Copyright © 2009 by Grace Lin

All rights reserved. Except as permittedunder the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, nopart of this publication may bereproduced, distributed, or transmittedin any form or by any means, or stored ina database or retrieval system, withoutthe prior written permission of thepublisher.

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Hachette Book Group237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017Visit our website atwww.HachetteBookGroup.com

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

is a division of Hachette Book Group,Inc.The Little, Brown name and logo aretrademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

First eBook Edition: June 2009

The characters and events portrayed inthis book are fictitious. Any similarity toreal persons, living or dead, iscoincidental and not intended by theauthor.

ISBN: 978-0-316-05260-3

Contents

COPYRIGHT

CHAPTER 1CHAPTER 2CHAPTER 3CHAPTER 4CHAPTER 5CHAPTER 6CHAPTER 7CHAPTER 8CHAPTER 9CHAPTER 10CHAPTER 11CHAPTER 12CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 14CHAPTER 15CHAPTER 16CHAPTER 17CHAPTER 18CHAPTER 19CHAPTER 20CHAPTER 21CHAPTER 22CHAPTER 23CHAPTER 24CHAPTER 25CHAPTER 26CHAPTER 27CHAPTER 28CHAPTER 29CHAPTER 30CHAPTER 31

CHAPTER 32CHAPTER 33CHAPTER 34CHAPTER 35CHAPTER 36CHAPTER 37CHAPTER 38CHAPTER 39CHAPTER 40CHAPTER 41CHAPTER 42CHAPTER 43CHAPTER 44CHAPTER 45CHAPTER 46CHAPTER 47CHAPTER 48

AUTHOR’S NOTES

FOR ROBERT

SPECIAL THANKS TO:ALVINA, CONNIE, LIBBY, JANET, MOM,

DAD, AND ALEX

CHAPTER1

Far away from here, following the JadeRiver, there was once a black mountainthat cut into the sky like a jagged pieceof rough metal. The villagers called itFruitless Mountain because nothing grewon it and birds and animals did not restthere.

Crowded in the corner of whereFruitless Mountain and the Jade Rivermet was a village that was a shade offaded brown. This was because the landaround the village was hard and poor.To coax rice out of the stubborn land, the

fields had to be flooded with water. Thevillagers had to tramp in the mud,bending and stooping and planting dayafter day. Working in the mud so muchmade it spread everywhere and the hotsun dried it onto their clothes and hairand homes. Over time, everything in thevillage had become the dull color ofdried mud.

One of the houses in this villagewas so small that its wood boards, heldtogether by the roof, made one think of abunch of matches tied with a piece oftwine. Inside, there was barely enoughroom for three people to sit around thetable — which was lucky because onlythree people lived there. One of themwas a young girl called Minli.

Minli was not brown and dull likethe rest of the village. She had glossyblack hair with pink cheeks, shining eyesalways eager for adventure, and a fastsmile that flashed from her face. Whenpeople saw her lively and impulsivespirit, they thought her name, whichmeant quick thinking, suited her well.“Too well,” her mother sighed, as Minlihad a habit of quick acting as well.

Ma sighed a great deal, animpatient noise usually accompaniedwith a frown at their rough clothes,rundown house, or meager food. Minlicould not remember a time when Ma didnot sigh; it often made Minli wish shehad been called a name that meant goldo r fortune instead. Because Minli and

her parents, like the village and the landaround them, were very poor. They werebarely able to harvest enough rice tofeed themselves, and the only money inthe house was two old copper coins thatsat in a blue rice bowl with a whiterabbit painted on it. The coins and thebowl belonged to Minli; they had beengiven to her when she was a baby, andshe had had them for as long as shecould remember.

What kept Minli from becomingdull and brown like the rest of thevillage were the stories her father toldher every night at dinner. She glowedwith such wonder and excitement thateven Ma would smile, though she wouldshake her head at the same time. Ba

seemed to drop his gray and workweariness — his black eyes sparkledlike raindrops in the sun when he begana story.

“Ba, tell me the story aboutFruitless Mountain again,” Minli wouldsay as her mother spooned their plainrice into bowls. “Tell me again whynothing grows on it.”

“Ah,” Minli’s father said, “you’veheard this so many times. You know.”

“Tell me again, Ba,” Minli begged.“Please.”

“Okay,” he said, and as he setdown his chopsticks his smile twinkledin a way that Minli loved.

THE STORY OF

FRUITLESS

MOUNTAIN

Once when there were no riverson the earth, the Jade Dragon was incharge of clouds. She decided when andwhere the clouds would rain upon theland and when they would stop. She wasvery proud of her power and of thereverence the people of earth paid her.Jade Dragon had four dragon children:Pearl, Yellow, Long, and Black. Theywere large and strong and good and

kind. They helped Jade Dragon with herwork and whenever they flew in the skyshe was overwhelmed with love andpride.

However, one day, as Jade Dragonended the rain and moved the cloudsaway from the land, she overheard somevillagers’ conversation.

“Ah, thank goodness the rain isgone,” one man said.

“Yes,” another said, “I’m so tiredof the rain. I’m glad the clouds are goneand the sun is finally shining.”

Those words filled Jade Dragonwith anger. Tired of rain! Glad theclouds were gone! Jade Dragon wasindignant. How dare the villagersdishonor her that way!

Jade Dragon was so offended thatshe decided that she would never let itrain again. “The people can enjoy thesun forever,” Jade Dragon thoughtresentfully.

Of course, that meant despair forthe people on earth. As the sun beatoverhead and the rain never came,

drought and famine spread over the land.Animals and trees withered and died andthe people begged for rain, but JadeDragon ignored them.

But their suffering did not gounnoticed by Jade Dragon’s children.They were horrified at the anguish andmisery on earth. One by one, they wentto their mother and pleaded forgivenessfor the humans — but even their wordsdid not soften their mother’s cold heart.“We will never make it rain for thepeople again,” Jade Dragon vowed.

Pearl, Yellow, Long, and Black metin secret.

“We must do something to help thepeople,” Black said, “If they do not getwater soon, they will all die.”

“Yes,” Yellow said, “but what canwe do? We cannot make it rain. Wecannot dishonor Mother withdisobedience.”

Long looked down at the earth. “Iwill sacrifice myself for the people ofearth,” he said. “I will lie on the landand transform myself into water for themto drink.”

The others looked at him inastonishment, but one by one theynodded.

“I will do the same,” Yellow said.“As will we,” Pearl and Black

said.So Jade Dragon’s children went

down to earth and turned themselves intowater, saving the people on the earth.

They became the four great rivers ofland, stopping the drought and death ofall those on earth.

But when Jade Dragon saw whather children had done, she cursed herselffor her pride. No longer would herdragon children fly in the air with her orcall her Mother. Her heart broke in griefand sadness; she fell from the sky andturned herself into the Jade River inhopes that she could somehow bereunited with her children.

Fruitless Mountain is the brokenheart of Jade Dragon. Nothing grows orlives on the mountain; the land around itis hard and the water of the river is darkbecause Jade Dragon’s sad spirit is stillthere. Until Jade Dragon is no longer

lonely and reunited with at least one ofher children, Fruitless Mountain willremain bare.

“Why doesn’t someone bring the waterof the four great rivers to the mountain?”Minli asked, even though she had askedthis question many times before. Everytime Ba told the story, she couldn’t helpthink how wonderful it would be to havethe mountain blooming with fruit andflowers, bringing richness to their needyvillage. “Wouldn’t that make JadeDragon happy?”

“When Jade Dragon’s childrenturned themselves into water,” Minli’s

father said, “they were at peace and theirspirits were released. Their spirits areno longer in the water. So Jade Dragoncannot find them in the rivers. Over ahundred years ago, a man tried to reunitethem by taking stones from the mountainto the rivers.”

“That man was not taking the stonefor a dragon spirit,” Minli’s mother cutin. She never quite approved of Ba’sstories as she felt they made Minliimpractical and caused her to daydream.“My grandmother told me he was anartist. He took the mountain rock tocarve into inking stones.”

“Did he ever come back?” Minliasked.

“No. It probably did not make good

ink,” Ma sighed. “He probably foundsomething finer elsewhere. I bet thebronze on his horse’s saddle was morethan we will ever have.”

Ma’s sighs made Minli wish thatevery rock of Fruitless Mountain wasgold and she couldn’t help asking, “Sohow will Fruitless Mountain ever growgreen again?”

“Ah,” her father said, “that is aquestion you will have to ask the OldMan of the Moon.”

“Oh, tell that story next!” Minlibegged. “Whenever I ask somethingimportant, people say, ‘That is aquestion you have to ask the Old Man ofthe Moon.’ Someday, I will ask him.”

“The Old Man of the Moon!

Another story! Our house is bare and ourrice hardly fills our bowls, but we haveplenty of stories.” Ma sighed again.“What a poor fortune we have!”

“Maybe,” Ba said to Minli,glancing at Ma, “I should tell you thatstory tomorrow.”

CHAPTER 2

Every morning, before the sun rose,Minli, her mother, and father began workin the fields. It was planting season,which was especially grueling. The mudstuck to their feet like glue and eachseedling had to be painstakingly plantedby hand. When the hot sun burnedoverhead, Minli’s knees shook fromweariness. She hated the feeling of thick,soggy mud on her hands and face; andmany times she wanted to stop inirritation and exhaustion. But seeing herparents’ bent backs, patiently working,

made her swallow her complaints andcontinue.

As soon as the sun began to set,Minli’s parents sent her home to makedinner and to rest while they continuedto work in the thick mud. They would notcome home until the sun had completelydisappeared from the sky.

At home, Minli washed her faceand hands and feet; and even though allthe water in the basin turned brown, shestill felt like she was covered in mud.Her arms and legs were so tired that shefelt like an old crab crawling on rocks.As she looked at herself reflected in thedark water, she saw Ma’s frown on herface.

Ma is right, Minli thought. What a

poor fortune we have. Every day, Baand Ma work and work and we stillhave nothing. I wish I could change ourfortune.

At that very moment, Minli heard afaint murmuring sound that she had neverheard before, like a song chanted fromthe clouds. Curious, she opened the doorto see what the noise was.

And there, on the road in front ofher house, she saw a small strangercalling out quietly. “Goldfish,” he wassaying softly, as if he were coaxing hisfish to swim. “Bring fortune into yourhome.”

Minli and the villagers stared as hewheeled his cart. Even though thevillage was by a river, it had been many

years since anyone had seen a glimpse ofa goldfish. The fish in the Jade Riverwere brown and gray, like the village.The goldfish man’s cart was full ofbowls of flashing fish that glittered likejewels.

His gentle calling drew Minli tohim like a moth to a lit lantern. “Howdoes a goldfish bring fortune into yourhome?” Minli asked.

The goldfish man looked at her; thesun setting behind him made him glowbright red and yellow. “Don’t youknow?” he asked her. “Goldfish meansplenty of gold. Having a bowl ofgoldfish means your house will be full ofgold and jade.”

As Minli stared into his bowls with

her shining black eyes, a brilliant orangefish stared back at her with its shiningblack eyes. And then quickly, so quicklythat Minli barely thought about it, sheturned into the house and grabbed thetwo copper coins from the white rabbitrice bowl.

“I’ll buy that one,” Minli said, andshe pointed at the fiery orange fish withthe black eyes and fin that had caught hereye.

The other village children looked ather enviously while the watching adultsshook their heads. “Minli,” one neighborsaid, “don’t believe his impossible talk.A goldfish won’t bring fortune. Saveyour money.”

But Minli was not discouraged andshe held out her copper coins to thegoldfish man. He looked at her andsmiled. Then he took one coin, picked upthe fishbowl, and gave it to her.

“May it bring you great fortune,” hesaid. And with a small bow to thevillagers, he wheeled out of the village.In moments, he disappeared from viewinto the shadow of Fruitless Mountain,and if it wasn’t for the goldfish Minlihad in her hands, all would have thought

he was a dream.

CHAPTER 3

But the goldfish was real, and when herparents returned from the fields fordinner they were not happy to learn thatMinli had spent her money on it.

“How could you spend your moneyon that!” Ma said, slapping the ricebowls on the table. “On something souseless? And we will have to feed it!There is barely enough rice for us as itis.”

“I will share my rice with it,” Minlisaid quickly. “The goldfish man said thatit will bring fortune to our house.”

“Fortune!” Ma said. “You spenthalf the money in our house!”

“Now, Wife,” Ba said, sittingquietly, “it was Minli’s money. It washers to do with as she wished. Moneymust be used sometime. What use ismoney in a bowl?”

“It is more useful than a goldfish ina bowl,” her mother said shortly.

“Who knows,” Ba said. “Maybe itwill bring fortune to our house.”

“Another impossible dream,” Masaid, looking at the plain rice in herbowl with bitterness. “It will take morethan a goldfish to bring fortune to ourhouse.”

“Like what?” Minli asked. “Whatdo we need to bring fortune here?”

“Ah,” Ba said, “that is a questionyou will have to ask the Old Man of theMoon.”

“The Old Man of the Moon again,”Minli said, and she looked at her father.“Ba, you said you would tell me the OldMan of the Moon story again today.”

“More stories!” Ma said, and herchopsticks struck the inside of her emptyrice bowl resentfully. “Haven’t we hadenough of those?”

“Now, Wife,” Ba said again,“stories cost us nothing.”

“And gain us nothing as well,” Masaid.

There was a stony silence as Balooked sadly into his rice bowl. Minlitugged at his sleeve. “Please, Ba?” she

said.Ma shook her head and sighed, but

said nothing, so Ba began.

THE STORY OF THE OLD

MAN OF THE MOON

Once there was a magistrate whowas quite powerful and proud. He wasso proud that he demanded constantrespect from his people. Whenever hemade a trip out of the city, no matter

what time of day or night, people wereto leave their homes, get on their knees,and make deep bows as he passed, orelse face the brutal punishment of hissoldiers. The magistrate was fierce inhis anger as well as his pride. It is saidhe even expected the monkeys to comedown from the trees to bow to him.

The magistrate was harsh with hissubordinates, ruthless to his enemies,and pitiless to his people. All feared hiswrath, and when he roared his orders thepeople trembled. Behind his back, theycalled him Magistrate Tiger.

Magistrate Tiger’s most covetedwish was to be of royal blood. Hisevery decision was crafted for thatpurpose; every manipulation was part of

a strategy to achieve acceptance into theimperial family. As soon as his son wasborn, he began to make trips andinquiries to gain influence, in hopes thathe could marry his son to a member ofthe imperial family.

One night, as the magistratetraveled through the mountains (again ona trip to gain favor for his son’s futuremarriage), he saw an old man sittingalone in the moonlight. The old manignored the passing horses andcarriages, the silk brocade and thegovernment seal, and simply continuedreading a large book in his lap, placidlyfingering a bag of red string beside him.The old man’s indifference infuriatedMagistrate Tiger and he ordered the

carriage to stop. However, even thehalting noises did not make the old manlook up. Finally, Magistrate Tiger exitedhis carriage and went to the old man,still engrossed in his book.

“Do you not bow to yourmagistrate?!” he roared.

The old man continued to read.“What are you reading that is so

important?” the magistrate demanded,and looked at the pages of the book. Itwas full of scribbles and scrawls thatwere not of any language the magistrateknew of. “Why, it’s just nonsensewritten in there!”

“Nonsense!” the old man said,finally looking up. “You fool. This is theBook of Fortune. It holds all the

knowledge of the world — the past,present, and future.”

The magistrate looked again at themarks on the page. “I cannot read it,” hesaid.

“Of course not,” the man said. “ButI, the Old Man of the Moon, Guardian ofthe Book of Fortune, can read it. Andwith it, I can answer any question in theworld.”

“You can answer any question inthe world?” the magistrate scoffed.“Very well. Who will my son marrywhen he is of age?”

The Old Man of the Moon flippedthe pages of the book. “Hmm,” he said tohimself. “Yes, here it is… your son’sfuture wife is now the two-year-old

daughter of a grocer in the next village.”“The daughter of a grocer!” the

magistrate spat.“Yes,” the Old Man of the Moon

continued. “Right now she is wrapped ina blue blanket embroidered with whiterabbits, sitting on the lap of her blindgrandmother in front of her house.”

“No!” the magistrate said. “I won’tallow it!”

“It’s true,” the Old Man said. “Theyare destined to be husband and wife. I,myself, tied the red cord that bindsthem.”

“What red cord?” Magistrate Tigerdemanded.

“Do you know nothing? I tietogether everyone who meets with these

red threads.” The Old Man sighed,holding up his bag full of red string.“When you were born, I tied your ankleto your wife’s ankle with a red thread,and as you both grew older the linebecame shorter until you eventually met.All the people you’ve met in your lifehave been brought to you by the redcords I tied. I must have forgotten to tiethe end of one of the lines, which is whyyou are meeting me now. I won’t do thatagain.”

“I don’t believe you,” themagistrate said.

“Believe or don’t believe,” the OldMan said, standing up and putting the bigbook on his back, “we have reached theend of our thread and I will now leave.”

The magistrate stared indumbfounded silence as the Old Man ofthe Moon walked away up the mountain.

“Crazy old man,” the magistratesaid finally. “What a waste of my time!”

The magistrate returned to hiscarriage and continued on. But as theydrove through the next village, he saw anold blind woman holding a baby girl infront of a house. The girl was wrappedin a blue blanket embroidered withwhite rabbits, just as the Old Man of theMoon had said.

Magistrate Tiger burned withanger. “I will not let my son marry agrocer’s daughter!” he vowed. So, afterhe arrived at his guesthouse, themagistrate secretly ordered one of his

servants to return to the grocer’s homeand stab the girl with a knife. That willtake care of her, he thought to himself.

Many years later, Magistrate Tigerhad his dream fulfilled. He was finallyable to obtain a match for his son withone of the emperor’s manygranddaughters, and his son wouldinherit the rule of a remote city. On thewedding day, Magistrate Tiger braggedto his son about how he had arranged themarriage and outwitted the Man of theMoon. The son (who was not like hisfather) said nothing, but after thewedding ceremony, sent a trustedservant to find the grocer’s family tomake amends. In the meantime, hebecame acquainted with his bride and

was happy to find that both were pleasedwith each other. He found his new wifebeautiful, the only oddity about her beingthat she always wore a delicate floweron her forehead.

“Dear Wife,” he said, “Why do youalways wear that flower? Even to sleep,you never remove it.”

“It is to hide my scar,” she said,touching her forehead in embarrassment.“When I was a child no older than two, astrange man stabbed me with a knife. Isurvived, but I still have this scar.”

And at that moment, the trustedservant came rushing in. “Master,” hesaid, “I made the inquiries you askedfor. In a flood many years ago, thegrocer’s family perished — except for

the daughter. The king of the city (theemperor’s ninth son) then adopted thedaughter and raised her as his own…and that daughter is your wife!”

“So the Old Man of the Moon wasright!” Minli said.

“Of course he was,” Ba replied.“The Old Man of the Moon knowseverything and can answer any questionyou ask.”

“I should ask him how to bringfortune to our house!” Minli said. “Hewould know, I’ll ask him. Where do Ifind him?”

“They say he lives on top of Never-

Ending Mountain,” Ba said. “But no oneI have ever spoken to knows where thatis.”

“Maybe we can find out,” Minlisaid.

“Oh, Minli!” Ma said impatiently.“Bringing fortune to our house! MakingFruitless Mountain bloom! You’realways wishing to do impossible things!Stop believing stories and stop wastingyour time.”

“Stories are not a waste of time,”Ba said.

“Stories,” Ma said, slapping herhands against the table, making the waterin the fishbowl sway as she stood up andleft the table, “are what wasted moneyon this goldfish.”

Minli stared down at her rice bowl;the few white grains left sat likeprecious pearls at the bottom of herbowl. Ba patted her arm. “Eat all yourrice, Daughter,” he said, and with hisshaking hands, he scooped the last of hisown rice to feed the fish.

CHAPTER 4

That night Minli could not sleep. Ma’swords echoed in her ears and when sheclosed her eyes she saw Ba’s hand,shaking from hard work, feeding thegoldfish.

“Ma is right,” Minli thought toherself, “the goldfish is just anothermouth to feed. I can’t let Ba feed thegoldfish. Ma and Ba work so hard forevery grain of rice, Ba shouldn’t have tofeed the goldfish too.”

