Heaven and earth nurture spirits, mountains and rivers cultivate beauty. Though colorful garments and ornate shoes may please worldly eyes, bare feet and slender toes reveal true grace. Now there is an extraordinary woman who discards her shoes in this world, treading truth upon the dust. In spring, she treads green streams; in summer, she wades through clear waves; in autumn, she crosses frosty paths; in winter, she imprints upon cold snow. Facing wind's blades and rain's arrows, laughing at gravel's spears and thorns” halberds, she finds the joy of carefree wandering, utterly forgetting the worries of constraint. Observing her movement, it is like lotuses floating through mist, red jade emitting light. With steps light upon waves, she shatters thousands of silver scales; skimming frost, she dances gracefully, crushing myriad golden leaves. Bare toes touch moss, startling hibernating insects to shrink their necks; footprints carve sand, awing waves to hush their roar. Some may call her a wild woman, defying propriety, mocking her for contradicting custom. Yet she scoffs: ”The crowns and coronets of the mortal world only shackle innate nature; embroidered shoes and silk stockings are but cocoons for the spirit. Those who admire me admire true simplicity; those who slander me slander their own hearts!” As for the harshness of deep winter, the biting east wind pierces to the bone. The world wraps itself in cocoons like grubs, yet alone she lifts her head and strides barefoot. Ice edges slice her skin, yet she laughs, calling it ”heaven's gift of jade cream”; snow pellets sting her ankles, yet she chants it as ”earth's application of jade ointment.” The cruelties of the four seasons transform entirely into sweet rain for her; the perils of all paths become playgrounds for her amusement. Thus it is understood: when the body enslaves the heart, there is suffering; when the heart commands the body, there is joy. Those who follow the Dao, emulating nature, are never trapped by cold or heat, nor constrained by carriages or attire! Alas! The world is deluded by the tale of golden lotuses, obsessed with the deformity of foot-binding. How could they know that when Nüwa first created humans, she bestowed bare toes; that when the sage Yu controlled the floods, he once trekked barefoot. Returning to simplicity and origin draws one closer to the great Dao; binding the body and adorning the form ultimately contradicts heavenly principle. Observing this maiden's journey, one suddenly comprehends the image of the primordial beginning, the truth of chaos. Those who dare ridicule her as ”savage" truly fail to see: the prints beneath her feet are the tracks of Xihe; the ground she treads is the realm of carefree wandering!
Zuo-Zuo (左左) 
