[music playing]
[gasping]
Would you care for some bread, Katara?
So it was you guys who had food.
Oh come now, you really think
that tribe of thieves isn't smuggling food?
Why should my people go hungry
when the sneaky Zhangs are stuffing their faces?
Well, I guess it's okay if everyone's doing it.
So, why does your tribe hate the Zhangs so much?
You seem like a smart girl, Katara.
I bet you would enjoy hearing some history.
[music playing]
The patriarch of our tribe, Jin Wei,
was an earthbender warrior who was assigned
an important duty, transporting our sacred orb
from the great eastern gate, to the great western gate.
[music playing]
Taking the orb from the east to the west
represents the sun's rising and setting.
It was our tribe's ancient redemption ritual.
But as he approached the gate, Jin Wei was attacked
by one of the Zhang, a vermin named Wei Jin,
who looked at the orb with envy.
That coward Wei Jin knocked Jin Wei to the ground,
and stole our sacred orb.
Our people have never forgotten. You can never trust a Zhang.
[music playing]
Care for some meat?
Would I!
I know what you must be thinking,
we're horrible for endangering everybody
by bringing food down here.
Mm.
The Gan Jin think so badly of us,
they probably assumed we brought food in
and decided to bring food in themselves.
That's why we brought food in.
Mm.
Our conflict with the Gan Jin goes back over a hundred years.
[music playing]
Our forefather Wei Jin was leaving the western gate
of our village, when he saw a figure in the distance.
It was a man of the Gan Jin tribe,
Jin Wei, collapsed on the ground.
Noble Wei Jin stopped to help him.
Jin Wei was transporting a sacred orb,
a very powerful relic used
in his tribe's redemption ritual.
Wei Jin tried to tend to the man's wounds
but Jin Wei insisted the orb was more important,
and asked him to take it back to his tribe.
Kind Wei Jin promised to send help for the man
as soon as he could, but as Wei Jin crossed the border
to return the orb into Gan Jin territory,
he was arrested.
Instead of thanking him for his kind and selfless deed,
they sentenced him to 20 long years in prison.
We Zhangs will never forget that injustice.
That's just terrible.
You gonna finish that?
[music playing]
I never thought a Gan Jin
could get his hands dirty like that.
And I never knew you Zhangs were so reliable in a pinch.
Perhaps we're not so different after all.
[sighing]
Too bad we can't rewrite history.
You thieves stole our sacred orb from Jin Wei!
You tyrants unjustly imprisoned Wei Jin
for 20 long years!
[sighing] Wait a second.
Jin Wei? Wei Jin? I know those guys!
Yes, yes, we're all aware of the story.
No, I mean I really knew them.
I might not look it, but I'm 112 years old.
I was there 100 years ago on the day you're talking about.
There seems to be a lot of confusion
about what happened.
First of all, Jin Wei and Wei Jin weren't enemies.
They were brothers, twins in fact,
and they were eight;
and most importantly, they were just playing a game.
The sacred orb from the legend, that was the ball.
And the eastern and western gates
were the goal posts.
Jin Wei had the ball and was running toward the goal
when he fell and fumbled it. Wei Jin didn't steal the ball,
he picked it up and started running it
back toward the other goal, but he stepped out of bounds,
so the official put him in the penalty box.
Not for 20 long years but for two short minutes.
[laughing]
There was no stealing
and no putting anyone in prison, just a game.
You're saying the sacred orb was actually a sacred ball?
Nope, just a regular ball.
What about our tribe's redemption ritual?
That's what the game was called, redemption.
As soon as someone got the ball from one goal to the other,
everyone would yell, "redemption!"
Don't get me wrong, Wei Jin was kind of a slob
and Jin Wei was a little stuffy, that much is true.
But they respected each other's differences enough
to share the same playing field.
I suppose it's time we forget the past.
And look to the future.
[music playing]
Good to see you, boy. Did you miss me?
[laughing]
I cannot thank you enough, Avatar.
Well, you know I try.
Ugh!
Let us travel to the Earth Kingdom capital
as one tribe.
[cheering]
I'm going too! I'm sick of this place!
That's some luck you knew Jin Wei and Wei Jin.
You could call it luck... or you could call it lying.
What?
I made the whole thing up.
You did not. That is so wrong.
Now, where's that custard tart? I'm starving.
[music playing]