Minli slipped quietly out of her bedand crept to the table where the goldfish

was. They stared at each other and Minliknew what she had to do. Quickly,slipping on her shoes and jacket, shetook the goldfish and left the house.

It was late. The village was quietlyasleep and the stars above filled the skylike spilled salt on dried seaweed.Minli’s footsteps seemed to hush thenight as she made her way toward theJade River.

At the edge of the river, Minlilooked at her goldfish one last time. Themoon shone above so even in thedarkness of the night, the fish seemed toburn a bright orange. Its black eyessparkled at her.

“I’m sorry I can’t keep you,” Minliwhispered. “I hope you will be all right

in the river.” And with those words, sheemptied the bowl into the water. For amoment the fish seemed shocked andwas still, like a flickering flame on amatch. Then it wiggled in the water andswam in circles, a joyful fire twirling inthe water.

Minli watched it and sighed. As thesound faded into the night, Minlirealized it was an echo of her mother’simpatient, frustrated noise. “Ma willnever stop sighing unless our fortunechanges. But how will it ever change?”Minli asked ruefully. “I guess that is justanother question for the Old Man of theMoon. Too bad no one knows how to getto Never-Ending Mountain to ask himanything.”

The fish stopped swimming andlooked up at Minli.

“I know where it is,” it said. Thefemale voice was high and soft, like thewind whistling through the reeds of thewater.

Minli stared. “Did you saysomething?” she asked.

“Yes,” the fish said. “I know howyou can get to Never-Ending Mountainand ask the Old Man of the Moon aquestion.”

“You’re a talking fish?” Minliasked, her words tumbling into eachother with excitement. “How can youtalk?”

“Most fish talk,” the fish said, “ifyou are willing to listen. One, of course,

must want to hear.”“I do,” Minli said, enthralled and

eager. This was just like one of Ba’sstories! She bubbled with excitement.“How do you know the way to Never-Ending Mountain?”

“I’ve swum all the oceans andrivers, except for one,” the fish said,“and on my way to the last, the goldfishman caught me. I despaired in his cart,for I have seen and learned much of theworld, including the way to Never-Ending Mountain. Since you have set mefree, I will tell you.”

“You’ve swum all the oceans andrivers?” Minli asked. The questionsspilled like overflowing water. “Whichriver haven’t you seen? Why have you

traveled so much? Where is Never-Ending Mountain? When did…”

“This river is the one river I havenot swum,” the fish interrupted, “and Ihave waited a long time to see it. So Iwould like to start as soon as possible.You can ask the Old Man of the Moonall your other questions. Let me tell youthe way to him so I can be off.”

Minli nodded and asked no more.She realized she was having aconversation with a goldfish, which wasvery unusual, so she decided to listen.

CHAPTER 5

The next morning, Minli felt as if herhead was spinning with thoughts andplans. She was so busy thinking andplotting that she barely noticed herparents nodding sadly at each otherwhen they saw the empty fishbowl. Andin the fields, when Minli worked as if ina daze, her parents said nothing abouther slow and messy planting.

When the sun began to set andMinli went home to make dinner, shequickly washed and made the rice. Thenshe set the table for two people, sat

down and wrote this note:

Dear Ma and Ba,

I am going to Never-EndingMountain to ask the Old Manof the Moon how I canchange our fortune. I mightbe away for many days, butdon’t worry, I will be fine.When I come back, we will beable to fill our house withgold and jade.

Love your obedient daughter,Minli

The obedient part isn’t completely true,Minli thought to herself, as she knew her

parents would not be happy to find hergone. But it’s not false either. Theydidn’t say I couldn’t go, so I’m notbeing disobedient.

Still, Minli knew that wasn’tentirely right either. But she shook awayher uneasy feelings and prepared for herjourney. On a blanket, she put:

a needlea pair of chopsticksher white rabbit rice

bowla small piece of dried

bambooa hollow gourd full of

watera small knife

a fishnetsome uncooked rice

a large potand the one remaining

copper coin

Then she wrapped her blanket into abag, tied it on her back, and took a lastlook at the shabby house. Through thewindow, Fruitless Mountain stood like ashadow, but Minli closed her eyes andimagined the house shimmering withgold and the mountain jade green withtrees, and smiled. Then, she opened thedoor and left.

CHAPTER 6

As Minli left the house, she was afraidsome of her neighbors would stop her orask where she was going. She felt shemust look mysterious, with a large bagon her back and full of excitement. Butno one noticed her. The neighbors keptsweeping their doorways, hanging theirlaundry, and preparing dinner. A boyand girl continued their fight over apretend feast of mud. When the mothercalled them for dinner, both refused tomove, each clinging to their dishes ofwet dirt; Minli had to smile at their

foolishness.So Minli walked right out of the

village without causing a second glance.At the edge of the village, she turnedtoward Fruitless Mountain.

At the bottom of the mountain, sheunwrapped her blanket and took out herknife, needle, rice bowl, bamboo piece,and jug of water. Then, trying toremember all of the goldfish’sinstructions, she cracked off a small bitof stone and rubbed it up and down theneedle 99 times before tossing it back tothe ground. Then she filled her rice bowlhalfway with water and let the bamboofloat in it. After that, she picked up theneedle and looked at the white rabbit onher bowl.

“Okay,” she said to the jumpingrabbit, “lead the way.” And she placedthe needle onto the bamboo. Like magic,the needle spun around. Minli smiled.

“Thank you,” Minli said again tothe painted rabbit. “Now, I’ll followwhere you want me to go!”

Minli packed up her things and,carefully holding the bowl in her hand,walked in the direction of the needle,past Fruitless Mountain. “Goodbye, JadeDragon,” Minli said as she left. “When Icome back I will know how to make youhappy again!”

Minli walked and walked and thestony land slowly turned into forest.Even when the moon was high in the sky,she continued. “I want to make sure I

walk far enough that if Ma and Ba beginto look for me, they can’t find me,”Minli said to herself. The fallen leavesmade a soft carpet for her feet and thenight birds flew into the sky as shepassed. Only when the sky lightened togray and the sun began to peek over thehorizon did Minli sit down and restagainst a tall tree. She had traveled deepinto the forest, far from her village andher home. She was so tired that shequickly fell asleep.

CHAPTER 7

The sun had set and the moon was justbeginning to rise in the sky when Ma andBa returned home from the fields. Eventhough they could smell the steam fromthe rice cooking, they noticed the housewas strangely dark and quiet.

“Why is Minli sitting in thedarkness?” Ma wondered as theyapproached the house.

“Perhaps she is sad about giving upher goldfish,” Ba said as he shook hishead.

“Can our fortune be any poorer?”

Ma sighed. “We cannot even feed agoldfish for our daughter.”

But as Minli’s parents entered thehouse and read her note, Ma made anoise like a shrieking cat.

“I spoke too soon,” Ma cried. “Ourfortune is now the worst, for our onlydaughter is gone!”

“Quiet, quiet, Wife,” Ba hushedher. “If we move quickly, we can findher and bring her back home.”

Ba hurriedly took out his cloth sackand gathered blankets and filled anempty bottle with water. “She has hadalmost half a day to travel ahead,” hesaid. “It might take us some time to findher.” Ma watched him and then began topack the cooked rice into a traveling

box. But she continued to weep. “It is allthe stories you told her,” Ma sobbed.“She believed them and now is lookingfor fairy tales.”

Her words cut into Ba like slices ofa knife but, even though his face waspained, he said nothing and continued topack. His hands trembled as he tied thebag closed, but they were gentle when heput them on Ma’s shoulder. “Let us go,”he said.

As they left the house, many of theirneighbors poked their heads out theirdoors. They had heard Ma’s screamthrough the thin walls of their closelyspaced houses and wanted to know whathad happened. When Ma and Ba toldthem, it seemed as if the whole village

poured out from their homes.“Never-Ending Mountain? The Old

Man of the Moon? Changing yourfortune?” The neighbors said, “Youbetter go find her or else she will neverreturn. Foolish Minli! She is trying to dothe impossible!”

Each villager pointed and noddedtoward the direction they had seen Minlilast. Some had seen her heading home,others toward the rice fields. But finally,a small boy was heard. “Minli lefttoward Fruitless Mountain,” he said. “Isaw her with her pack. She went thatway.”

So with the villagers waving themgoodbye, Ma and Ba walked towardFruitless Mountain, their dark shadows

trailing behind them in the moonlight.But when they reached the mountain,they looked at each other uncertainly.

“Where did she go from here?” Bawondered and he lit the lantern in hishand. The soft light seemed to warm theair and soften the growing darkness.

“Here!” Ma cried out, pointing tothe ground. “There are footprints goingtoward the woods. Maybe they areMinli’s!”

Ba looked at the footprints. Therewas another mark accompanying them, along pulling line. Ba pointed at them,“But what is that?” he wondered.

“Maybe Minli was dragging awalking stick,” Ma said. “The footprintscould be hers.”

Ba looked again at the footprints.They seemed small and nimble.“Perhaps they are,” Ba said. “Let’sfollow them.”

And so they did.

CHAPTER 8

Minli woke up when the sun was high inthe sky and burning with light. Even inthe shade of the forest, Minli’s blackhead burned hot. As she woke up, shelooked at her jug of water. Since she hadused some of it for her compass and haddrunk some during her night walk, it wasonly half full. She sipped it and tried notto think about Ma and Ba finding hernote. “I hope they understand,” Minlisaid to herself, shifting the weight of thewater jug on her shouldersuncomfortably.

Minli walked west again. A couplemoments later, she sipped her jug again.She tried to drink sparingly, but eventhrough the leaves of the trees, theyellow sun glared down at her. Soon,her empty jug was bouncing against herarm when she heard a faint noise runningthough the trees.

“That’s water trickling!” she saidto herself as she turned toward thesound. “There’s water heresomewhere.” Soon she noticed a smallstream, running with clear sparklingwater. She eagerly bent down to drinkand fill her jug, but as soon as Minlitasted the water she spit it out!

“Salt water!” Minli exclaimed.“This water is salty!”

As she sat back, Minli began towonder, “How is this stream salty? I amfar from the ocean. This is very strange.”And unable to contain her curiosity,Minli forgot about her thirst and began tofollow it.

The stream widened and deepened,becoming more of a river than a stream.Just as Minli began to think that sheshould return to her journey, she beganto hear deep moans that gently shook theearth.

“Who’s there?” Minli shouted.“Help!” a muffled voice

whimpered. “Can you help me?”“I’m coming!” Minli called. She

quickly put down her compass on theside of the water, and waded in. The

water was warm, like bathwater, andclear as glass. Minli could see her feetand all the stones and leaves at thebottom of the stream. As she movedtoward the voice the water rose higherand higher, to her knees and then almostto her neck.

“Are you still there?” the voiceasked plaintively. “Please help me!”

“I’m coming!” Minli called again.She took a deep breath and dove towardthe voice. The salt water stung her eyesso she closed them tightly until she brokethrough the surface. When she finallyopened her eyes, Minli almost sank backunder water with shock. Because therein front of her was… a DRAGON!

CHAPTER 9

Underneath the moon shadows of thetrees, Ma stumbled with weariness. Badid not know how long they had beenwalking. With every step he peered atthe ground, the light flickering as thelantern swayed in his hand. The forestwas full of shapes and shadows and onlybarely could he see the faint footprintson the ground — it was like searchingfor a wrinkle in a flower petal. As Matripped, he steadied her with his arm.

“We should rest,” Ba said.Ma shook her head and pulled

away angrily. “We must keep going. Wehave to find Minli.”

“But you are tired,” Ba said, “and Iam too. We can rest and afterward wewill be able to continue faster.”

“I am not tired,” Ma said fiercely.Her irritation seemed to give her energy.“If you are tired, you can rest. But I willcontinue to look for our daughter.”

“We should stay together,” Ba saidquietly.

“If you wish to stay with me,” Masaid, “then you will have to keep going.”

Ba sighed and took out anothercandle for the lantern. The light from thelamp kept away the forest animals but itcould do nothing for Ma’s fury. Herresentment seemed to darken with the

fading moon.But as they walked, the morning

bloomed in the distance, its light slowlyfiltered over Ma and Ba through the veilof tree branches so he could finally blowout the candle in his lantern. He lookedat Ma and could see that her bitternesswas only sharper in the softening sky.

“If Minli stopped to rest,” Ba said,“we may catch up with her soon.”

“When we find her,” Ma said, “shemust know that she is never to do thisagain. Never!”

“Now, Wife,” Ba said, “Minli didnot leave to cause us harm.”

“No,” Ma said, her words crackingthe air around her, “she left to find afairy tale. Never-Ending Mountain and

the Old Man of the Moon! Of all thefoolish things.”

“Stories are not foolish,” Ba saidagain, in his quiet way.

“Says you!” Ma said. “Because youare the one who filled her with them.Making her believe she could change ourmiserable fortune with an impossiblestory! Ridiculous!”

“Yes,” Ba said sadly, “it isimpossible. But it is not ridiculous.”

Ma opened her mouth again, butstopped. For up ahead there was a noiseof breaking branches. It was the sound ofsomeone pushing their way through theforest. Ma and Ba looked at each other.“Minli!” Ma said.

Forgetting their fatigue and

frustration, Ma and Ba began to runthrough the woods. Ma ignored thebranches that scratched her and Ba lethis hat fall to the ground as they rushedtoward the unseen person. “Minli!” theycalled, “Minli!”

But as they burst upon the figureahead, they stopped in shock. It was notMinli. Instead, Ma and Ba staredopenmouthed at the goldfish man.

CHAPTER 10

Minli gaped at the dragon in front of her.It was brilliant red, the color of a luckylantern, with emerald-green whiskers,horns, and a dull stone-colored ball likethe moon on his head. At least whatMinli could see of him looked like that.Because he was also half-covered byropes of twine that had been tied tightlyaround him so he couldn’t move and bythe silvery lake of water his tears hadformed all around him.

Minli had always thought it wouldbe thrilling but scary to meet a dragon.

Her father’s stories always made themsound so wise and powerful and grand.But here was a dragon before her, tiedup and crying! Minli didn’t feel awed byit at all. In fact, she felt rather sorry forit.

“Can you help me?” the dragonsniffled. “I am trapped.”

Minli shook herself and startedswimming toward the dragon. “Whathappened to you?” she asked.

“The monkeys tied me up while Iwas sleeping,” the dragon said, “I havebeen here for days.”

Minli swam over to the dragon andclimbed onto his back to get out of thewater. There, she opened her pack, tookout the small, sharp knife she had

brought with her, and started cutting thetwine.

“Why did the monkeys tie you up?”Minli asked.

“Because I want to go farther intothe forest to the peach grove,” the dragonsaid, “and the monkeys will not letanyone through. I have been trying tomake them let me pass peacefully fordays, but they are so unreasonable.Finally I told them if they did not let methrough, I would just force my way. Theyknow I am big and strong enough to gothrough without their permission sowhen I went to sleep, they tied me up.”

“Why won’t the monkeys let anyonepass?” Minli asked.

“Because they are greedy things,”

the dragon said. “They have justdiscovered the peach trees that make upthe next part of the forest. The monkeysdo not want to let anyone throughbecause they do not want to share thepeaches. Even when I promised not totouch any of the fruit, they would not letme through. They do not even want toshare the sight of those peaches.”

“Why do you have to go through theforest?” Minli asked. “Can’t you just flyover?”

More tears, the size of lychee nuts,rolled down the dragon’s face.

“I cannot fly,” he sobbed. “I do notknow why. All other dragons can fly.But I cannot. I wish I knew why.”

“Don’t cry,” Minli said, patting the

dragon, feeling more sorry for it thanever. “I’m going to Never-EndingMountain to see the Old Man of theMoon and ask him how to change myfamily’s fortune. You can come too andask him how to fly.”

“You know where Never-EndingMountain is?” the dragon asked. “Ithought to see the Old Man of the Moonwas impossible. You must be very wiseto know how to find him.”

“Not really,” Minli said, “I got thedirections from a goldfish.”

CHAPTER 11

It took a long time for Minli to cut all thetwine root rope that bound the dragon.For some knots she had to swim underwater and cut through the wavinggrasses. As she popped in and out of thewater, cutting, she told the dragon allabout her village, the goldfish, and howshe had just started her journey.

“I’m Minli,” she said to the dragon,“What’s your name?”

“Name?” the dragon asked slowly.“I do not think I have a name.”

“Everyone has a name,” Minli said.

“When you were born, didn’t someonegive you a name?”

“When I was born?” the dragonasked, thinking hard. “Yes,” Minli said,again thinking that this dragon was verydifferent from any dragon she had everheard about. “What did they call youwhen you were born?”

THE STORY OF

THE DRAGON

When I was born, I remembertwo voices speaking.

“Master!” one voice said. “This ismagnificent — the dragon is almostalive!”

“Add more water to the inkstone,”another voice said. This voice was nearmy head, I felt the warm air of hisbreath. “And speak quietly. You willwake the dragon.”

“I am sorry, Master,” the first voicesaid in a more subdued tone. “It is onlythat this painting is most amazing, evenfor such a skilled artist as you. Thisdragon painting will bring great honor tothe village when we present it to themagistrate.”

“Wasted on the magistrate,” themaster said under his breath, so softlythat only I could hear. “A conceited,

self-important man, who, when only theimperial family is allowed to use theimage of a dragon, commissions one.Now that his son has married the king’sdaughter, Magistrate Tiger will doanything to flaunt his power andoverstretch his authority. But thispainting will buy his favor and free thevillage from his unfair taxes.”

“What, Master?” the apprenticesaid.

“Nothing,” the master said, “onlythat I have painted this dragon on theground, not flying in the sky like all otherdragons. Perhaps the magistrate will seehow his wealth weighs him down.”

“I doubt the magistrate willunderstand that meaning, Master,” the

apprentice said.“True,” the master said, “but the

dragon should still please him. I willprepare for his visit. The painting isfinished. Clean the brushes and takegreat care with my special inkstone. It isone of a kind, the only ink-stone that wasable to be made from a rock my mastercut from a mountain far from here. Henever told anyone which mountain, sowe can never make another.”

“Yes, Master,” the apprentice said.“But the dragon…”

“Yes?” the master said.“Is it finished?” the apprentice

asked. “You have not painted the eyes.”“As a painting, it is finished,” the

master said. “Young apprentice, I still

have much to teach you.”And I heard the voices and

footsteps fade away. It was a strangefeeling. I felt the warm light of the sunrunning over my skin, but my arms andlegs were frozen. I could hear the windrustling leaves in the trees and birdshopping on the ground but I saw nothing.

Time passed; I only knew becausethe air grew colder. I heard footstepscoming toward me, many of them, so Iknew it was a whole procession ofpeople.

“As you requested, YourMagnificence,” a voice said — Irecognized it as the master’s, “may Ipresent this, which I humbly painted intribute to the great magistrate’s rule.”

There was a silence as all gazed, Isupposed, at me.

“Painter Chen,” another voice said,in great awe, “this is indeed a greatwork.”

“Thank you, Magistrate,” the mastersaid, “I am glad it pleases you. Then ouragreement will be fulfilled?”

“Yes,” said the voice, “the villagewill be free from taxation for the nextyear. And I will take the painting.”

Even though I did not know exactlywhat was going on, I knew I did notwant to belong to Magistrate Tiger. Hisvoice had an undertone of cruelty andgreed, even while he was expressing hispleasure. I tried to protest but my stilllips uttered no sound. Then I was rolled

up and all sound and feelingdisappeared.

I do not know how long I wasrolled up. It might have been a day or amonth or a year. All I could do waswait. But finally I was unrolled and I felta cold gust of air all over me. If I couldhave, I would have shivered.

“This painting is a masterpiece!” avoice said in surprise. Then it quicklyturned oily and flattering. “As onlyfitting for your greatness.”

“Yes,” Magistrate Tiger said,“have it hung behind my chair.”

“Yes, Magistrate,” the voice said,and then hesitated and said, “Howstrange.”

“What’s strange?” the magistrate

asked.“Well,” the voice said, “there are

no eyes on this dragon. The painter musthave forgotten.”

“No eyes!” the magistrate boomed.“Painter Chen dared give me anunfinished painting! I will double tax hisvillage for the next ten years!”

“Magistrate,” a third voice said,one that seemed a little kinder, “it isonly a minor flaw. If we just dotted inthe eyes, the dragon would be finished.”

