On the presentation stage, two holes, about a meter in diameter, were dug. One was filled with clean, pure water like a liquid crystal. In this, a koi swims like a ribbon in the water in and out of a branch of coral. The other hole was filled with dark, fertile earth, unmarred by rock or weed. A curious mole blinked in the sun as it watched the audience watch it.

Then the show truly began! At the same time, the coral and an unknown seed in the dirt shot up out of the holes, sprouting and growing in an arc towards each other until they met in the middle where an oyster formed, opening to reveal a pearl which caught the sun and the audience’s eye. Then the coral and wood continued to grow, winding themselves around the other so that, by the time wood met water and coral met earth, there was a braided archway over the stage.

Then the water and dirt slopped over and out of their containers, meeting in the middle and mixing together. The mixture arranged itself and dried with supernatural quickness in the sun, forming an altar table of mud bricks, like in the olden days, but not needing straw for support. But what of the animals?

Mole scampered and koi swam through the other’s arch. Koi through wood and mole through coral, around and around and around until they touched the pearl at the same time. Then they dove down into the altar, splashing through it as though it were liquid again.

After a moment for the audience to hold its breath, the creatures re emerged, the mole with a lit green candle in its paws and the koi arcing up with a blue candle in its mouth.

With the stage set, the star could arrive.