A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain

This story completely lost me. I didn't know like how there was different languages in it. I felt like the whole time I was trying to figure out who was who. The old man kept telling storys of his past and I could not depict what the difference from the present in the story and the past in the story. I continued to read even though I was not understanding it hoping maybe it would clear up but it just got more confusing to me. Hopefully during class I will be able to understand it more.