“Hmm, yes,” the magistrate said,obviously considering. “Bring me apaintbrush and ink.”

I heard the servants shuffling andbringing the paintbrush and ink. I felt themagistrate’s hot, dry breath on my nose

as he came close to me and felt the coldink touch my eye and, suddenly, I couldsee! I saw the magistrate’s fat faceleering over me as he reached over anddotted in my other eye.

As sight came into both my eyes, awarm feeling filled me — like drinkinghot tea on a cold day. I felt strength comeinto my arms and hands and legs and feetand my neck and head stretched for thefirst time. All the loud yells I hadwanted to make now came rushing out ofmy mouth and I gave a huge roar thatmade the magistrate fall over.

“It has come alive!” I heard himgasp and I heard the servants screaming,“Dragon! It has come alive! Dragon!”

I knew this was my chance to freemyself from Magistrate Tiger. I jumpedfrom where I was and rushed overeveryone, knocking down desks andchairs and columns. I saw the blue skyand green leaves through a window,

went toward it, and simply crashedthrough the wall to get through. As I left,the building was falling down and all thepeople were yelling. “Dragon!” theyscreamed. “Dragon!”

I knew I had to leave as soon aspossible, so I ran as fast as I could intothe forest and left them far, far away. Ihave lived in the forest since then.

“So I think,” the dragon said, “myname is Dragon. Because that is whateveryone called me.”

“Dragon,” Minli repeated, and shetried not to smile. “Well, I guess it’s agood enough name. It will be easy for

me to remember.”The dragon nodded, pleased to

have found himself a name.“So you were born from a

painting!” Minli said, “That explainswhy you are so different from thedragons my father told me about.”

“Your father knew other dragons?”the dragon asked eagerly. “I have neverseen another dragon. I always thought if Icould fly, I would finally see anotherlike me.”

“Um, well,” Minli said, “I don’tthink my father ever knew any dragons.He just told stories about them. Mostpeople think dragons are just in stories.You are the only dragon I’ve ever met.”

“Oh,” the dragon said sadly, “and I

am not even a real dragon.”All this time, Minli had been

cutting the twine ropes. At that verymoment, Minli cut the last rope andrubbed the dragon’s arm. “You’re theonly dragon I’ve ever met in real life,”she said, “and you feel real to me. So, Ithink you’re a real dragon. Or, at least,real enough. Anyway, if we’re going toNever-Ending Mountain together, let’s atleast be real friends.”

“Yes,” Dragon agreed, and theyboth smiled.

CHAPTER 12

The goldfish man turned around andsmiled questioningly at Ma and Ba, whocould do nothing but continue to stare.He was slender and small, which wasperhaps why it was easy to mistake hisfootprints for Minli’s. The dragginglines Ma had thought were from Minli’swalking sticks led to his cart, and thebowls of goldfish caught the siftingbeams from the sun, slivering it intoflashing sparkles of light. The goldfishman’s eyes also flashed, as he looked atMa and Ba and their dust-covered

clothes and haggard, tired faces.“Can I help you?” he asked them.“We were looking for our

daughter,” Ba stammered. “We are fromthe Village of Fruitless Mountain.”

“You sold her a goldfish, and then,”Ma sputtered, “and then she ran away tochange our fortune.”

“I see,” the goldfish man said, andagain, he looked at them — at Ma’stight, angry frown and Ba’s careworn,worried face. “And you are going afterher, to stop her?”

“Of course,” Ba said. “We need tobring her home.”

“Yes,” Ma said. “She is actingcrazy. Who knows what could happen toher?”

“She could succeed,” the goldfishman said steadily. “She could find a wayto change your fortune.”

“She’s trying to find Never-EndingMountain!” Ma said. “Ask questions tothe Old Man of the Moon! There is noway for her to succeed.”

“Yes,” Ba said, “it’s impossible.”The goldfish man looked a third

time at Ma and Ba, and this time they feltit. Under his gaze, Ma and Ba suddenlyfelt like freshly peeled oranges, and theirwords fell away from them.Inexplicably, they felt ashamed.

“Let me tell you a story,” thegoldfish man said.

THE STORY OF THE

GOLDFISH MAN

My grandmother, Lao Lao, was afamous fortune teller. People from faraway villages would line up at ourhome, asking for lucky dates forweddings and predictions for theirchildren. If she was ever wrong, wenever heard of it.

But a week before my nineteenthbirthday, we heard her moaning in herroom. When we rushed to her, we foundher sitting on the floor with her fortune-telling sticks spread around her. To mysurprise, as soon as I entered the room,

her piercing eyes fixed upon me.“You,” she said, “you will die next

week on your birthday.”It was as if she had exploded a

firecracker in the room. My parents andaunts and cousins burst intoexclamations and wails. “It is true, it istrue,” my grandmother insisted, “I havechecked and rechecked over and overagain. And the sticks always say thesame. Next week, on his nineteenthbirthday, he will die. That is hisfortune.”

I could not believe it. How couldthis be? But my belief in my grandmotherwas unshakable; if she said so it must betrue. I stood staring as my family createda storm around me. Finally I said with a

mouth as dry as sand, “Lao Lao, isn’tthere anything I can do?”

“There is only one thing you cando,” she said, “but it is doubtful it willwork.”

“I’ll do it,” I said.“First,” Lao Lao said, “we must get

a bottle of the finest wine and make abox of sweets.”

So Lao Lao went to the richmagistrate of the town and persuadedhim to give her a bottle of his best wine.My mother and aunts hurried to thekitchen and prepared cakes, cookies, andsweetmeats with more care than everbefore. Before the aromas of thedelicacies were captured in our mostornate box, they floated in the air,

causing all the neighborhood animals towhine at our door.

And then Lao Lao went to her roomand began to read her fortune sticks.When she came out, she gave me the boxof sweets and bottle of wine and sat medown.

“Listen to me carefully,” she said,“you must do exactly as I say. Tomorrowmorning, you must walk north of thevillage. Do not stop until the moonbegins to appear in the sky. When itdoes, you will see a mountain beforeyou, and at the foot of the mountain youwill see an old man reading a book.Open the box of sweets and bottle ofwine and set them by him, but do not saya word unless he speaks to you first.

This is the only chance we have tochange your fortune.”

So the next morning, I followed herinstructions and it was as she said. Iwalked all day and when the sun finallywithdrew from the sky, there was a vastmountain in front of me whose tipseemed to touch the moon. Sitting cross-legged at the bottom was an old man,reading a giant book. The light from themoon seemed to make him glow silver. Iopened the bottle of wine and box ofsweets and quietly laid them next to him.Then I sat and waited.

The old man didn’t notice me andcontinued to read. My mouth watered asthe smell of the sweets drifted in the air,but I didn’t move. But even though the

old man was engrossed in his book, hemust have smelled them as well because,without lifting his eyes from the page, hebegan to eat.

It was only when the bottle of winewas empty and he was eating the lastcake that the old man lifted his head. Heseemed surprised to see a half-eatencake in his hand.

“I’ve been eating someone’s food,”he said to himself. He looked up andsaw me sitting nearby. “You, boy, wasthis your food?”

“Yes,” I said and I came closer ashe beckoned.

“Well,” he said to me, “what areyou doing here?”

I told the old man my story while he

rubbed his beard. When I finished, hesaid nothing but began to turn pages inhis book. Finally, he nodded.

“Yes, it’s true,” the old man said.“You are only to live nineteen years.”

And he turned the book toward meand in the moonlight, I read my name onthe page. Next to my name was thenumber nineteen.

“Please,” I couldn’t help asking,“isn’t there any way to change it?”

“Change it?” the old man asked,surprised at the thought. “Change theBook of Fortune?”

“Yes,” I nodded.“Well,” the old man said, stroking

his beard, “I am indebted to you foreating your food.”

He took a paintbrush from his robeand studied the page. “Hmm,” he said tohimself, “maybe if… no… perhaps…Ah! Yes, this is how it can be done!”

And with a simple flick from hisbrush, he changed the nineteen to ninety-nine. “Good,” he said to me. “You nowhave many more years of life. Live themwell.”

Then, he closed his book, stood up,and began to walk up the mountain,leaving me staring behind him. I sat thereuntil he disappeared from sight and thenturned around and went home.

The next week, on my birthday,there was a terrible typhoon. The windhowled as it never had before and a treefell right on top of the roof of our house

and crashed into my room, narrowlymissing me. If it had fallen just a bitmore to one side, I would have beeneasily killed. But as I climbed out ofruins of my room, I saw mygrandmother’s eyes staring into mine.Silently, she nodded. She did not needwords to tell me what had happened. Iknew my fortune had been changed.

“But for Minli to try to do that isdifferent,” Ba started. “She’s trying tofind Never-Ending Mountain… ask aquestion… she’s just a small girl…”

“Perhaps,” the goldfish man said,“you need to trust her.”

“But,” Ma said, “but what shewants is impossible.”

“Impossible?” The goldfish mansaid, “Don’t you see? Even fates writtenin the Book of Fortune can be changed.How can anything be impossible?”

Ma and Ba could find no words.His eyes and the hundreds of eyes of thegoldfish behind him seemed to silentlyscold them. As they looked at theground, the goldfish man shifted back hisbag and turned toward his cart.

“Here, a gift,” the goldfish mansaid, placing a bowl into Ba’s shakinghands. The fish, the pale silver color ofthe moon, circled in the bowl. “Perhapsif you cannot trust that your daughter willfind Never-Ending Mountain, you should

trust that she will return home to you.Because that is not impossible. So,whether Minli brings it to you or not, Iwish you good fortune.”

And with a bow, the goldfish manwalked away; his bowls of goldfish castpieces of rainbows in the air, makinghim sparkle in the sun. Ma and Ba stoodand watched him until he looked like atwinkling star in the distance.

CHAPTER 13

After cutting the dragon free, Minli’sknife was dull and the skin on her fingersand toes was wrinkled from being in thedragon’s lake of tears for so long. Shewas also very thirsty.

The dragon offered to carry her tothe freshwater stream. He knew theforest well. “You’ll get there muchfaster,” he said.

Minli was a little doubtful aboutriding the dragon. It was one thing toclimb on top of him while he was halfcovered by water, but now on dry land

she realized how large he really was.The dragon was long, as long as thestreet in front of Minli’s house. If hestretched himself up on his arms andlegs, he was as tall as a bird’s nest in atree, she realized. Even now, bendingdown for her, he was higher than herhouse.

But he bent his elbow for her like astep and with two hands, she boostedherself up and then climbed onto hisback. The round ball on the dragon’shead was the size of a small melon, justbig enough for her to wrap two handsaround, and she clutched it as the dragonbegan to move.

It was faster, but not much. Thedragon was nimble, but his large body

had to constantly maneuver around treesand rocks, so it was awkward going.The constant jerking made Minli feellike she was riding a huge water buffalo.As the dragon ducked underneathbranches and swerved through trees,Minli understood why most dragonsflew.

“Dragon,” Minli asked suddenly,“how old are you?”

“Old?” the dragon said, and again itseemed a question he had never beenasked. “I do not know.”

“Well,” Minli said, “how long haveyou been in this forest?”

The dragon thought hard. “A longtime,” he told her. “I remember when abird flew from the sky and dropped a

peach pit onto the ground. I watched thatpit grow into a tree and the peaches fellfrom the tree and more trees grew fromthe pits of those peaches until it becamethe grove of peach trees that the monkeyshave now taken over.”

He is very old, Minli thought toherself, imagining the growth of thetrees. Dragon must have been in thisforest for a hundred years. And she felta pang of pity as she imagined thedragon, alone, unable to fly, endlesslystruggling between trees and branches.

After picking up her things anddrinking at the freshwater stream, Minliclimbed back onto the dragon’s back.She soon fell asleep, her head on thedragon’s ball and her hand holding her

rice bowl. Noticing she was asleep, thedragon moved slowly and quietly, evenwhen the water from Minli’s compasssplashed and trickled down his nose.

It was only when a loud shriekingfilled the forest that Minli woke. It wassuch a wild and harsh noise that shebolted up, her eyes wide open in fear.

“Do not worry,” the dragon toldher, “it is just the monkeys.”

And it was the monkeys — eventhough the sun was dimming, Minli couldstill see the monkeys clamoring in thetrees. Even though Minli could not countthat many of them, their screaming madeit sound as if there were thousands.

“We are getting close to the peachtrees,” the dragon told Minli, “and they

are getting angry.”“Stop here,” Minli said. She

climbed off the dragon’s back and shecould still see the monkeys throughleaves and branches, their bared teethflashing.

“Those peach trees are exactly thedirection we want to go,” Minli said.“We have to get past the monkeys.”

“I could still force my way through,but the monkeys would attack you,”Dragon said. “I am not sure if we couldget you through unharmed. Listen tothem.”

And the monkeys continued toscream. Minli covered her ears with herhands, but she could still hear them. Itseemed like they were screeching, “Get

away from here!! Ours! Ours! All ours!”“You’re right,” Minli told the

dragon. “They are not going to let usthrough.”

“But you said that is the way to theOld Man of the Moon, though,” said thedragon. “Correct?”

Minli nodded. The monkeys’shrieks were starting to sound likehysterical laughter, getting louder andlouder like a volcano about to erupt. Shelooked from side to side but the monkeysseemed to be everywhere. There was noway around them.

“Then,” the dragon asked, “whatare we going to do?”

CHAPTER 14

Minli and the dragon had sat in theclearing and made camp for the night. Asthe sun fell and the moon rose, thedragon showed her how he could makesparks by scratching his claws against astone and they built a small campfire. AsMinli and the dragon made no moves togo farther into the forest, the monkeyshad quieted down. But they stillwatched.

“There are plenty of peaches forall,” Dragon said. “Those monkeys donot have to be so greedy.”

“Really?” Minli asked.“Yes,” Dragon said, “the monkeys

are so foolish. They just want more andmore even when they do not need it. Ihave seen them refuse to let go of rottenmushrooms and fight over piles of mud.”

At those words, Minli sat up andher eyes flashed with quick thinking.Piles of mud. Suddenly, Minliremembered the two children fightingover their piles of mud as she had lefther village. Instead of going inside fordinner, the children had clung to theirpretend dishes of dirt. They were sofoolish. Could the monkeys be thatfoolish? They were too selfish fortrading or bribes. But maybe they wereso greedy that they could be foolish

enough to be tricked? Maybe if she…“I’m going to make rice,” Minli saidabruptly.

“Oh,” the dragon said, “you must behungry. Too bad we cannot get you somepeaches.”

“It’s not for me,” Minli said, andshe smiled mysteriously. “It’s for themonkeys.”

“The monkeys?” the dragon said.“Why? If you mean it as a gift or as away to bribe them, it will not work.They will take it and eat it, but they stillwill not let you through.”

“That is what I am expecting,”Minli said, as she filled her pot withwater and uncooked rice. She wasbursting to tell Dragon her idea, but

wasn’t sure how much the monkeysunderstood of their words. She looked athim with sparkling eyes, but he onlystared back blankly.

“You are?” the dragon said. “I donot understand.”

“Don’t worry,” Minli said, andwith her eagerness she felt like the watershe was boiling. “I think I know how wecan pass the monkeys.”

The dragon watched as Minlistirred the big pot of rice. Through therising steam, he could see the beady eyesof all the monkeys glittering through thebranches like hundreds of diamonds asthey watched as well. “The monkeys arewatching,” he whispered to Minli.

“Good,” she whispered back, “I

hope they are.”When the rice was done, the pot

was overflowing with snowy white rice.It was so heavy that to take it off the fireto cool she had to ask the dragon tomove it for her. Minli had the dragonplace it very close to the trees where themonkeys were watching. Then, Minlitied her fishnet over the rice and pot.

As Minli and the dragon turnedaway, they could hear the monkeyschattering.

“That fishnet will not stop themonkeys from taking the rice,” thedragon said, “It is tightly woven, buttheir hands will probably fit through.”

“I know,” Minli said as she put outthe fire. “Let’s pretend that we think the

rice is safe and we are letting it cool.”Though puzzled, the dragon nodded.

They placed themselves a far distancefrom the rice, yet still within sight, putout the fire, and pretended to go to sleep.

But Minli could not help peeking.Though she tried to lie still, she wasfilled with excitement. Would her planwork? Would the monkeys take the rice?

In the bright light of the moon, themonkeys glanced slyly at them and stoleover to the rice. The dragon was right;just as he said, the fishnet could not keepthe monkeys from the rice. Their slenderhands slid through the holes of thefishnet and each grabbed two big fistfulsof rice. But as the monkeys tried to carrythe rice away, the net caught them. The

holes in the net were large enough fortheir empty hands to fit through, but notlarge enough for their full fists!

The monkeys screamed and pulled;and Minli and the dragon no longerpretended to be asleep. They couldn’thelp laughing as they watched themonkeys struggle, each monkey trying topunch the air and each other with theirtrapped fists.

Minli quickly packed her things andthe monkeys screeched and shrieked asthey passed. The heavy pot of rice shookas the monkeys fought violently to getfree. But the fishnet was strong and wellwoven, and since the monkeys were toogreedy to let go of the rice, Minli and thedragon entered the peach grove and

continued through the forest.

CHAPTER 15

Ma and Ba sat in front of a small firethat Ba had built. Their disappointmentat not finding Minli forced them to admittheir exhaustion, and they had sleptunder the canopy of tree branches duringthe day, leaving their silver goldfish as aguardian.

By the time they awoke, it was lateafternoon, but neither of them made anyattempt to move. Neither spoke, but bothknew they were unsure whether to goforward or go back.

While the sun burst into

multicolored flames on the horizon, itslast wave goodbye before surrenderingto the night, Ma handed Ba a bowl ofrice porridge. Neither of them spoke asthey ate, both thinking about the goldfishman’s words. Should they let Minli tryto change their fortune? Should they stoplooking and, like the goldfish man said,trust her? Ba sighed.

“Trying to find Minli is like tryingto find the paper of happiness,” Ba saidaloud to himself.

“What paper of happiness?” avoice said. Ba looked sharply around.Who had said that? He looked at Ma, butshe continued to stir her porridge,obviously unaware. Ba shook his head.Perhaps his weariness was making him

imagine things.“Tell the story, old man. She’s

listening,” the voice spoke again. “Shewon’t admit it, but she wants to hear ittoo.”

Ba looked around again. It seemedlike the voice was coming from… thegoldfish? He looked closely at the bowl.Was it the firelight that made it glow likethat? The fish stared back at him calmly,as if waiting. So Ba took a deep breathand began the story.

THE STORY OF THE

PAPER OF

HAPPINESS

Once, a long, long time ago, afamily grew famous for their happiness.It seemed odd that this would happen,but they were truly an unusualhousehold. Even though aunts anduncles, cousins and grandchildren livedtogether, there was never a cross wordor unhappy noise. All were polite andthoughtful to each other; even thechickens did not fight each other forfeed. It was said even the babies wereborn smiling.

Stories of their happiness spreadlike seeds in the wind, sprouting and

blooming everywhere, until finally evenyoung Magistrate Tiger heard of them.Even though he had just begun hisposition (this was before his son wasborn), the bellowing, roaring magistratewas already called Magistrate Tiger.“Impossible,” he scoffed. “The storiesare exaggerated. No family can be thathappy.” But even so, he was curious andsent an emissary to the family toobserve.

The emissary returned, awed.“Your Magnificence, it is just as thestories say,” he said. “I observed thefamily for a full moon and not one sad orangry word was even whispered. Theadults are loving and faithful, thechildren are gracious and respectful, and

all honor the grandfather with an esteemthat rivals the gods. Even the dogs do notbark, but wait patiently to be fed. Thefamily circle is one of completeharmony.”

“That’s impossible,” the magistratesaid, astonished. But as he thought aboutit, the more he began to wonder. Whatwas the secret that the family had? Theymust have some magical charm orhidden knowledge. And this began toirritate him. He began to covet thefamily’s happiness. “I am themagistrate,” he thought. “If there is asecret to happiness, I should have it.”

So he called his emissary to himand presented him with an empty,heavily encrusted chest and a company

of soldiers.“Return to the family,” Magistrate

Tiger ordered, “and tell them that I wantthe secret of their happiness put in thisbox. If they do not do so, have thesoldiers destroy their home.”

