After figuring out how to write the three vowels 'a', 'e', and 'i', Xi Ming Dong began working on the writing style for the fourth vowel.
"Now it's 'o' turn. How should I write it? When I pronounce it, my mouth seems a bit round. Drawing a circle might not be a bad idea, right?"
Saying this, he picked up a stick and drew a circle, forming the letter 'o', on the ground.
Looking at this character, he nodded and assessed:
"The connection between pronunciation and writing is really good. I feel this letter is the best among the ones I've just created. Now, let's move on to the last one. The sound of 'u' is fairly rounded but not entirely so. How about using half of a circle?"
He then tried drawing the lower half of a circle on the ground. Stroking his chin thoughtfully, he evaluated:
"Something feels a bit off. How about adding one more stroke?"
He then added a straight line downward, ultimately creating this shape: u.
Seeing the letter written on the ground, Xi Ming Dong nodded with satisfaction and said:
"Good, very good. It feels easy to write, quick, and meaningful. There's still some time before nightfall, so I'll eat and rest quickly. Tomorrow, I must prepare all the consonants."
As he was about to catch some fish for dinner, he suddenly stopped and thought:
"If I leave these letters on the ground like this, they won't last long. I should use stone instead."
After deciding, he scanned the area to find a large, flat stone.
Once he found a suitable one, he picked up a smaller rock and began engraving the five vowels into it.
When he finished, he threw the small rock aside and said with satisfaction:
"Now I can rest assured. A stone this big, not even a bear would bother moving it elsewhere."
Afterward, he searched for a suitable branch, sharpened its tip to create a simple spear, and went catching fish.
Not far away, God was watching him. Of course, it wasn't through any supernatural power—just peeking from behind a tree.
"I didn't expect him to create vowels so quickly. At this rate, the entire alphabet should be finished in a few days, right? Is this because of my appearance? Or did my true form arrange this for my amusement? Oh well, as long as it's entertaining."
Then God left as well. His role was only to point the way, whether humanity walked the path or not was up to them.
After all, humanity was a divine race—if they were too incompetent, it would be embarrassing.
.....
After finishing his meal, Xi Ming Dong returned to his cave to sleep.
The people who had been criticizing him earlier now saw nothing unusual about him and stayed silent.
If he's really seriously ill, that's unfortunate. But if he's fine, why bother caring?
Lying on a pile of dry grass, Xi Ming Dong tossed and turned, unable to sleep. He thought:
"Dammit, my head is filled with letters right now. Letters here, letters there - it's everywhere! I guess I should come up with a name for this collection of letters. 'a' is the first letter, so maybe… let's call it the alphabet. Starting with 'a' seems logical, doesn't it?"
And thus, the alphabet was born - simply because one person couldn't sleep and let his mind wander.
This world is truly strange. Sometimes you spend a lifetime thinking with no results, but in a moment of coincidence, everything becomes clear.
As soon as he thought of the word "alphabet", he began to snore:
Snore… snore…
Well, despite falling asleep so quickly, this was his first time struggling to sleep due to overthinking. Achieving such a "high score" in just a few minutes wasn't bad.
.....
The next morning, as the sun gradually rose, everyone woke up to begin a new day. Xi Ming Dong was no exception.
Yawning, he headed straight to the riverbank to rinse his mouth and eat breakfast.
Though there was no concept of brushing teeth here, rinsing their mouths made them feel more refreshed, so they did it every morning.
After breakfast, Xi Ming Dong went to the spot where he had written the five vowels the day before. He said:
"Alright, let's start with the consonants. How should I write 'b'?"
He thought as he twirled the stick in his hand. Then, he drew a straight vertical line on the ground.
"Hmm, what should I add to this straight line? How about part of a circle?"
Without further ado, he added a curve to the lower right side of the line. The result was this shape: b.
"Well, it looks alright, and it's easy to write. Decided—this is how 'b' will look from now on. Now for the next one. How should I write 'c'?"
As he pondered, he scribbled randomly on the ground. After some doodling, he found a shape he was satisfied with: c.
.....
As time went on, it became harder for Xi Ming Dong to think. The entire day, he did nothing but eat, drink, and sit around designing letters.
By now, the sun had set, casting a beautiful twilight glow. But Xi Ming Dong didn't even glance at it, because he had just stumbled upon an incredibly pressing problem:
How was he supposed to have enough space to write all the words?
"Ah, damn it. How could I forget something so obvious? I came up with writing, but what am I supposed to write on? Carving a 26-character alphabet onto stone is easy enough—no problem there. But when it comes to combining letters into thousands of words? Our spoken language is incredibly rich!"
Xi Ming Dong cursed nonstop, feeling utterly frustrated.
Not long ago, he had felt confident that he would soon complete something he called a "dictionary".
The dictionary was supposed to be a collection of all the words in their spoken language in written form.
Of course, it would include definitions too, but that part would have to wait since he didn't have time to deal with it yet.
However, after writing just a few words, he realized he had no space to write more. Stones were far from practical for such a purpose.
In the future, when he wanted to teach others how to read and write so they could help him with the work, it would be almost impossible. He couldn't expect everyone to crowd around one super big single stone to learn.
"Ah, damn it, this is driving me nuts. By the time I'm done preparing this so-called dictionary, I'll probably forget what I saw at the river anyway!"
Looking at a large empty section of the stone, he gritted his teeth and said:
"Damn it, I guess my only option is to sketch out my experiences for now. It might be a bit cryptic, but it'll help me recall what I saw at the time. Even if I forget some details, I can just go back to the river and observe again."
Having made up his mind, he quickly began drawing everything he felt was relevant to his experience at the time onto the empty space on the stone.