Knots on a Counting Rope

A native American man repeatedly tells a boy a story about another boy who is blind. This boy sees with his hands, understands concepts like time and colours by the emotions and images they elicit. This boy trains his horse by counting her gallops, and he rides her as though they are one. They enter a race, and do not win, but this boy is reminded that he rode like the wind, and crossed dark mountains.Each time the story is told the man ties another knot in the counting rope, and promies that when the rope is full the boy will know the story by heart. So the counting rope becomes a metaphor for the passage of time, and for a boy's emerging confidence in facing his blindness.