The emissary did as he was told.When the troop of soldiers surroundedthe house, the family looked fearful. Butwhen the magistrate’s demand wasannounced, the grandfather smiled.

“That is easy enough,” he said andhe had the trunk brought into the houseand returned in moments. “It is done.I’ve put the secret of our happinessinside the box,” he said, “and you maytake it. We hope it serves our magistratewell.”

The emissary was slightlysurprised at the ease of his task, butcould find no objection, so turned thesoldiers and the box around and began totravel back to the palace.

The emissary knew the magistratewould be impatient for his return, so thesoldiers marched through the night, withonly the light of the moon to guide them.The treasure box, lying on a platformcarried by four men, seemed to glow.

However, as the ground grew rockyand steep, a sudden wind blew — likethe mountain itself was yawning. One ofthe soldiers stumbled in the rising dust,and the box crashed to the ground. Thelid of the box flew off and, like a freedbutterfly, a single sheet of paper

fluttered out.“Get it!” the emissary shouted at the

soldiers. “Don’t lose the secret!”But despite his yells, the paper

seemed to be able to escape thesoldiers’ flailing arms. One soldieralmost caught it, his very fingertipstouching the page, but another suddenwind burst through the air and stole itaway. Silently, the emissary and thesoldiers watched the paper lift higherand higher in the night sky, until itoverlapped the moon and disappeared.

The emissary had no choice but toreturn to the palace with an empty box.As he relayed the story, MagistrateTiger, not surprisingly, was enraged.

“You lost it! It was a paper?” the

magistrate roared. “What was on it?”“Your Magnificence,” the emissary

trembled, “as I felt the secret was foryour eyes only, I did not read the paperbefore it was lost. However, as it was inthe air, all could see that there was asingle line of words on it.”

“What did the line say?” themagistrate demanded.

“I don’t know, Magistrate,” theemissary said, “but there was onesoldier who almost caught it and wasclosest to it. Perhaps he was able to readthe line.”

So the soldier was called in, andvery humbly did he bow. He was littlemore than a boy and had only recentlyjoined the magistrate’s army from a

small, poor, faraway village.“You,” the magistrate said, “you

were the only soldier close enough to thepaper to read the line. What did it say?”

The boy flushed and his headtouched the floor as he bowed again.

“Great Magistrate, I am your poorservant,” he said. “I was close enough tosee the line on the page… however, Icannot read. I do not know what the linesaid.”

Magistrate Tiger scowled withirritation and the emissary and thesoldier shivered.

“I… I did notice something,” thesoldier said.

“What?” the magistrate demanded.“There was only one character on

the page,” the soldier said. “The linewas one word written over and overagain, many times.”

“One word?” the magistratesnarled, and his anger seemed to burndeep in his eyes. “One word is the secretto happiness? It was a trick! The familymust have thought they could deceiveme! Emissary, gather all of my troops. I,personally, will get the secret ofhappiness and punish that family oflowly dogs!”

So, the next day, with MagistrateTiger and his entire army prepared fordestruction, the emissary led the way tothe home of the happy family. But whenthey arrived, nothing was there! Nohouse, no chickens or sheep, no family!

Instead, there was only a flat plain, as ifthe whole home had been scooped fromthe earth.

Magistrate Tiger scowled at theblank ground with rage and vowed topunish the family for their disrespect.But while he glared, the wind blew andcovered him with a grayish green dust.As he stood like a green powderedstatue, he felt as if the sky were laughingat him.

“So, I think Minli, like the secret wordand the paper of happiness,” Ba said, “isnot meant to be found.” He glanced atMa and while she did not meet his gaze,

she made no objection either.“And, tomorrow,” Ba continued,

gently, “we should return and wait forher to come home.”

Again, Ma said nothing but barely,perhaps only because he was looking forit, she nodded. Ba nodded back at herand quietly took some rice and droppedit into the fishbowl.

CHAPTER 16

Feasting on juicy peaches, Minli and thedragon walked through the woods formany days. At night, when the dragonslept, Minli missed Ma and Ba. “But thisis for our fortune, so they don’t have towork so hard anymore,” Minli toldherself when she thought about the worrythey must be feeling. “When I get back,Ba can rest and Ma will never have tosigh again. They’ll see.” But the lonelymoon never seemed to gaze comfortablydown at her.

One day Minli and the dragon came

upon a body of water. In the distance,they saw the woods continue. As thecompass pointed across the water, thedragon swam the inlet with Minli ridinghis back.

“How far do we go before we getto Never-Ending Mountain?” the dragonasked.

“Well,” Minli said slowly, “thefish said to go west until I reached theCity of Bright Moonlight. Once there,I’m supposed to find the Guardian of theCity.”

“The Guardian?” Dragon said.“Who is that?”

“I’m not sure,” Minli said. “Theking of the city, I guess. Once I find him,I’m supposed to ask for the borrowed

line, which, according to the fish, issomething I’ll need for Never-EndingMountain.”

“The borrowed line?” the dragonasked. “What is that?”

“I don’t know,” Minli said. “Thefish didn’t tell me.”

“You did not ask?” The dragonalmost stopped swimming in surprise.

“I didn’t want to delay her,” Minlisaid. “She was in a rush.”

The dragon shook his head andopened his mouth to say something whenthey both heard a strange sound next tothem in the water.

“Aunt Jin! Aunt Jin!” a voice said.“Is it you? You came back like yousaid!”

Dragon and Minli looked in thewater and saw a large orange fish with ablack fin swimming next to them. Itlooked a lot like Minli’s goldfish butlarger.

“I think you have me mixed up withsomeone else,” Minli said to the fish.

“I was speaking to the dragon,” thefish said, “but you must not be Aunt Jineither.”

“Well,” the dragon looked down atthe fish with a wry smile, “either one ofus would be a very strange relative toyou, Fish. Why did you think I was youraunt?”

“Because Aunt Jin always said shewould come back to show us the DragonGate was real,” the fish said.

“What do you mean?” Minli asked.“Dragon Gate? What’s that?”

THE STORY OF THE

DRAGON GATE

Even though no fish has seen theDragon Gate, we all know about it.Perhaps the story was told to us throughthe waves of water while we were eggsor whispered to us by the roots of thelotus flowers.

We all know that somewhere in oneof the rivers of the land, there is a greatand powerful waterfall; it is so high andso vast that it is as if water was gushingfrom a cut in the heavens. At the top ofthat waterfall, beyond anyone’s view, isthe Dragon Gate.

The Dragon Gate is an entryway tothe sky. It is old, so old that it’s possiblethat the gray stone columns grew fromthe mountain it stands on. Wind and timehave worn and smoothed the gate’stiered placards that barely show the oldcarvings of the five colored clouds ofheaven.

Above the placards are the tiledarches the same color as the misty sky.Nine hundred and ninety-nine smalldragon ornaments perch on the ridges ofthose tiled roofs. Each one is intricatelyformed to the smallest detail and, evenweathered as they are, the black pearleyes still flash with a mysterious power.That is because these dragons are notmere decoration — they hold the secret

to the Dragon Gate.For if ever a fish is able to swim up

the waterfall and pass through the gatethe dragons will shake with power. Asthe fish goes through, its spirit enters thegate and bursts out of one of theornaments — changing the fish into theform of a flying dragon!

“So the Dragon Gate transforms fish intodragons, a wish many of us hold deep inour hearts,” the fish finished. “Noneknow who first told the story, or if it iseven a story at all. But Aunt Jin wasdetermined to find out. She said she wasgoing to search all the rivers of the land

for it and if she found it she’d come backhere as a dragon, to show us. That’s whyI thought you might be her.”

“Did your aunt look like you?”Minli asked, “Orange with a black fin?”

“Yes,” the fish said, “but muchsmaller, the size of a copper coin.”

“It doesn’t seem likely that a fishthat small could swim up a waterfall,”Dragon said. “Even if she does find theright river, she might not be able to getto the gate.”

“If there is a gate, Aunt Jin willfind a way through it,” the fish said.“She’s very wise. If you knew her, you’dunderstand.”

“Maybe I do know her,” Minli saidsoftly, thinking hard about the goldfish

she set free. Could it be that hergoldfish, who had swum all the riversexcept one, had been Jin searching forthe Dragon Gate?

“If you are not Aunt Jin,” the fishsaid to the dragon, interrupting Minli’sthoughts, “why are you swimming acrossthe river? Why don’t you just fly?”

“He can’t fly,” Minli answered forthe dragon, when she saw hisdiscomfort. “We are going to go see theOld Man of the Moon to ask him how tochange that. But we have to cross theriver to get to the City of BrightMoonlight first.”

“Old Man of the Moon?” the fishsaid. “Good luck! Finding him will beharder than finding the Dragon Gate!”

Minli and the dragon looked at eachother and shrugged.

“But the City of Bright Moonlight isjust past the forest, over there,” the fishcontinued. “Swim over to this side andyou can see it in the distance.”

And, just as the fish said, Minli andthe dragon saw the city. An enormouswall, like a giant patchwork curtain ofstone, surrounded the thousands ofhouses of the city. And almost glowingwith the splendor of its red columns andgolden top, a palace stood up over theclusters of buildings in the far center —like a glorious boat floating above thewaves of the scalloped rooftop tiles.Even from a distance, the city lookedmajestic.

“If you are stopping at the City ofBright Moonlight,” the fish continued, “Ithink Dragon here should probably try tostay hidden. People of Bright Moonlightmight be shocked to see a real dragon.The last dragon sighted was about ahundred years ago — and it destroyedthe king’s father’s palace in a city in theEast. They might not take too kindly toyou.”

“That is good to know,” Minli said.“It might be better if I go into the city bymyself.”

“Yes,” the dragon agreed, “I canhide at the edge of the forest and wait foryou.”

“They close the wall at night,” thefish said, “so if you are in the city at

night, you have to stay until morning.”“Do not worry,” Dragon said to

Minli, “I will wait.”“Well, you’re almost to land,” the

fish said, “so I’ll leave you. If you eversee another dragon, find out if it’s myaunt Jin. Hope you get to meet the OldMan of the Moon. Good luck!”

Minli and the dragon watched thefish swim away. Then they made theirway to the land and the City of BrightMoonlight.

CHAPTER 17

Minli gulped as she walked toward thegray stone wall of the city. As shepassed the two stone lions marking theentrance, she glanced behind her. Eventhough she only saw the trees andshadows, she knew the dragon washidden there. Quickly, she pushedthrough the doors of gate, leaving theforest and the dragon behind her.

As the gate closed, Minli stared.The streets were crowded and bustling;the city seemed to be bubbling withpeople like boiling rice. Vendors selling

fruit and shoes called out their wareswhile people rushed past — somepushing wheelbarrows or balancingbaskets on their shoulders. A largemuddy water buffalo, led by a boyperhaps a year or two older than Minli,wandered through and was ignored as acommonplace occurrence.

“Watch out, Little Mouse,” a gruffman said behind her, his baskets ofcabbages driving her into the crowd. Asshe was shoved and pushed, Minligrabbed the arm of the boy with thewater buffalo.

“Hi,” she said, “if I want to see theking, where do I go?”

“The king?” the boy looked at herin surprise. “You’d have to go to the

palace.”“How do I get to the palace?”

Minli asked.“Just follow the black stones,” the

boy said, pointing at the road paved withpolished bricks. “They’ll lead you to theCity.”

“Wait,” Minli said, “isn’t this theCity? The palace is in another city?”

“You must not be from aroundhere,” the boy laughed, “The City ofBright Moonlight is divided into two.This is the Outer City, where anyone canlive and travel. The Inner City is wherethe palace is, where the king andofficials live. You have to havepermission to go into the Inner City. Ifyou don’t, you’re not going to be able to

see the king or the palace. There arethousands of guards protecting the InnerCity; they won’t let anyone throughwithout permission.”

“I’ll find a way,” Minli said,confidently. “Thanks.” And she let go ofthe boy’s arm and headed toward theblack road.

However, as Minli got closer to theInner City, she realized the boy wasright. The red walls of the Inner Cityloomed tall and forbidding, and everygold-studded gate door was guarded byat least two soldiers, their silver armorreflecting in the hot sun. It would be adaunting task just to enter the Inner City,much less find the palace and the king.

“But I must,” Minli said to herself.

Regardless, the guards’ faces were sternand hard, and she quaked inside. If I askto go in, Minli thought as she hung backamongst the fruit stands and fishvendors, they’ll ignore me or force meaway with their swords. And eitherway, I won’t be able to see the king.What should I do?

“Not as easy as you thought, huh?”a voice said next to her. Minli turnedand saw the buffalo boy standing next toher.

Minli gave him a wry look. Boys,she thought to herself, always thinkingthey know everything. Still, she had toadmit, he was right. She had no ideahow she would see the king. “They mustlet people into the Inner City,

sometimes,” Minli said.“They do,” the boy said. “Once a

year at the Moon Festival, they open thegates to everyone.”

“When’s the Moon Festival?”Minli asked.

“Already happened,” the boy said.“You’ll have to wait until next year.”

Minli bit her lip in frustration.What was she going to do?

“I don’t know why you want to goin there so badly,” the boy said. “Thebuildings and clothes are nicer, but thepeople! A bunch of puffed-up frogs! Atthe Moon Festival one of the stable menwanted to order me around and thoughthe could trick me into thinking he wasthe king. But when I asked why he

wasn’t wearing a golden dragon, heknew his prank wasn’t going to work.Did he think I was stupid? Everyoneknows a golden dragon is always andonly worn by kings and the emperor. Thepeople in there think we’re a bunch ofdumb oxen.”

The buffalo beside the boy gave asnort at that. “Sorry,” the boy said,patting the buffalo on the nose, “youknow I didn’t mean that.”

But by this time, the Inner Cityguards had seen them lingering by thegate.

“You there, kids,” one of thembarked. “Move along!”

“Come on,” the boy said, tuggingMinli’s sleeve. “Let’s go.”

Minli followed him and the buffalo.“Where are you going?” she asked him.

“I’m going home,” he said. “Youcan come too, if you want.”

And since Minli had no place elseto go, she did.

CHAPTER 18

Minli followed the boy through the mazeof streets and alleyways for whatseemed like a long time. If it weren’t forthe big buffalo that was always in view,Minli would’ve easily lost him manytimes. “Not too far now,” the boy said toher.

Minli realized that the boy livedvery far from the Inner City. The roadwas no longer stone, but dirt. Even froma distance, she could see that the OuterCity wall was cracked and broken. “Ilive over here,” the boy said, pointing.

And Minli looked down a muddy paththat led to a shabby, rickety hut thatlooked as if the first strong wind wouldblow it away.

The boy brought the buffalo rightinto the hut, and Minli went in after. Shelooked around the small, meager home.The only furnishings Minli could seewere two wooden crates and a roughstool. On one side of the hut a crudemetal grate stood in the fireplace with awell-worn pot on it. The other half of thehut was divided into two piles of drygrass. Minli watched as the buffalo wentdirectly to one pile and lay down. Theboy gave it an affectionate slap on theside and dragged a rough wooden stoolacross the floor to her.

“Here, have a seat,” he said as hesprawled onto the other pile of grass,“and tell me why you want to go to thepalace so much.”

“It’s not the palace,” Minli said asshe sat on the stool, “I want to see theking.” And she told the buffalo boy thewhole story. She saw his face wrinklewith disbelief when she talked about thefish and he shook his head when she toldabout the dragon, but he didn’t interruptonce.

“I don’t know how you are going tosee the king,” the boy told her when shefinished. “Even if you do see him I doubtyou’ll be able to ask for a borrowedline, especially when you don’t evenknow what it is!”

“But I have to,” Minli said. “Theremust be a way.”

“Well, I always think better afterI’ve eaten,” the boy said, and he stoodup and opened one of the crates. “Let’shave dinner.”

While he fried the plain bambooshoots in the pot over the fireplace,Minli looked around the bare room.

“Do you live by yourself?” sheasked.

“Uh-huh.” The boy nodded. “Myparents died four years ago. Ever sincethen, it’s been me and the buffalo.”

He spoke almost carelessly,without anger or self-pity. Suddenly,Minli thought about her own home — thewood floor always swept by Ma, the

extra blanket Ba put over her when thewind blew cold — and she felt a strangetightness in her throat.

The boy finished cooking andpushed the cooked bamboo, like thinlysliced pieces of yellow wood, onto aplate. He only had one plate so he set iton the stool next to the three peachesMinli had left, and both sat crossedlegged on the ground. She took out herchopsticks (he only had one pair of thoseas well) and each picked and ate withthe stool as a table and the single platebetween them.

“You don’t have any aunts oruncles?” Minli asked. “Other family orfriends?”

“Well,” the boy said, tossed a

peach to the buffalo, and then hesitated.“I do have one friend.” And, Minli wassurprised to see his face changeunexpectedly. The sharpness of hisexpression softened like a flowerblossoming, his small smile gentle.

“Who is it?” Minli asked.

THE STORY OF

THE BUFFALO

BOY’S FRIEND

Sometimes, during the hot summerdays, there is not enough water for mybuffalo, so I like to take him out of thecity into the surrounding forest to drinkin the stream there. One day, I broughthim to the forest and he kept pulling andpushing me away from the stream. Nomatter what I did, he refused to go in mydirection. So finally, I just let him leadthe way.

And he brought me to a part of theforest I had never seen before, a part Idon’t think anyone from the city has everseen before. The trees seemed to reachthe clouds, the green grass felt like a silkblanket, and there was a lake of clearwater, so pure and clean it looked as if it

were a piece of the sky. But the mostbeautiful things there were the sevengirls swimming in it.

But when the girls saw me and thebuffalo come through the trees, theyscreamed. They jumped out of the water,grabbed their robes, and ran away. Theymoved so quickly, it seemed like theyhad all disappeared into the sky.

All except for one, that is. One girlstayed in the water and stared at me withscared eyes. Her hair floated around herlike a midnight halo and her white facelooked like a star in the sky.

“Hello?” I said.“Your… your buffalo,” she said,

and her voice was like flute notes in theair, “he’s sitting on my clothes!”

“Oh,” I said, and I quickly pushedhim over. On the ground, crushed and alittle muddy, was a blue silk dress. As Ilifted it, the softness made me ashamedof my rough hands. “Here,” I said,bringing the dress to the edge of the lake.

She looked at me, hesitating. “Iwon’t look,” I said, and I placed thedress on the ground and walked a bitaway, with my back turned. I heard herslip out of the water and rustle of silk asshe put on her clothes.

“Thank you,” she said. “You canturn around now.”

And when I turned around, a girlwas smiling at me. She was my age butshe was prettier than any girl I had everseen before. Even paintings of

princesses were ugly compared to her.“I didn’t mean to scare you,” I said.

“My buffalo was just thirsty.”“I guess so,” she said and she

laughed like tinkling bells as wewatched my big, lumbering buffalo makehis way to the water. “I can’t believe mysisters just left me like that! I’m theyoungest, too — they’re supposed towatch me. But I’m glad they didn’tbecause now I can talk to you. Tell meall about you! Does your buffalo go withyou everywhere?”

And just like that, we became goodfriends. She wanted to know everythingabout me and wasn’t snobbish oranything. In fact, a lot of the time shesighed and said she wished she had my

freedom.“I have to go before they miss me.”

She sighed. “I wish I could stay here.Where I live, I’m not allowed to doanything. There’s always someonewatching, telling me what to do. And it’skind of lonely.”

“Well, visit me,” I told her. “Wecan have lots of fun together.”

“I’ll try,” she promised.And she kept her promise. Like she

said, it was hard for her to get away, butevery night on the full moon when shevisits her grandfather, she stops here.Sometimes she can only stay for a littlewhile, sometimes she can stay for hours.Whenever I see her, we laugh enough tolast for the month. She’s my best friend,

and someday when we’re old enoughI’m going to talk her into staying hereforever.

“And she should be coming tonight,” thebuffalo boy said, and his smile wasbright and broad.

“Oh, can I meet her?” Minli said. Itwas funny how the buffalo boy’s wholemanner changed when he talked abouther — his vaguely mocking attitude andtough expression washed away and he litup like a lantern. She was glad the boyhad someone in his life other than thebuffalo.

The boy looked troubled. “She’s

really shy around other people,” he said.“And I think she’s afraid if anyone seesher, her family might find out that shestops here instead of going straight to hergrandfather’s. They’re really strict withher.”

“I won’t bother her, then,” Minlisaid. “Do you want me to leave?”

