listens without moving an inch. Gradually, the surplice begins to slip from his shoulders, but the visitor continues to talk without paying it any mind.

Before long, the monk melted and disappeared, leaving only the surplice behind. The visitor bowed in satisfaction and went home. Afterward, the monk cleaned up the spot where the melted snowman had been.

Such a snowman eventually came to be called the Snow Monk.

The End

410 characters (excluding indentation and line breaks)

Afterword

I wrote this in the style of a folktale, inspired by the idea that snow eventually melts. I thought that if someone listens to your troubles, your heart feels a little lighter. And I wondered if it didn't necessarily have to be a human, so I made a snowman into a monk.

I asked ChatGPT for the title image.

This is my entry for the following prompt. (I am troubled by the difficult prompts every week)

Date of prompt February 8th
Prompt Snow Monk
Hidden prompt Favorite Makeup

Last week's SS for the prompt

🌿[Teriha's Novels] Short Short Collection ← Link to SS magazine

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I haven't been able to update it much lately, though...

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