“No, you can just stay with thebuffalo,” he said. “She told me last timethat this visit would have to be fastanyway. She was behind on her work, sothey will expect her back quickly.”

“Work?” Minli asked. “What doesshe do?”

“She weaves and spins thread,” theboy said. “That’s what she brings to hergrandfather when she visits — thread

that she spins. Hey, I know! I’ll ask herhow you can see the king! She’ll know.”

“How will a weaving girl knowabout the king?” Minli asked. “Does shelive in the Inner City?”

“No, she lives far away,” the boysaid vaguely, “but she knows a lot ofthings.”

Minli shrugged. It didn’t seemlikely to her that a friend of the buffaloboy would know how she could see theking, but as she didn’t have any ideas ofher own, she would hope.

CHAPTER 19

Minli started awake as she heard thescraping of the door against the dirt. Themoonlight streamed in from the window,lighting the bare hut. The boy had givenher his pile of grass to sleep on andjoined the buffalo, using some of itsgrass as a pillow. But as the buffalosnored loudly, Minli could see the bowl-shaped hollow in the hay was empty. “Iwonder where he went?” Minli said andshe found herself thinking of Ma and Baand Dragon all waiting for her. Suddenlythe silence of the room seemed to ache

with loneliness.“The boy must be meeting his

friend,” Minli realized, and unable tocontrol her curiosity, she crept to thewindow to peek.

Yes, the friend was there. Minliwas startled when she saw her. Evenwith the buffalo boy blocking most ofher view, Minli could see his friend wasbeautiful, even more beautiful than hehad described her. She seemed to glowlike a pearl in the moonlight and herdeep blue silk dress seemed to be thesame color as the sky. The bag she heldin her graceful hand seemed to be madeout of the same silk, but the silver threadembroidered on it made it look as if itwere made from a piece of the star-

scattered sky. Everything about herseemed finer and more delicate than theaverage person. There was definitelysomething unusual about the buffaloboy’s friend.

Minli watched her laugh and thenlisten intently as the buffalo boy spoke.He gestured to the house and Minli justducked down out of sight as the friendglanced toward her. He must be askingher about how I can see the king, Minlithought.

As soon as she dared, Minli peekedagain out the window. The buffalo boy’sfriend had her eyes closed toward thesky, as if listening to the wind. Then shelooked at the buffalo boy and spoke. Henodded and the girl smiled at what Minli

imagined was the buffalo boy’senthusiastic thanks.

Minli sat down on the woodenstool. “She knows a lot of things,” thebuffalo boy had said about his friend.After seeing her, Minli was ready tobelieve it. “But who is she?” Minliasked aloud.

And just then the buffalo boy cameback inside. “Oh, you’re awake,” hesaid when he saw Minli. As much as hetried he couldn’t hide the leftover smilesand laughter from his visit; his eyessparkled as he sprawled himself out onthe bed of grass. “I talked to my friend.She said that the king might be at theMarket of Green Abundance tomorrowmorning, but you are going to have to

find him yourself.”“Really?” Minli said, “How does

she know?”The boy shrugged.“You didn’t ask?” Minli asked,

“Don’t you think it’s mysterious that youonly see her once in a while? And younever visit her, she only visits you? Andthat she knows things like where the kingmight be tomorrow? Who is she,really?”

“She’s my friend,” the boy saidsimply. “That’s who she is and that’senough for me.”

As Minli looked at the buffalo boy,aglow with happiness against his poorsurroundings, she saw it was enough forhim. More than enough, as the smile that

kept curling up on his face told her.Minli’s questions fell from her as sherealized there was nothing else to say.

CHAPTER 20

Ma and Ba walked quietly through theforest. Their steps made a rhythm to themusic of forest noises. Ba’s arms achedfrom carrying the goldfish bowl, but hesaid nothing.

“I can carry the goldfish if you aretired,” Ma said.

Ba opened his mouth to protestwhen he heard, “Let her, old man. It’sher way of saying she’s not angryanymore.”

Ba closed his mouth and looked atthe fishbowl and then at Ma. She stood,

waiting, clearly ignorant of the fish’swords. He handed the bowl to Ma. “If itgets heavy, I can take it back.” he said.

“We can take turns,” Ma said,nodding.

Ma was carrying the fishbowl whenthe night fell and they came back home tothe village. The neighbors saw theirreturn and all crowded around as if theywere selling good luck. “Did you findMinli?” they asked. “Where is she?Where did you get a goldfish?”

Both Ma and Ba shook their headsover and over again. “No,” they said,“we didn’t find her. We don’t knowwhere she is. The goldfish is from thegoldfish peddler. We followed hisfootprints thinking they were Minli’s.”

“And we decided,” Ba finally said,“to come back and wait. After she findsNever-Ending Mountain, Minli willcome home.”

“Wait for her!” one of theneighbors said. “How can you let yourdaughter search for Never-EndingMountain? You are just as lost as her!”

“We tried to find her, but now wedo not know where to look. So, we willwait,” Ba said, and then glanced at Ma,who, though her lips tightened at theneighbors’ words, did not disagree. “Wetrust Minli. She will come home.”

And then Ma and Ba went into theirhouse, leaving the sea of shaking headsbehind them. Ma placed the goldfishbowl on the table, and quietly began

making dinner. A soft breeze seemed toblow in the moonlight, spilling it throughthe open window and lighting the bowllike a lantern. Ba looked at Macautiously; her face looked weary but thegentle wind which rippled the bowl’swater seemed to smooth the creases ofher face. And, when the cloud-white ricewas finished, Ma took her chopsticksand fed the fish from her bowl.

CHAPTER 21

Minli and the buffalo boy pushed throughthe crowd as the sun burned the tops oftheir heads. Minli, used to the spareharvests of her village, couldn’t helpgape at the tall mounds of food for saleat the Market of Green Abundance. Thestreet and open courtyard were filledwith umbrella-covered stands and stalls,flaunting jade-colored cabbages, curledcucumbers, purple eggplants, and tangyoranges. Glossy sugared hawthorneberries, like rubies on a stick, madeMinli’s mouth water.

“I don’t see the king anywhere,”Minli said.

“Well, maybe he’s not here yet,”the buffalo boy said.

“I don’t know if I’ll find him here,”Minli said. Now, in the daylight, thebuffalo boy’s friend didn’t seem asextraordinary. “What would the king bedoing at a street market anyway?”

“She said he’d be here, so he will,”he buffalo boy said, his mouth making astubborn line.

“Hey! Get away from that!” avendor yelled as the buffalo attempted toeat frosty green lettuce. The buffalo boyquickly pulled him away. “Get yourbuffalo out of here!” the vendor shouted,as red-faced as the radishes he was

selling.“I better take him away,” the

buffalo boy said, pulling the buffalo’shead away from the arrays of temptingfood. “He’s hungry, I should take him topasture.”

“I’ll stay here,” Minli said. “Youdon’t need to look for the king with me.”

“Okay,” the boy said. “If you needa place to stay tonight, you know wheremy hut is. If not, maybe I’ll see youaround! Good luck!”

“Thanks,” Minli said, but as hecarelessly waved goodbye, she realizedthat she might not see him again. Beforehe disappeared from sight, she grabbedthe last coin out of her bag, and ran tohim. “Wait,” Minli said. “Here, take

this.”“No,” the boy laughed, “I don’t

need that, you keep it.”“But…” Minli started, but he had

already turned around. “Good-bye!” sheheard him call, and the buffalo snorted afarewell as well. Minli smiled wryly toherself.

Now what? Minli thought, as shewandered past stalls, weaving aroundmerchants and customers, How am Isupposed to find the king here?

“Please, spare a piece of fruit foran old man,” a voice creaked. Minliturned around and saw a wrinkled, poorman begging at a peach stand. He wasdirty and bent and his clothes looked asif they were made from rags used to

wash floors. “Please,” he begged thepeach vendor, “I’m so thirsty. One smallpeach, your smallest?”

“Go away, old man,” the fat vendorsaid. “No money, no peach.”

“Please,” the beggar said again,weakly. “Pity a tired, old man.”

“Get away from here, youworthless beggar!” the vendor spat out.“Or I’ll call the guards on you.”

The vendor’s loud voice hadattracted attention from passersby and asmall crowd began to form in front of thepeach stand.

“It’s disgraceful to treat an old manlike that,” someone murmured. “Just givehim a peach.”

“All of you are so generous with

my property,” the vendor glared at thecrowd, “If you care so much, buy him apeach.”

As Minli watched the beggar’shands outstretched and shaking withhunger, she felt a sharp pang inside her.It reminded her of Ba, reaching out withhis last chopstickful of rice for her fish.The copper coin she had offered to thebuffalo boy was warm in her hand. Shecould almost feel her heart beatingagainst its round edges.

“Here,” she said, handing thevendor the coin. Then she picked thelargest peach on the stand and handed itto the old man. He bowed to hergratefully and eagerly ate the peach.Forgetting about the Inner City and the

Palace for the moment, Minli watchedhim. In fact, as if under a spell, thewhole crowd stood and watched himswallow the fruit until he held a peachpit in his hand.

“Thank you,” the beggar said in amuch stronger voice, and he bowed tothe onlooking people. “The peach wasso delicious, I wish for all of you to beable to taste it. If you would humor anold man and stay a little while I’ll sharemy good fortune.”

The old man took a small stick outof his pocket and bent down. In the dirtnext to the black bricks, he dug a smallhole and planted his peach pit. He stuckhis stick upright in the little mound andthen asked for water. Minli, now

completely fascinated, took out herwater jug and handed it to him. As hepoured water onto his stick, it trembled,and — was she imagining it? — itseemed to grow.

And it was growing. The stick grewhigher and higher and thicker andthicker, until it was the width of Minli’sarm. When she could no longer see thetop of it, pink flowers and branchesbegan to blossom out of it. As the sweetscent of the flowers filled the air, Minlirealized the stick had become a peachtree. The crowd of people seemed torealize this too as they all gaped at itopen-mouthed. Even the stingy vendorleft his fruit stand to stare at it in awe.

Like pink snow, the petals fell from

the tree and made a soft carpet on thedirt. Green leaves sprouted and, as theycascaded over the branches, pale moon-colored balls like pearls developed.Almost as if they were small balloonsbeing blown with air, they grew intoround fruit, blushing pink and red as theydeveloped. Soon, the tree was heavywith them and the air was full of theenchanting smell of ripe peaches.Children gathered around and staredlongingly at the luscious fruit while theadults gulped with their mouthswatering.

Finally the old man reached up,plucked a peach from the tree andhanded it to one of the people in thecrowd. “Please,” he said, waving his

hand, “help yourself.”The crowd needed no other urging.

Young children climbed the tree andpassed down the fruit, while the talleradults simply stretched and grabbed. Aboy with a tired horse climbed onto itsback to reach an especially red peachthat called him. Before long, everyone’smouths were full of soft, sweet peachflesh and groans of delight. Even thepeach vendor, his stand forgotten, stoodunder the tree with his eyes closedcontentedly and peach juice dribblingout of his mouth.

Minli, however, didn’t join in thefeast of peaches. If I hadn’t been eatingpeaches all the way to the city, Minlisaid to herself, I’d be the first one

climbing the tree. But as she wasslightly tired of peaches, Minli saw whatno one else did. She noticed that everytime someone plucked a peach from thetree, a peach from the fruit standdisappeared.

The beggar is using the vendor’speaches for his tree! Minli laughed toherself as she glanced at him through thefruit-eating crowd. He was watchingwith an amused look, and suddenlyMinli saw that the beggar wasn’t reallythat old at all. “He must be a magician.Maybe he can help me get into the InnerCity.”

Minli edged toward him. As sheweaved her way to him, the last peachwas picked from the tree and the leaves

and branches began to disappear. Thetree trunk seemed to shrivel into itselfand it grew thinner and shorter. Thecrowd had finished their peaches and theground was littered with peach pits.When Minli finally reached the beggar,the tiny twig of the tree vanishedunderneath the pile of peach pits and thebeggar was turning to leave.

“Wait!” Minli said, and grabbedhis arm. However, as Minli took hold ofhis sleeve, it pulled back and a glint ofgold shone. Hastily, the beggar pushedback his sleeve, but the quick glancewas enough for Minli to see that he worea gold bracelet in the shape of a dragon.They stared at each other, as Minli’squick-thinking mind somersaulted. Only

the imperial family is allowed to usethe image of a dragon, Dragon had said.Everyone knows a golden dragon isalways and only worn by kings, said thebuffalo boy. The words flashed in hermind and Minli could scarcely breathe.

“You’re wearing a dragon,” Minligasped. “Only the… is allowed to weara golden dragon… you must be… youmust be…”

“Where’s that beggar?!” a loudangry shout cut through the chaos. Minlirecognized the vendor’s voice. “He stolemy peaches! I’ll get him!”

Quickly, the beggar shook off Minlifrom his arm and began to run. Shestared in shock as she finished hersentence. “You must be,” Minli

whispered to the ragged, disappearingfigure, “the king!”

CHAPTER 22

Minli shook herself from her shock.“The king!” Minli said. “I can’t lose himnow!” And in a panic, she began to runafter the tattered figure.

And it was a quite a chase, or itwould’ve been if the beggar had realizedhe was being followed. He wove in andout, around people and bins of rice, eachstep taking them closer to the unusedareas of the city. Behind a pile ofdiscarded baskets, Minli thought she hadlost him but luckily the gray sleeve of hisloose jacket waved at her and she saw

him round the walled corner of the InnerCity. As an abandoned wagon hid herfrom his view, she saw him push againsta portion of the wall. With a slow groan,the wall moved!

“It’s a secret door to the InnerCity!” Minli gasped, and she was able toreach it just before it closed completely.With both hands she pressed hardagainst it and the door pushed open.

And like a lid of a jewelry box, thedoor opened into a landscape of radiantcolors. The bamboo, pine, and plumleaves seemed to shine in the sun as ifcarved from emeralds and the accents ofthe pink and red flowers were likenestled rubies. Steps away from her feet,Minli could see a patterned pathway

made of water-worn pebbles. Thecentral jade green lake mirrored thearching tiled roofs of the pavilions andthe rough beauty of large weathered rocksculptures. A winding covered walkwaylifted up from the cloudy water like alotus flower. It could only be the PalaceGarden.

But Minli barely noticed this.Instead she stood with large eyes, staringat the figure in front of her. The beggarwas wiping his face with a delicatewhite cloth and Minli saw again that hewas not an old man at all. In fact, he wasyounger than Ba — the grey of his hairwas wiped away with the cloth as well— and his beard and head were asglossy black as Minli’s. His gray rags

had been cast off in a pile next to himand he was clothed in a bright yellowsilk, the color of the sun. Intricatedragons and multicolored clouds thatmatched the designs of the gold bracelethe wore were embroidered on his robesand glittered in the light. There was nodoubt now that he was the king.

Then, the king turned around andsaw her. At his glance, Minli shrank tothe ground in a humble kowtow.

“Your Majesty,” Minli breathed,and her knees could feel the thumping ofher heart in her chest.

“Caught!” Minli heard him say, andshe peeked up to see the king looking ather with the same amused expression hehad as a beggar watching the people eat

the peaches. He shook his head at her.With his eyes twinkling at her hecould’ve been the young father of one ofher village friends. “And by you,” hesaid, “my little benefactor. I knew youwere a clever one.”

“Your Majesty! Your Majesty!” achorus of voices came through the airtowards them and Minli could see aparade of servants in the distancerunning across the zigzagged bridge.

“Well, you mustn’t be caught bythem!” the king said to Minli. “Then theywould find out all about my littleadventures and then where will I be?”And he pulled Minli up to her feet andpushed her behind one of the giantgnarled stone carvings, kicking his rags

over her. “Quickly, quickly!” he said.“And don’t say a word. I command younot to say a word or to come out until Isay so.”

Minli clutched the rough stone andmade herself as small as possible.Hundreds of footsteps wereapproaching, like falling rain from athunderstorm.

“What is this?” the king demanded.“Has the war been declared on thecity?”

“Your Majesty,” an out-of-breathvoice said, “we have been searching foryou…”

“Searching for me?” the king said.“I have been here in the garden forhours.”

“We… we must have missed you,”the voice stuttered. “None could findyou… the guards had not seen you andwe feared…”

“You feared the King of the City ofBright Moonlight had been spiritedaway?” The king laughed. “Not thistime, Counselor Chu. However, I do feelthe wish to commune with the moontonight.”

“Your Majesty?” the voice said.“Yes,” the king said decisively.

“Tonight, I wish to be alone in thegarden with the moon. Have a mealbrought to me in the Clasping the MoonPavilion and do not disturb me untilmorning.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” the voice

said. And Minli couldn’t help but peekout. She saw rows and rows of finelydressed people kneeling with their headson the ground in front of the king. Theirrich silk clothing shimmered in thefading sunlight. One man, dressed inblack, kneeled closer to the king,separate from the rest of the courtiers.Minli guessed he was Counselor Chu.

“Actually, bring me two meals,” theking said and glanced toward Minli. Shecaught his eye and quickly shrank backout of sight.

“Two meals, Your Majesty?”Counselor Chu asked with just thefaintest question in his voice.

“Yes, two meals.” The king said, “Ishall honor the spirit of the moon with

her own meal, since she will be keepingme company. It is only fair.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” theCounselor said. Minli could only guesshow puzzled he was, but he was welltrained enough to keep it out of hisvoice.

“In an hour’s time,” the king said,“I shall be at the Clasping the MoonPavilion. I want the food waiting for meand nothing else. I do not wish to bedisturbed by anyone this evening.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” the voicesaid again, and Minli could hear theshuffling and swishing of silk as thegroup rose and took leave of the king.

“They’ve gone,” the king said in alow voice. “You can come out now.”

Minli crawled out from behind thesculpture.

“Well, my little friend,” he said toher, “now that you know who I am, comewalk with me and tell me who you are.”

CHAPTER 23

Minli and the king walked through thegarden and she told him her name andwhere she was from and about herjourney. Remembering the fish’swarning, she carefully didn’t mentionDragon waiting for her in the forest. Asthey walked, the patterned stonepathways gently massaged her feet andthe sun seemed to disappear like aclosing flower. When they finallyapproached the pavilion, night hadfallen.

“So,” the king said, “now you have

come here to find the guardian of thecity.”

“Yes,” Minli said, and looked athim expectantly.

“And you think the guardian is me,”the king said.

“Yes,” Minli said. “Do you knowwhat the borrowed line is? May I haveit?”

“The borrowed line,” the kingrepeated, and they stopped in front of thepavilion. The moon’s reflection fastenedonto the water’s surface, and Minli sawwhy the pavilion was called Claspingthe Moon. The image of the moon layprotected in the water like a glowingpearl, and the king stared at it deep inthought. “Come, let’s eat and then we’ll

see what can be done about yourborrowed line.”

Minli entered the open air pavilion.At the center, two stools and a smalltable of elaborately carved gingko woodwaited for them. A large, finely wovenbamboo basket as tall as Minli’s waiststood next to the chairs. The king eagerlylifted off its lid and rich, warm aromasfloated in the air, making Minli’sstomach grumble.

The king took out the plates ofdelicate pink shrimp dumplings, savorynoodles and pork, dragon’s beard beansprouts, emerald green chives, and abowl of white jade tofu soup. A pot oftea and an assortment of cakes sat on thebottom layer of the basket, to finish off

the dinner. The king handed Minli a pairof intricate gold chopsticks that weighedheavily in her hands, and with his urging,Minli began to eat what was easily themost delicious meal she had ever had.

“I’m not sure what the borrowedline is that you are looking for,” the kingtold Minli as he sipped his tea. They hadfinished eating the main meal and shewas enjoying a turtle-shaped cake filledwith sweet and soft red bean paste, ataste not known to her before. As sheswallowed, its richness seemed to warmher from her throat to her stomach. “But Ithink I can guess.”

With great effort, Minli stoppedeating and looked at him. “You can?”she asked, and suddenly a hope filledher. “What do you think it is?”

“Do you know why this city iscalled the City of Bright Moonlight?” theking asked.

Minli shook her head.

“My great-great-grandfatherchanged the name of this city. It used tobe called the City of the Far Remote. Butafter he came to power, he changed it tothe City of Bright Moonlight,” the kingsaid. “Most people thought it wasbecause he had a poetic heart. But it wasmore than that. Have you heard the storyof the magistrate that tried to outwit theOld Man of the Moon?”

Minli nodded, “He tried to kill hisson’s destined wife, but they ended uptogether anyway.”

“Ah, you know the story.” The kingsmiled. “That magistrate was my great-great-grandfather’s father. And this cityis the city that his son became king ofthrough the marriage.”

“So the story is real!” Minli said.“Well, it is a story that has been

passed through my family forgenerations,” the king said. “But there’smore to it than what most have heard.”

THE UNKNOWN PART

OF THE STORY OF

THEOLD MAN OF THE MOON

After the Old Man in the Moon

told the magistrate that his son wouldmarry the daughter of a grocer,Magistrate Tiger flew into a rage. Withboth hands he grabbed the page and toreit from the book. But before he could ripthe page in two, the Old Man’s eyesstared into his and the light of the moonseemed to bind the magistrate still. Asthe silence hung in the air, Magistrate’sTiger anger turned to fear.

But, finally, the Old Man of theMoon nodded at him grimly. “Pages ofthe Book of Fortune do not tear easily,but that paper was being sent to youbefore I borrowed it,” the Old Man said.“So perhaps it is only fitting that youfinally receive it. Take it. The Book hasbestowed some extra qualities to it,

though they will be as useless to you asthe original paper would have been.”

And without another word, the OldMan of the Moon stood up and walkedaway up the mountain. The magistratecould do nothing but stare, clutching theripped paper in dumbfounded silence.

“He tore a page out of the Book ofFortune?” Minli said. “Yes,” the kingsaid, “but he, himself, was never able toread it, so it remained useless to him justas the Old Man of the Moon said itwould be.”

“Come,” the king said as he walkedout of the pavilion onto the bridge under

the moon. As Minli followed, hereached inside the breast of his shirt,slowly took out a gold-threaded pouchand said, “This is the ripped page. It hasbeen passed down from generation togeneration, studied by the kings of theCity of Bright Moonlight. None of us hasever understood what the Old Man of theMoon meant when he said it wasborrowed.”

Minli watched, fascinated, as theking took from the gold pouch a delicate,folded piece of paper. Paler than eventhe white jade tofu she had eaten fordinner, the paper seemed to have a lightof its own, dimming the gold threads ofthe pouch that held it.

“It was my great-great grandfather,”

the king said, unfolding the paper, “whorealized that the words on it can only beseen in the bright moonlight. He renamedthe city the City of Bright Moonlight as areminder for the kings that followedhim.”

Minli looked at the paper as if in adaze. In the moonlight, the page glowed.A single line of faint words, as if writtenwith shadows, was scrawled upon thepage in a language Minli had never seen.

“So, I think this paper, which theOld Man of the Moon said heborrowed,” the king said, “this writtenline torn from the Book of Fortune is ‘theborrowed line’ you seek.”

“Of course,” Minli said, andexcitement bubbled inside of her, “it

must be!” But her excitement popped asshe looked at the carefully preservedpage and remembered how the king hadhad it on his person, carefully andpreciously kept in the pouch around hisneck. It seemed impossible that hewould give her such a cherishedtreasure.

“It was only after much study thatmy great-great-grandfather was able todecipher the words,” the king said. “Andthat is when he realized that the wordschanged according to the situation at thetime. From then on, whenever a King ofthe City of Bright Moonlight has had aproblem, he consults the paper.”

“And it tells you what to do?”Minli asked.

“Yes.” The king gave a wry smile.“Though not the way you think.Sometimes the line on the page is moremysterious than the problem.”

And with that, the king lookeddown at the line. As he read, a startledexpression came across his face.

“What does it say?” Minli asked.“It says,” the king said slowly,

“you only lose what you cling to.”The king’s words seemed to hang in

the air. All was silent except for the softrustling of the page in the gentle breeze.Minli, unable to speak, watched it flutteras if it were waving at her.

“So, it seems your request,” theking said, “deserves consideration. Theline tells me as much. Let me think.”

Minli looked at the king, quiet butpuzzled.

“For generations, my family hasprized this paper; we have honored it forits spiritual power and authority. It hasbeen passed on and studied andcherished and revered. It has beenvalued above gold or jade,” the kingsaid slowly. “But what is it really?”

Minli shook her head, unsure if shewas should respond.

“It is, actually,” the king said,“simply proof of my ancestor’srudeness, his unprincipled anger andruthless greed. Yet we’ve disregardedthat — instead we guard and protect thiswritten line so dearly that the rulers ofthe City of Bright Moonlight carry it at

all times, daring not to let it out of theirpossession.”

The moon seemed to tremble asripples spread over its reflection caughtin the water. The king continued, again,speaking more to himself than to Minli.

“We have clung to it, always afraidof losing it,” the king said. “But if Ichoose to release it, there is no loss. ”

Minli felt her breath freeze in herchest. She knew the king’s mind was in adelicate balance. If he refused to giveher the line now, she knew she wouldnever get it.

“And perhaps it was never meantfor us to cling to. No matter whom thepaper originally belonged to, this is apage from the Book of Fortune — a book

that no one owns,” the king said. “So,perhaps, it is time for the paper to returnto the book.”

A wind skimmed the water, andMinli could see her anxious face as paleand as white as the moon reflected in it.

“You only lose what you cling to,”the king repeated to himself. He glancedagain at the paper and then looked atMinli. A serene expression settled on hisface and then he quietly smiled and said,“So, by choosing to give you the line, Ido not lose it.”

And, with those words, he placedthe paper in Minli’s trembling hands.

CHAPTER 24

Outside the city, Dragon waited. Evenafter Minli had disappeared, the dragonstill watched from the trees. He had feltodd when she had passed the old stonelions and the door had closed behindher. He realized that he had never had afriend before, and what a nice feeling itwas to have one.

And perhaps that was why thesecond night, when the sky darkened andthe moon rose, Dragon crept out from theshadows of the trees and approached theclosed, sleeping city. While he wouldn’t

admit it, Dragon thought just standing bythe walled city might make him feel justa bit less lonely.

The silver moon cast a frostedglow upon on the rough stone wall andguardian lion statues. Dragon stared atthem as he approached the gate. Theirstocky, heavily built bodies seemed toweigh down the stone platforms they satupon; and the darkness of the night madetheir stiff curly manes look like rows ofcarved blossoms. One lion held a roundball underneath his forearm; the otherheld down a lion cub that seemed to begrinning at him. In fact, all the lionsseemed to be grinning at him as if hewere a secret joke they were watching.

“Am I so funny?” Dragon asked

them as he passed.“YES!” burst out the small lion

cub, wriggling free of his mother’s paw.“You’re very funny!”

As Dragon jumped back insurprise, the lion cub laughed out loud,obviously highly amused at the dragon’sshock. But with his laugh, both adultlions shook themselves from theirplatforms.

“Xiao Mao!” the mother lionscolded. “Don’t laugh at the lost dragon.Besides, you know the rules. No movingin the presence of others.”

“But it’s a dragon,” the cub said,“not a people. He doesn’t count for therules, does he? Besides, he is funny! Bigdragon trying to tiptoe like a mouse!”

“Xiao Mao,” the deep, male voiceof the other lion boomed in the air. Thecub gave a half-hearted look of shameand was immediately quiet and still.

By this time, Dragon had found hisvoice.

“You’re alive, then,” he said.“Of course we are,” the male lion

said, scrutinizing the dragon withinterested eyes. “Everything’s alive —the ground you’re walking on, the barkof those trees. We were always alive,even before we were lions and were justraw stone. However, carving us did giveus a bit more personality.”

“You’re a fairly young dragon,aren’t you?” the female lion said kindly.“You seem only a hundred or a hundred

and fifty years old. Don’t worry, you’lllearn soon enough.”

“A hundred!” the lion cub said.“I’m much older than you. I’m eighthundred and sixty-eight!”

“And you still have not attainedwisdom,” the father lion told him.“Don’t tease the young one.”

“Well, what are you doing here?”the cub asked, not unkindly. “Dragonsdon’t usually come down to the earthmuch. Are you lost?”

Though unusual, the lions weren’tunfriendly, so Dragon settled down andtold them the whole story — being born,living in the forest, meeting Minli, andnow their travels to find the borrowedline and the Old Man of the Moon. The

lions didn’t interrupt once, though thecub did snicker from time to time.

“You belonged to MagistrateTiger?” the cub said, when Dragonfinished. “That means you’re the terribledragon! You’re the one that destroyedthe king’s father’s palace. What a lot oftrouble you caused!”

Dragon looked at the older lionsquestioningly.

“About one hundred years ago,” thefemale lion said, “the king’s father fledhis home village. A dragon haddestroyed his palace and his people casthim out, saying he was bad luck. Hecame here, intending to make his homewith his son and to live off his son’swealth and power as the King of the City

of Bright Moonlight. There were badtimes here for the city, as the king’sfather and the officials he brought withhim were corrupt and greedy. We werevery concerned.”

“You?” the dragon asked. “Whywould it concern you?”

“Why would it concern us? It iscompletely our concern!” the male lionsaid. “We are the Guardians of the City.It’s our responsibility to watch and keepthe city turning. To see it begin to crackalarmed us to no end.” And the lion heldout the round ball he held in his hand andshowed Dragon an old, deep fracturethat was slowly being filled with thedust of the earth.

“What did you do?” Dragon asked.

A STRING OF

DESTINY

We were afraid the city wouldbreak. As the times became moreturbulent with secret meetings andviolent outbursts, we watched the crackin our world widen. It was only a matterof time, we thought, before it would tearinto two.

One night, as we despaired, wesaw a figure walking in the moonlight.Bent and old, he glowed like a litlantern. When we saw he was carrying a

large book and a small sack, we knewinstantly it was the Old Man of the Moonand called him over.

“Please help us,” we begged him,“we need to keep the city together.”

The Old Man of the Moon looked atus, our outstretched cracking globe andour pleading faces. Without a word, hesat down before us and opened his book,leafing through the pages and strokinghis beard.

After several minutes of consultinghis book, he opened his sack and handedus a red thread.

“You are to hold this until it isneeded,” the Old Man told us, and thenslapped his book shut and walked away,ignoring our words of thanks.

We knew the Old Man of the Moonhad given us a string of destiny, one ofthe very strings he used to bind peopletogether. It was a marvelous gift. Whilehe left us no instructions, we guessedthat we were to use it to tie around thecity if it looked as if it were to split.

After that, night after night, wewatched our sphere, ready to use thestring at the first signs of breakage.Unsure of its power or abilities, we darenot use it for anything but the direst ofcircumstances.

But the crack did not grow.Unexpectedly, the king renounced hisfather. He exiled him and his officialsfrom the city and harmony returned.Slowly, the fracture has filled with the

powder of earth and stone. And I haveheld the string, unused.

And as the male lion finished, he liftedhis paw, to reveal a flattened line of redthread.

“The borrowed line!” Dragon said.“That’s it! Minli said she needed to getthe borrowed line from the Guardian ofthe City! You’re the guardian and that’sthe borrowed line we need!”

“I suppose it is,” the lion said,looking at the string. “So, perhaps I havebeen holding it all this time so I couldgive it to you.”

And the lion dropped the string into

the dragon’s outstretched hand.

CHAPTER 25

Ma and Ba found the days without Minlilong and difficult. In the morning, assoon as they woke up, they rushed toMinli’s bed to see if she was there. Inthe afternoon, they hurried from thefields hoping to find Minli waiting athome. And at night, with a rice bowl anda set of chopsticks waiting for her at thetable, they looked up at every sound offootsteps.

But an empty bed and house alwaysgreeted them, and the footsteps alwaysbelonged to a passing neighbor. While

Ma’s anger had disappeared with thegoldfish man, she grew a little thinnerand paler every day, and Ba’s eyes nolonger twinkled.

And one evening, in the middle ofthe night, Ba woke up alone in bed to avoice calling.

“Wake up, old man!” the fish said.“Wake up! Your wife needs you.”

Ba quickly rose and looked for Ma,who was sitting by Minli’s bed. In thestillness of the darkness, Ma shook withsobs.

“Oh, Wife,” Ba said softly, sittingnext to her.

Ma turned to him, her face shinyfrom wet tears. “What if Minli neverreturns?” Ma said. “What if we are

always without her?”Ba put his hand over his face,

brushing away the tears that wereforming in his eyes. “I don’t know,” hesaid.

“Neither do I,” Ma said and sheburied her face in Minli’s bed, crying indespair.

Ba stroked her hair as she wept,occasionally closing his eyes as hefought his own gloom. Finally, as Ma’scrying slowed and calmed, Ba said, “Doyou remember the story I told you aboutthe paper of happiness? And the secretwhich was one word written over andover again?”

The back of Ma’s head nodded andBa allowed himself a small smile.

“I have thought a long time aboutwhat that word could have been,” Basaid, “Was it wisdom or honor? Love ortruth? For a long time I liked to think thatthe word was kindness.”

Ma’s face remained hidden inMinli’s bed, but her sobs had stoppedand Ba knew she was listening.

“But now,” Ba said, “I think,perhaps, the word was faith.”

A faint, gray light seeped into theroom, as if the moon was escaping fromthe clouds. Ma lifted her head andlooked at Ba again. She wiped her eyeswith her sleeve and gave him a small,sad smile.

“Perhaps,” she said, “perhaps, youare right.”

And she placed her hand, wet withtears, in his.

CHAPTER 26

The next morning, Minli woke up aloneunder a heavy, rich blanket. Even thoughshe was on the floor of the gardenpagoda, she had slept comfortably, andas she sat up she realized that wasprobably due to the silk pillows she hadbeen lying on. The soft sunlight cast leafshadows across her face and the windmade gentle ripples in the moss coloredlake in front of her. The Imperial Gardenwas just as beautiful in the day as it wasby night.

On one side of her lay a small table

with a small pot of tea, a bowl of riceporridge and tea stained eggs.“Breakfast,” Minli thought to herself, butbefore she reached for it she saw that ayellow brocade traveling bag lay on theother side of her. Inside the bag, Minlifound her humble blanket, rabbit ricebowl (with needle and bamboo piece),chopsticks, a generous supply of cakes,and her hollow gourd full of fresh water.On the very top lay the gold threadedpouch that held the ripped page offortune. Minli took the pouch and held itwith two hands.

Well, I have the borrowed line,Minli thought. At least I hope it is.

So after a quick breakfast, Minliquietly left the pavilion. Part of her was

tempted to explore the mosaic walkwaysthrough the jewel colored leaves, but sheknew being discovered by one of theking’s councilors would be disastrous.Also, she knew Dragon was patientlywaiting outside the city. So, using theking’s secret door, Minli carefully leftthe garden and walls of the Inner City.

And when she was out of thegarden, Minli realized it was very earlymorning. The Outer City was stillsleeping; the stands were bare and theumbrellas were closed. Quickly, Minliscurried to the gate. With great effort shewas able to get through — she had to usea metal pole she found on the ground tolift the lock and lever one of the doorsopen. Even then, she was only able to

get it open a crack and had to squeeze.As she fell through the gate, gasping

for air, she was shocked to see Dragonlying in front of the stone lions, sleeping.

It took a couple of prods beforeDragon woke, and his loud morningyawns almost put Minli in a panic, butthey were able to get back to the hidingshelter of the forest before anyone sawthem.

“What were you doing by the city?”Minli asked. “You were supposed tostay hidden!”

“I was getting the borrowed line,”Dragon said.

“What do you mean?” Minli said,“I have the borrowed line.”

And in a rush, the two of them told

each other about their night adventures.Dragon stared at the ripped page fromthe book and Minli looked at the redcord in Dragon’s hand.

“So which is the real borrowedline?” Dragon asked Minli.

“I guess that is another questionwe’ll have to ask the Old Man of theMoon,” Minli said.

CHAPTER 27

With both borrowed lines, Minli and thedragon continued their journey. Minliremade her compass with her rabbit ricebowl and followed the needle’s pointeddirection. As they traveled the landbecame more barren, rocky, and steep.Without trees to tame it, the wind blewwildly, burning Minli’s cheeks red withcold. The icy air shoved and pushedthem, as if trying to keep them back.

Late in the afternoon, after travelingup stony ground, Dragon made a noise.“Look up ahead,” he said.

Far ahead of them seemed to be aspot of bright yellow. Against the graylandscape it seemed like a fallen pieceof gold.

“Is it a forest? Trees with yellowleaves?” Minli asked, then she looked atthe grey stone surrounding them. “Butwhat trees could grow here?”

“I think there is a village,” Dragonsaid, squinting his eyes, “If there is, wecan get you some warmer clothes.” Eventhough the cold hadn’t bothered thedragon, he had noticed her shivering.

“We won’t reach it before night,”Minli said, “but I think there’s a cave upahead. Let’s stay there for the night andtomorrow we’ll try to reach the villageor whatever it is.”

The dragon agreed and they madecamp in the cave. The king’s supply oftraveling cakes saved her and Dragonfrom hunger, but Minli wished for thethick silk blanket. Even in the shelter ofthe cave, away from the wind, the earthwas stark and cold. Minli built a fire asquickly as she could and sighed as itswarmth slowly heated the air.

But that night, Minli could not fallasleep. Even with the dragon snoringbehind her, the fire crackling and herblanket around her shoulders, her eyesdid not close. Like the stone dust that thewind blew, thoughts kept circling in herhead. She kept thinking about Ma and Baand the orphan buffalo boy. With pangsof guilt, she thought about how Ma and

Ba pushed her to go home early from thefield, how her rice bowl was always thefirst filled, how every night when shewent to sleep in her warm bed she knewthey were there and how worried theymust be that now she was not. Thebuffalo boy didn’t have that. Instead hehad a dirt floor, a pile of grass for hisbed, a muddy buffalo, and a secretivefriend. Yet he turned away her coppercoin and laughed in the sun. Minlicouldn’t quite understand it and,somehow, felt ashamed.

But just as Minli shook her headwith confusion, there was a suddensound outside the cave. What was that?She cocked her head. There it was again,like a low grumble of thunder. Was it

going to rain? Minli quietly got up andslipped out of the cave to see.

But when she got outside, shescreamed! The noise had not been thegrumble of thunder, it had been a growlof a TIGER! The giant tiger snarled andthen jumped right at Minli!

CHAPTER 28

The wind screamed as Ma and Ba atetheir dinner. The shutters of their housewaved and slammed, shaking the houseand the light from their lantern wavered.They looked at each other andwordlessly went to the window.

“There is fear in the wind,” the fishsaid, “great worry.”

“Is it a storm?” Ma asked.Ba looked at the fish. It stared at

him with big eyes.“I’m not sure,” Ba said.The tree branches bent in the wind

violently, as if being shaken by the sky.The wind shrieked again, and the coldair gusted into the house. The water inthe fishbowl rippled and the fish swayedin the bowl. Both Ma and Ba shivered.

“Do you think Minli is outside inthis…” Ma faltered.

“I hope not,” Ba said. The windcontinued slap the house and trees, thewhole earth seemed to shudder at thescreeching wind. Only the moon abovewas still.

Ba looked at Ma and saw hersoundless lips move as she gazed at themoon. He knew what she was doing anddid the same.

“Please,” he implored to the moon,silently, “please watch over Minli.

Please keep her safe.”The moon continued to shine.

CHAPTER 29

Minli’s scream seemed to freeze in theair. The tiger leapt at her, his scowlingmouth glittering with pointed teeth, hisblade-like claws rushing toward her.Minli knew there was no escape.

But! A flash of red violentlyknocked the attacking claw away. Minligasped as Dragon roared, the tiger’sclaws ripping into his arm. With thebrutal force of his other arm, the dragonthrew the tiger back — forcing it to flyin the air.

“GO AWAY!” Dragon thundered,

in a voice that even made Minli quake.She would never have imagined Dragoncould speak that way.

The tiger glared like a spoiledchild. Minli could now see it was not anordinary tiger. It was bigger than a horseor buffalo and it was a dark, dusty greenlike the color of the sand, dirtied fromocean foam. Even in the dim light of themoon, Minli could see its eyes glowerwith malevolence.

“GO!” Dragon commanded again.Minli realized she had forgotten how bigDragon was. The tiger was large, butDragon was bigger — though theviciousness of the tiger’s expressionmade them seem evenly matched.

But the tiger gave another malicious

snarl and turned away. Dragon stood hisfull height until even the tiger’s moonlitshadow disappeared from view.

“Are you all right?” Dragon askedfinally.

“That tiger…” Minli said in a daze,“that tiger was going to kill me!”

“I know,” Dragon said. “That tigerwas truly evil. When you screamed, Icould feel it.”

And strangely, without knowingwhy, Minli burst into tears. The tiger’sroars still echoed in her ears and shecould still see his cruel claws and eyes.Now that he was gone, her terrorflooded out of her.

“It is okay,” the dragon said, gentlyputting his arm on her shoulders.

It was then Minli saw the four longgashes bleeding on Dragon’s arm. Thetiger’s claws had been sharp and theslashes were deep. Minli shook herselfand brushed her tears away. “You’rehurt,” Minli said, looking at the cuts,which were already starting to swell.

“It is all right,” Dragon said.“Don’t worry. Dragons heal quickly.”

They walked back into the cave andMinli poured water on the wounds toclean them. She wrapped her blanketaround Dragon’s arm, but it continued toslowly bleed. As he lay down, Minlinoticed Dragon’s eyes fade and blur.

“I am starting to feel strange,”Dragon said huskily. “Perhaps I willsleep.”

“Okay,” Minli said, “you sleep.Maybe when you wake up, you’ll feelbetter.”

But Minli felt as if she hadswallowed a frozen rock. Somethingwas wrong with Dragon. She knew it.Throughout the night, his breathing grewhoarser and his skin was damp. Everytime she unwrapped the blanket, shegrimaced — the ugly wounds had turnedblack and evil-looking liquid wasstarting to seep. Minli shivered, and itwas not from the cold.

He’s getting weaker, Minli thought.Something is very wrong. I have to dosomething. Dragon needs help. But Idon’t want to leave him. What am Igoing to do?

By the time the first light of the suncrept into the cave, Dragon’s breathingwas rough; when Minli shook him, hedid not wake up. Minli felt a surge ofpanic. I don’t know what to do, shethought desperately. Her quick-thinkingmind darted like a flustered butterfly. Iknow, she thought, I’ll go to thatvillage. Maybe someone there willknow what to do.

Minli stood up and whispered intoDragon’s ear, “I’m going to get help. I’llbe back soon, I promise. Just hold onuntil then, okay?”

But Dragon did not respond andMinli felt tears start to form in her eyes.Quickly, without even gathering herthings, she turned and left.

It was mid-morning outside andMinli squinted in the sun. The wind stillblew bitterly, but she didn’t even notice.Instead, Minli began to run toward thepatch of yellow in the distance.

CHAPTER 30

Minli’s feet pounded against the rockyground, fighting the uneven earth as sheclimbed upward. It was difficult. Thewind-carved rocks and boulders seemedto grow from the ground like trees,confusing her way and disrupting herbalance. Minli was so intent on hermovement that she almost didn’t notice alow growl. But she halted as soon as sheheard it. The tiger!

She could see the tip of its greentail ahead over one of the largemisshapen rocks. Quietly, she grabbed a

sharp-looking stone from the ground andcrept forward.

There it was, in a clearing of flatstone — the evil animal was pacingback and forth as if it were waiting.Minli tightened her grip on the stone.

Then she gasped. A plump littlegirl, dressed in brilliant red, wasrunning toward the tiger! Before Minlicould scream a warning, someone frombehind her pulled her down and coveredher mouth.

“Shhh!” the voice said, and Minlilooked into the eyes of a small boy, whoseemed to be the same age as the girl.Underneath a gray blanket he was usinglike a cape, she could see flashes ofquilted red clothing that matched the

girl’s. His face was round and pink, as ifit were more used to laughing than theserious frown it wore now. She noddedat his panicked gestures to keep quiet.

“Oh, Great Green Tiger!” the littlegirl threw herself on the ground in atrembling kowtow before the beast.“Powerful Spirit of the magistrate myworthless ancestors angered! My brotherand I were sent to you as the sacrificeyou demanded.”

The tiger roared furiously and thegirl cowered.

“I’m sorry,” the girl said, her voicequivering. “My brother and I were bothsent to you, but on the way here, anothermonstrous beast attacked us! He took mybrother and so there is only me.”

The tiger made an outraged sound.“Yes, another beast,” the girl said.

“This is what happened.”

THE STORY THE GIRL

TOLD THE GREEN

TIGER

Your message to the familycaused an uproar. There was greatwailing and crying as A-Gong, ourgrandfather, told us that you demanded

two children every month to besacrificed to you. It was payment for theinsult our ancestors caused you, he said,and if we paid you would leave the restof the family in peace. It was a highprice but we knew, with your immensepower and strength, we could notdisobey.

So my brother and I chose to be thefirst two children. As the family wept,my brother and I left our home to go toyou. But as we made our way to meetyou, an evil beast jumped from therocks!

He looked like you — only not asstrong or as mighty, of course. And hewas dark, the color of a night shadow.He roared at us, but as we trembled to

the ground I cried out, “Do not eat us,Beast! We belong to the Great GreenTiger!”

And the beast stopped his roar atmy words. “Green Tiger?” he growled.

“Yes,” I said. “We are sacrificesfor the Great Green Tiger! We are notfor you. If you attack us, you will makethe mighty Green Tiger angry and he willdestroy you!”

“Destroy me? Ha! Ha!” the beastlaughed. “The Green Tiger is an oldweakling!”

“No,” my brother protested, “theGreat Green Tiger is the most powerfulbeast of all! None can defy him!”

The beast laughed again, “A paperpig is more mighty than the Green Tiger!

I will take you, but leave the other forhim — pathetic dog that he is.”

“And with that,” the girl said, “he tookmy brother and dragged him to hiscave.”

The girl burst into sobs as Minlistole a glance at the boy. The boy lookeda bit sheepish, but again put his finger tohis lips for quiet. The tiger growled withimpatience.

“As he disappeared he said… hesaid,” the girl swallowed nervously atthe Green Tiger’s furious face, “ ‘Tellthe Green Tiger that his son, the king,left you out of pity — pity for his poor,

feeble father!’ ”With those words, the Green Tiger

roared with such rage that the even thestones seemed to shudder. Minli quakedand the boy held her arm even tighter.

“I can show you his den where hedragged my brother,” the girl quivered.

The tiger nodded at the girl withnarrowed eyes seething with fury.

Shaking, the girl got up and beganto lead the tiger away from the clearing.Minli, with the boy beckoning, silentlyfollowed.

CHAPTER 31

Minli and the boy followed from adistance, past sharp rocks and juttingboulders. The girl finally stopped inanother clearing. It was only when Minliand the boy pressed up behind one of therocks that she realized it was once astone carving and the clearing was theruins of an abandoned house, nowmostly worn away by the wind.

“Here,” the girl said. “The beastdragged my brother into that cave!” Shepointed to a strange hole in the ground.

Minli scarcely recognized it as a

large abandoned well. The rocks aroundthe opening were rough and cracked; anda ripped piece of red fabric lay torn onone of the sharp stones. Minli looked atthe boy and saw his ripped pants. Hesmirked.

“The beast… your son,” the girlfaltered, “is in there! He also said…”

The tiger growled at her tocontinue.

“He said that,” and the girlswallowed in fear, “that you would betoo much of a coward to confront him.”

The tiger glowered ferociously,stalked to the edge of the well, andsnarled into the blackness.

“He’s in there,” the girl said. “Doyou see him?”

The deep well was full of shadows,but the dark water caught the reflectionof the tiger’s menacing eyes and sharpteeth. Full of wrath, the tiger growled athis own reflection, thinking it was ablack beast. As the reflection growledback, the tiger gave a furious roar. Theroar echoed back.

“That’s him,” the girl said. “He’smocking you!”

Outraged, the tiger clawed the stoneground and snarled again — even louderand angrier.

“How dare he!” the girl said. “Heinsults you! Your own son!”

The girl’s words and his ownechoing roars set the Green Tiger offinto a frenzy. The air seemed to be

charged with his uncontrollable fury —every hair on the tiger seemed to jut likesharp spikes, his teeth and eyes glitteredlike the cutting edge of a knife.

He gave a deafening roar thatbellowed, filling the sky with thunder.At its sound, the girl fell to the groundand Minli and the boy covered theirears. The tiger bared his teeth and clawsfor an attack. And when the roar echoedback, it overwhelmed him with wildrage. Finally, the Green Tiger gave onelast roar and… leapt into the well!

The girl, boy, and Minli stoodfrozen as the air filled with roars and thesound of splashing water. Then,suddenly, the wind carried one last howlinto the sky; there was silence. Minli

stared in disbelief. The Green Tiger wasgone!

CHAPTER 32

“We did it! We did it!” The boy and girllaughed as they ran to each other andhugged. They were both younger thanMinli; she realized that they were twins— their round faces, dancing eyes andpink cheeks were exactly the same. Thegrey blanket that the boy had used tohelp hide himself was thrown on theground, and with their dimpled facesswollen with smiles and their matching,bright red clothing, they looked like tworolling berries. Minli couldn’t help butsmile.

And as they laughed andcongratulated each other, another voicecalled in the distance.

“A-Fu! Da-Fu!” the voice cried.“Where are you?”

The children looked at each other.“A-Gong!” the girl said, and thentogether they called, “Here! We’re overhere!”

A tall, gray-haired man burst intothe clearing; a bag was strapped onto hisback and in one hand he held a swordand in the other a spear. As soon as hesaw the children, both weapons clatteredto the ground and they ran into his arms.

“A-Fu! Da-Fu!” he cried. “Wewere so worried!”

“We did it, A-Gong!” the boy said.

“We did it! We destroyed the tiger justlike we said we would!”

“Yes,” the girl said. “Our planworked! We tricked him into the well,just like we said we would!”

“You were not supposed to dothat,” the man said, holding them tightly.“We told you it was too dangerous!”

“That’s why we sneaked away,” thegirl said. “We knew it would work…we used his anger against him just likeyou said we should! You said he waseven angrier at his son and his angerwould blind him… and it did!”

“I didn’t say you should doanything,” the man said, kneeling withhis hands on both their shoulders. “Youwere not supposed to go after the Green

Tiger yourselves.”“You’re not angry, right?” the boy

said. “Now, no one will have to bescared anymore. We can let the animalsout of the house and go outdoors again!”

“Oh, Da-Fu!” the grandfather said,hugging them again even closer. “A-Fu!As long as you are both safe — that isall that matters.”

Then the gray-haired man sawMinli watching them.

“Ah, who is this?” he said,beckoning Minli closer.

Before either child could say aword, Minli rushed up with a hurriedbow.

“Please,” she said, “my friend, theGreen Tiger injured him and he’s hurt

and…”The grandfather quickly pushed the

children off of him and stood up. “Hurtby the Green Tiger!” he said, “Take meto your friend quickly. It is lucky Ibrought the medicine bag with me. Da-Fu, get your blanket and give it to thisgirl. She is cold.”

The boy ran for his blanket,stopping to pick up the torn fabric fromhis pants, and brought it to her. Minliwrapped the gray blanket around her.She was grateful for its warmth but evenmore grateful that the man wanted tohelp immediately. “How long ago wasyour friend injured?” the man asked ashe urged her to lead the way. After Minlitold him, he shook his head. “We must

hurry, then,” he said. “The Green Tigeris no ordinary beast. His teeth and clawsare poison. Without the medicine I have,he will die before seeing the sunset.”

Minli swallowed hard andquickened her pace. The wind seemed toscream a warning and even under thelayer of Da-Fu’s blanket, she felt cold.Would they be too late? Would they beable to save Dragon?

CHAPTER 33

“He’s in here!” Minli called to A-Fu,Da-Fu, and their grandfather, pointing tothe cave opening. Even before reachingthe entrance, A-Gong was alreadyholding the medicine bottle in his hand.

As they rushed inside, Minli wasrelieved to hear Dragon’s raspingbreath. He was still alive! But as thechildren and their grandfather saw himlying in the dim light, they stopped,shocked still.

“Your friend… your friend…” theboy said in awe, “… is a dragon?”

The old man recovered from hissurprise. “It matters not,” he said tothem. “Quickly, where is his wound?”

Minli carefully unwound herblanket from Dragon’s arm and winced.The gashes seemed to have burned intohim like evil coals; the blackness hadspread and his arm looked like a burnttree.

Swiftly, the man pushed Minliaside and began to pour the liquid fromthe medicine jar over Dragon’s blackarm. The tonic was a clear yellow-green, with a gentle aroma of freshflowers and grass, reminding Minli of aspring morning. As it washed overDragon’s diseased arm, his tightlyclosed eyes relaxed and the grimace on

his face smoothed — as if a deep painwas relieved. The medicine melted thedark poison; the blackness seemed to berinsing away and Dragon’s breathingbecame easier and even.

Minli sighed. She hadn’t realizeduntil then that she had been holding herbreath. She knew, even before the mansmiled, that Dragon was going to beokay.

“Da-A-Fu,” the old man said, andMinli realized that he was calling bothhis grandchildren with a single name.“Go home and tell the family what hashappened and where I am or they willworry. I need to stay with the dragon.Tell Amah and all the women to makemore medicine and when it is ready,

bring it to me. This dragon will need todrink it when he awakens.”

“Thank you,” Minli said softly.The man turned and looked at her

wind-burned face, tangled hair, and eyesshadowed with weariness. “He is goingto be fine,” the grandfather said to herkindly, and then turned back to thechildren, “Da-A-Fu — bring this girlhome and tell Amah to take care of her.She has not slept in a warm bed for along time.”

“I want to stay with Dragon,” Minliprotested. “I want to help him.”

“I will stay with him,” the old mansaid to her. “Don’t worry, he will befine. You have already helped him.”

Minli opened her mouth to argue,

but a yawn formed instead. She realizedthe man was right and nodded her head.The boy took one of Minli’s hands andthe girl took the other and they led herout of the cave.

CHAPTER 34

“Which one of you is A-Fu and whichone is Da-Fu?” Minli asked the twins.“My name’s Minli.”

The children laughed; their giggleswere like bells playing in unison. “I’mA-Fu,” the girl said, “he’s Da-Fu. Butyou can just call us Da-A-Fu, becausewe are always together. Everyonedoes.”

Minli smiled. The exhaustion fromthe long night of worry had made herfeel heavy and clumsy, but the children’shappiness seemed to carry her. Their

every word seemed to be mixed withmerriness; their laughter pushed hertoward the cheerful yellow patch in thedistance.

And as they approached the spot,Minli realized that the yellow wasflowers — in front of them was land fullof blooming trees. The trees were heavywith bright blossoms and as the windblew through the branches goldenflowers showered down like rain.

As they reached the trees andbreathed in the spicy scent of theflowers, Minli gasped. “It’s beautiful,”she said. The children laughed again,and the brilliant red of their clothes andthe golden yellow flowers of the treesseemed to make Minli’s eyes dazzle

with color.But their brilliance was a contrast

to the stone rooftops of a village below.The homes looked as though they had tobe hewed from the cold, harsh rock ofthe mountain; and Minli saw that theflowering trees were the only things thatgrew easily from the unforgiving roughsoil. The boy saw Minli’s gaze.

“That’s our home,” he told her, “theVillage of the Moon Rain.”

“Village of the Moon Rain?” Minliasked. “That’s a strange name. Why isn’tyour village named after the floweringtrees?”

“It is,” Da-Fu said.

THE STORY OF THE

VILLAGE OF MOON

RAIN

Over a hundred years ago, whenour ancestors were first brought here, theland of the village was barren and gray.Everything was dull and colorless, thewind cold and bitter. Still, our ancestorsworked hard. They built houses out ofmountain stone, sewed warm, wadded-cotton jackets, and planted seeds in thehard dirt.

But, despite their efforts, the land

refused to bear a single plant or flower.However, even though it lookedhopeless, our ancestors continued towork.

Then one night, when the moon wasbig and round, the air filled with astrange fluttering sound. Our ancestorsthought that a great storm was comingand rushed inside.

And a great storm was coming.With a crash, raindrops seemed to fallfrom the sky.

But what strange rain it was! Roundand smooth, in the glowing light theraindrops looked like silver pearls! Andwhen they touched the ground, theydisappeared.

“It’s raining pearls!” our ancestors

said to each other. “Jewels from themoon!” And they rushed out with basketsand bags, catching what they could fromthis strange storm. Magically, when theraindrops were caught, they didn’tdisappear; and soon their baskets andbags were full.

But in the morning, our ancestorssaw that the drops were not pearls orjewels. In the sunlight, they saw that theywere really seeds. But no one knewwhat kind of seeds they were. Curious,they planted them in the hard earth.

And when the moon rose again thatnight, the strange rain fell again as well.This time our ancestors were not fooledand just watched the drops disappearinto the ground. But in the morning, the

planted seeds were sprouting as ifwatered by a magic brew.

So night after night the seed rainfell from the sky. And as daylight brokeover the land, the seedlings grew higher.Soon they grew into beautiful silvertrees with golden flowers. They were sobeautiful, our ancestors planted moreand more seeds and soon the wholevillage was blooming with hundreds andhundreds of flowering trees.

And since then our home has beencalled the Village of Moon Rain. Weplant new seeds every day, and everynight, the moon rain falls and everymorning a new seedling sprouts. Maybein another hundred years all this stonyland will be covered with trees and themountain will be as golden as the Moon.

“So these seeds rain from the sky everynight?” Minli asked.

“Well, every night there is amoon,” the girl said. “That is why wecall it Moon Rain.”

“And you don’t know why?” Minliasked. Even though she was tired, shecould not help being curious.

Both children shook their heads andbefore Minli could ask more questionsthe boy pointed. Minli followed his handand saw crimson gate doors painted witha cheerful greeting.

“We’re here!” he cried. “Come on,we’re home!”

CHAPTER 35

After the great storm, Ma and Baworried that vast damage had been doneto the village. And when the sun shone inthe morning, the village looked as if itwas in ruins. Large tree branches hadfallen and a clutter of leaves and rooftiles and dust and dirt littered theground. Yet, when the villagers began toclean, the storm had not harmed them asmuch as they had feared.

“At least no homes weredestroyed,” the villagers said to eachother, “and we know everyone is safe.”

Well, everyone except for Minli,they added silently.

Ma and Ba said nothing when theirneighbors paused awkwardly. Theyhelped pick up the broken branches,swept broken bits of pottery and tilesfrom the street, and nailed shutters. Atnight, they quietly sat together at thetable with the goldfish. Though Ma hadheard nothing, Ba remembered the fish’swords about the fear in the wind. Itfilled him with worry and he waited forthe fish to speak again. However, itremained oddly silent.

Finally, when Ma was busy helpinga neighbor, Ba tried to question the fish.

“During the storm you said therewas fear in the wind,” Ba said to the

fish. “Whose fear was it? Was itMinli’s? Was she afraid of something?”

The fish stared at Ba with its roundeyes and made no sound.

“Please tell me,” Ba said, his handsaround the bowl.

The fish swam noiselessly in thewater.

Ba was puzzled. Had the fishstopped speaking? Or was he nowunable to understand? Or perhaps thefish had never spoken and it had all beenhis imagination?

Ba placed his ear close to thewater. Was that faint bubbling awhisper? He strained closer, his earbeginning to dip into the water…

“What are you doing?” Ma asked as

she came into the room.Ba jerked his head up, his ear

dripping with water.“Uh, nothing,” he said sheepishly.“Were you cleaning your ear in the

fishbowl?” Ma said, slightly appalled.“Not exactly,” Ba said awkwardly.A cross look streaked across Ma’s

face, but as she looked at Ba, rubbing hisear shamefacedly, she did something shehadn’t done in years. She laughed.

“You look so silly! If Minli werehere now,” Ma said, “she would laugh atyou.”

“Yes, she would,” Ba said, and hetoo began to laugh. “She would laughuntil she cried.”

Their laughter intertwined but when

they looked at each other, they could seethe tears forming were not from joy.

CHAPTER 36

Minli was so tired that she could barelyremember what happened when theyentered the village. She hardlyremembered the clamor of peoplegathering around them and the loudcheers as Da-A-Fu told about thedestruction of the Green Tiger. And shevaguely remembered the big, soft hug ofan elderly woman who pushed her insidea welcoming house. But she didremember the cozy, lovely feeling offalling into a bed, like holding a warmsteamed bun on an icy day. And then

Minli closed her eyes and slept.When she woke up, three round

faces peered above her like plumppeaches. They were Da-Fu, A-Fu, andAmah, their grandmother. Each of thechildren, dressed in their red wadded-cotton outfits (the rip in Da-Fu’s pantswas now patched), had little moveablestoves with them. With the heaters andall of them crowded in the room, Minlifelt as if she were in a warm oven ofkindness. She smiled.

“Good morning!” Amah said.The children giggled. “Good

night!” Da-Fu said. “You slept the wholeday! Pretty soon it’ll be time to go to bedagain!”

“Now Da-A-Fu, don’t tease the

girl,” Amah said. “Obviously, she wasvery tired. Here, Minli, drink this.”

Amah poured some tea from a potand handed Minli a cup. Minli sipped itgratefully. The steaming liquid slippeddown her throat smoothly, and seemed tofill every part of her with a fresh energy.She took another sip of tea and breathedin the tangy fragrance, which smelledfamiliar.

“This is nice tea,” Minli said.“Thank you.”

“It’s not tea!” A-Fu said. “It’s themedicine that cures the tiger’s poison.”

“It is tea as well,” Amah said. “It isgood whether you have been touched bythe Green Tiger or not.”

Minli stopped drinking. “Is there

enough of this for the dragon?” Minliasked, remembering how A-Gong hadasked them to bring more medicine.“Maybe we should take this to him.”

Da-A-Fu laughed again. “Don’tworry,” they said, “we have a lot of it!It’s made from the leaves of theflowering trees.”

“And Da-A-Fu already brought alarge pot to your dragon friend,” Amahsaid, her wrinkled face looking kindly atMinli.

“Yes,” A-Fu said. “Your dragon isdoing fine. He and A-Gong were talkingto each other when I brought the pot, andhe even said thank you for saving himfrom the Green Tiger’s poison.”

Minli sat back, relieved and

cheered by their words. “What was theGreen Tiger? Da-A-Fu said somethingabout a magistrate?” she asked. “Andhow did you know this tea cured thetiger’s poison?”

“We found that out by accident,”Amah said.

THE STORY OF

THE GREENTIGER AND THE TEA

When the Green Tigerdiscovered us four moons ago, we

quickly learned he was not an ordinarytiger. It was not his color or his size, itwas the anger he had for us. First, heattacked our livestock — the sheep, thepigs, the chickens — but not to eat, justto kill. He taunted us with his evil,leaving the dying animals in a rowoutside our door. Whatever animals hedid not kill outright, died within an houror so from the vile poison of the tiger’stouch.

We knew it was just a matter oftime before he caught one of us. We keptthe children and whatever animals wehad left inside. A-Gong, my husband,studied furiously, trying to find out moreabout this powerful monster whotormented us.

We were running out of food, whenA-Gong finally discovered what theGreen Tiger was. When A-Gong was ayoung man, he had made a journey to thecity south of here and bought an old bookof history. That book, with ourancestors’ ancient texts, was how A-Gong discovered that the Green Tigerwas the spirit of the magistrate ourancestors had tried to give the secret ofhappiness to, but had angered instead.During his life, the magistrate had filledhis spirit with so much rage that whenhis body left, his spirit could not rest andinstead turned into the Green Tiger. A-Gong learned that the Green Tigersearched for all those he felt hadwronged him — the tiger would punish

us for his imagined offense and then,when he felt the punishment wascomplete, destroy us; afterward hewould find others who had wronged himand punish and destroy them as well.Who knows how many people he hurtbefore he came to us; perhaps we werelucky he only found us four moons ago.

In desperation, the men decided toform a hunting party to try to kill thetiger. But the Green Tiger was toopowerful for us. Our swords and staffswere shattered by him. The hunting partyreturned, half of the men carried by theother half and almost all injured. Thewomen and children, we tried to nursethe injured but they kept getting sickerand sicker from the tiger’s poison and I

began to despair.Though it had not worked on any of

the animals in the past, I thought perhapshot water could wash away the poisonfrom the wounds. So even though it wasdangerous, I left the house to get waterfrom the well. Just as I returned I sawthe tiger!

He was standing in front of ourgate, doing something peculiar. Heseemed to be arranging things. I kept afar distance, behind the trunk of aflowering tree. He soon finished andleft, not noticing me.

As soon as he left I carefully rushedto the gate. The tiger had left a strangearray of objects. There was a piece of abroken vase with a moon on it, a

mangled child’s jacket, and two deepclaw marks scratched into the stone. Iknew it was a message, but what did itsay? The only person who would knowwould be A-Gong. But he was sick anddying from the tiger’s poison. My eyesfilled with tears as I rushed inside.

It was hard for me to keep fromcrying and I was blinded by my owntears. So, it was only when the fragrancefilled the air that I realized that the waterI was boiling had leaves from theflowering trees in it. They must havefallen in while I was hiding from theGreen Tiger. It was too dangerous to goand get more water — everyone washorrified that I had gone at all — so Iused the hot leaf water to clean A-

Gong’s wound.And like magic, the poison began to

melt away. I couldn’t believe it. I gaveA-Gong some leaf water tea to drink,and immediately his hoarse breathingwas soothed and his face relaxed.Quickly, we used the tea on all the menand by the time the last injured man wasgiven the tea, A-Gong was sitting up inhis bed with Da-A-Fu at his side.

“I was a fool,” he said to us, “Ishould have known we could not fightthe Green Tiger with more anger. Wejust add to his power that way. His angeris his strength, but it can also be hisweakness. His anger can blind him, andthat is when he is vulnerable. Maybe if Ican find who angered the magistrate the

most, I can…”“You are definitely recovering.” I

had to smile. “Already you are makingplans. But why don’t you rest for now?”

“No,” A-Gong waved away myconcerns, “I must learn more,immediately, before the Green Tigerdoes more damage.”

I knew then that A-Gong needed tosee the Green Tiger’s message rightaway. Da-A-Fu and I wrapped him inblankets and supported him as hehobbled to the gate. A-Gong lookedgrave as he examined the objects. Just asI thought, he knew right away what itmeant.

“What is the Green Tigersaying?”A-Fu asked.

“It says if we give him two childrenevery month, he will leave us in peace,”A-Gong said. “This is the start of hispunishment for us — the way we are topay penance for our ancestors.”

“How does it say that?” Da-Fuasked.

“Two claw marks next to a child’sclothes means he wants two children,and the vase is a symbol of peace, themoon on it means every month. So heoffers us a month of peace for twochildren,” A-Gong said.

“It matters not, we will notsacrifice even a baby pig to him.”

“But A-Fu and I had other ideas,” Da-Fusaid, interrupting. “After A-Gong foundout that the person who angered theGreen Tiger the most was his own son— he was a king and he banished theTiger Magistrate from the kingdom —we made a plan!”

“Yes,” A-Fu said proudly, “wedecided we would trick the Green Tigerinto getting so angry that he woulddestroy himself in the well. And our planworked!”

“It was also a plan that we did notapprove of or agree to,” Amah said,shaking her head at them, even thoughshe could not help smiling affectionately.“But now young Minli, you have heardour story but we have not heard yours.

We know your name and that you arefriends with a dragon and we can guessyou are far from home. Why don’t youtell us the rest?”

So Minli told them about Ma andBa, their struggles in the muddy fields,the goldfish man and the goldfish. Shetold them about meeting the dragon thatcould not fly and the monkeys and thebuffalo boy. She told them about theKing of the City of Bright Moonlight andthe borrowed lines. She told them abouther whole journey.

And as she spoke, Da-A-Fu andtheir grandmother laughed and gaspedand stared in wonder. Sometimes Amahshook her head, sometimes Da-A-Fuwould look at each other in disbelief.

But they did not interrupt once.“So all of this is to get to Never-

Ending Mountain,” Da-Fu said, finally.“We know where that is.”

“You do?” Minli exclaimed, sittingup in excitement. “Really?”

“Yes, Never-Ending Mountain isnearby,” A-Fu said. “About a day’sjourney.”

Minli looked at them in shock andno words could come out of her mouth.A day’s journey! After all their days oftraveling, Minli couldn’t believe theywere so close.

“As soon as your dragon friend iswell,” Amah said, “Da-A-Fu will takeyou there. And then you can return toyour parents.”

Minli smiled gratefully, but as shelooked at their comfortable, round, pinkfaces — how both A-Fu and Da-Fuleaned against their grandmother withdevotion and how she rested her handson their heads with tenderness — Minlisuddenly thought of Ma and Ba. A waveof longing washed through her and adryness caught in her throat that the teacould not moisten.

CHAPTER 37

The next morning, Da-A-Fu shook Minliawake.

“Wake up, sleepy!” Da-Fu said,pulling her up. “Come on! We want toshow you something.”

“Yes,” A-Fu said, “hurry!”Minli followed them out of the

house and through the streets. It wasalmost as if there was a parade, for allthe family were coming out of theirhouses and following. Minli hadn’trealized Da-A-Fu’s family was so large.There were aunts, uncles, cousins — the

home behind the red gate doors wasreally a village of relatives. As Minliran around through the open doors, shestopped and grinned. Because there,waiting out on the stone ground, wasDragon!

He was strong and smiling, sittingstraight and alert. There was no daze inhis eyes and no foul blackness on hisbody — in fact, except for four paleraised scars on his arm, he lookedexactly as he did before they met theGreen Tiger. “You’re okay!” Minli saidas she hugged him.

“Of course,” Dragon said to her,grinning with happiness. “I told you thatdragons heal quickly.”

“Yes, they do,” A-Gong said from

beside her. “After the poison left him,his wounds healed almost immediately.”

Minli was so happy to see thedragon that she didn’t notice that most ofDa-A-Fu’s family were surroundingthem in awe.

“A dragon,” she heard one smallboy whisper, “a real one.”

“We told you so,” Da-A-Fumurmured to their cousins. “See!”

“Unfortunately, friend dragon,” A-Gong said loudly so that all could hear,“you are too large for us to show youproper hospitality inside our home.”

“That’s okay. We should leavesoon, anyway,” Minli said and turned toDa-A-Fu, “if you will still show us theway to Never-Ending Mountain?”

“Of course.” They grinned andAmah said, “Yes, you should leave assoon as you can. The sooner you leave,the sooner you can return to yourparents. That would be for the best.”

A-Gong nodded when he heardAmah’s words. “Breakfast, then,” hesaid, “and then we will see our newfriends off.”

So even though the rocky land wascold and windy, the family brought theirbreakfasts of warm rice porridge out toeat. No one wanted to miss a moment oflooking at a real dragon.

Amah led a large iron pot, rolled inon a rough wood platform by two of Da-A-Fu’s uncles, in front of the dragon.The pot was steaming and full, and Minli

recognized it as the medicine tea. Anaunt carried cups of the tea on two traysbalanced on her shoulders with a stickfor anyone to take. Minli carefullyreached for a cup; the fragrant aromawas too tempting to let pass.

“We should not call this drinkmedicine,” an uncle said. “It is toodelicious and now that there is no moreGreen Tiger, there is nothing for it tocure.”

“Maybe we should call it WellTea,” A-Fu laughed, “since the GreenTiger is down in the well.”

“No,” A-Gong said, “we want toremember our friends, not our enemies.”

“Then we should call it DragonWell Tea,” Da-Fu said, “because it

made the dragon well!”The family all cheered at that, and

there was a look of softness in Dragon’seyes that Minli had never seen before.He was unused to kindness, she realized.He had spent most of his years alone andtrapped by his flightless body.

Too soon, breakfast was over andMinli was packing her possessions intothe yellow silk bag the king had givenher while Amah tied supplies onto thebacks of A-Fu and Da-Fu. “Just in case,”she said, slipping in their simple food ofrice wrapped up in leaves and saltedboiled eggs. “Bring Minli to Never-Ending Mountain and then come righthome.”

A-Gong put his hands on Minli’s

shoulders and said, “You’re a bravegirl, Minli, quick and clever. But youhave been away from home too long. Goas quickly as you can.”

Amah wrapped her warm armsaround Minli then brought out a warmjacket. “For you,” she said. “We made itwhile you were sleeping. Your dress istoo thin for the mountain. ”

The jacket was multicolored, madeof large patches sewn together — somedark blue, some deep purple, a fewbright red. Minli smiled thankfully;already the cold wind was chilling herbut she was hesitant to ask these peoplefor anything since they had already givenher so much. As she put it on, shemarveled at its warmth. The fabric

looked like plain cotton, but she felt aswarm as if she had put on a thick fur.

“Let’s go then!” Da-A-Fu said, andthe boy swung up his arm in excitement.It was only then that Minli noticed alarge gash missing from his sleeve. Shelooked at the sleeve of her new coat andthe bright red patch that made it and shegasped.

“Goodbye!” Da-A-Fu’s familywaved. As they waved, Minli saw eachof them had missing material in theirsleeves. Her goodbyes froze in herthroat as she realized her warm coat wasmade of pieces cut from the family’sown clothing.

“Come on,” A-Fu said, her whitehand slipping from her notched sleeve to

pull at Minli. “Hurry up!”“Yes,” Dragon said, “we should go

so the twins can return to their village assoon as possible.”

Minli nodded — and as she waveda grateful goodbye to the village, a seaof ruined sleeves fluttered back at her.

CHAPTER 38

As Minli and Dragon followed Da-A-Fuup the harsh landscape, the wind blewwildly. But traveling was not difficult.Dragon carried them over any largecracks or openings; Minli had forgottenhow enjoyable it was to travel with him.And Da-A-Fu, laughing with puredelight as they rode Dragon, looked liketwo ripe hawthorne berries. Theirmerriment and the brilliant red color oftheir clothes and of Dragon himself,seemed to warm the cold landscape. Itwas only when Minli’s hands poked out

of her sleeves into the icy air that sherealized how cold it really was.

“It’s not much farther,” A-Fu saidto them after they had walked somedistance. “We should be able to seeNever-Ending Mountain soon.”

“You’ve never seen the Old Man ofthe Moon though?” Minli asked. “Hasanyone?”

Da-A-Fu shook their heads. “Noone has ever seen him,” Da-Fu said. “Noone in the history of our family orvillage.”

“Though we do know he is the onewho moved our ancestors here,” A-Fusaid.

“The Old Man of the Moon broughtyour ancestors here?” Minli asked.

“How?”

THE STORY OF

DA-A-FU’S

ANCESTORS

Even though our ancestors didtheir best to please the magistrate, theywere not able to make him happy. Oneday, a neighbor rushed to our ancestors’home, his horse panting from running.

“I have just returned from the city,”

the neighbor gasped. “I rushed all theway here to warn you. The magistrate isconvinced the answer you sent him wasa trick and you are keeping the realsecret from him. He is coming here topunish you. He plans to destroy yourhome and family! Run away while youcan! There is not much time — hissoldiers will be here tomorrow!”

Our ancestors cried with fear. Thelarge family — the many sons anddaughters, aunts and uncles, and childrenand grandchildren — could not helpbeing scared. But Ye Ye, the great-grandfather and head of the family,raised his hand for attention.

“It looks as if misfortune iscoming,” he said, “and there is nothing

we can do. We will not run. Thesoldiers would easily find us and themagistrate would be even more brutal.And I do not want to spend our lastmoments together in panicked flight.”

Ye Ye looked at the bright blue skyand sun shining on the mountain beyondtheir home. It was hard to imagine thecoming trouble. “Little ones,” he said tothe children, “go fetch your favoritekites.” Then Ye Ye turned to the adults.“Sons and daughters,” he said, “preparethe finest picnic you can, with enoughfood and tea for all. We will not wastethis time we have together. We willspend it as we always have, inhappiness.”

The family nodded at Ye Ye’s wise

words. Quickly, they rushed to do as heasked. They brewed large pots of theirbest chrysanthemum tea and filledspecial baskets with golden cakes andcustard tarts, boiled chickens, crispypork, fluffy steamed buns, and tea-stained eggs. And their brilliant kites, inthe shapes of bugs and butterflies, weredragged out of storage and into the sun.

Ye Ye smiled at his family as theyfinished their tasks. He carried hisfavorite books of poetry, stories, andsongs in a bag. “Come,” he said, “let usclimb the mountain.”

So together, with the tree leaveswaving farewell, the family made theirway up the mountain. They climbed high,so the kites could fly without the trees

getting in the way. When there wasnothing between them and the sky, theystopped.

And had a delightful time. Thechildren laughed as their kites soared inthe wind. The women smiled as theysipped the tea and the men happily atethe delicious treats. Ye Ye recitedpoetry that made the women sigh, toldstories that made the men gasp, and sangsongs that made all the children join in.

But all too soon, the day wasending. The moon was already rising inthe sky when the children were told towind the strings of their kites.

“Why bring the kites down?” anolder boy asked. “This will be the lasttime we will be able to play with them.”

“Yes,” a girl said. “Let them fly foras long as they can.”

So instead of bringing the kites in,they cut the strings. As the kites werefreed, a strong gust of wind burst fromthe sky. One by one, the butterflies anddragons disappeared as if flying home tothe moon. As the kites vanished fromsight, there was a sad sigh. No onespoke, but they all wished for an escapefrom tomorrow’s tragedy.

Quietly, the family packed theirbelongings and began to climb down themountain. They walked a long time, solong that the moon rose overhead andthey began to shiver with cold.

“Are we lost?” a child asked. “Thisdoes not look like the way home.”

“That’s impossible,” his mothertold him. “How can we be lost? There isno other direction than down.”

“But the boy is right,” Ye Ye said.“Look at the rock before us. We haveclimbed this mountain many times yet Ihave never seen this rock or any rock ofthis type before.”

“And there are no trees,” a younggirl said. “Always there were treesbelow us, and now there is just morerock.”

“It’s colder too,” another said. “Itis much too cold for an early autumnnight.”

“What has happened?” a womanasked.

“I think,” Ye Ye said slowly, “we

are no longer on our mountain. Somehowwe are on a different one.”

“How is that possible?” a manasked. “And why?”

Before Ye Ye could open his mouthto reply, one of the children shouted.

“Home!” she cried. “Our home isright there!”

And it was their home — the darkred gate doors were wide open,allowing them to see light shining fromthe windows of their houses. Theirchickens squawked a greeting, and theirdogs jumped through the gate withcheerful barks.

Our ancestors couldn’t believe it.Dirty pots and pans that they had left inthe morning were still in the washbasin,

mixed-up shoes and hanging laundrywere exactly where they were before.Even the book that Ye Ye had left wasopen on the same page. Ye Ye walkedfrom room to room and house to house,with the family following like a parade.Finally, he found a slip of bright silkstuck in the hinges of the gate doors. Heturned around to look at the familycrowding about him.

“It is a miracle,” he said to them.“We have been moved here, beyond themagistrate’s reach. We are saved!”

The family cheered, but could nothelp asking, “How? Who did this?”

Ye Ye looked at the empty landaround him and the dark blue sky withthe moon above and then at the thin strip

of silk in his hand. “This silk is from oneof the children’s kites. The kites broughtour wishes up to the Old Man of theMoon and he must have decided that ourdestinies lay here,” Ye Ye said, and hemotioned upward. “For there is only oneother here with us tonight. It is only usand the moon.”

“And your family has been here eversince?” Dragon asked.

Both children nodded. “For over ahundred years, our family has lived onthe mountain, and we keep growing.Sometimes we travel down themountain, sometimes people come to us;

anyone who visits is welcome to callour place home.”

“So…” Minli began, but her wordsdied away as Da-Fu pointed toward thehorizon. Minli and Dragon followed hishand and finally saw what could only beNever-Ending Mountain, home of theOld Man of the Moon.

CHAPTER 39

Never-Ending Mountain was enormous,so large that it made Fruitless Mountainseem a like a loose pebble. Minli couldnot see the tip or the bottom of it, as itseemed to grow out of a gorge so deepthat the base must have been at thefoundation of the earth. Minli felt as ifshe were on the edge of the world as shestared across the great gulf separatingthem from the Never-Ending Mountain. Itstood before them like a piece of rawgreen stone towering forever into the skyand disappearing into silver mist.

“There it is,” Da-Fu said, “Never-Ending Mountain!”

“I bet the Old Man of the Moondoes live up there,” A-Fu said. “The topof this mountain must reach the moon.”

“How do we get up there?” Minliasked. She was starting feel dizzy fromstaring upward so long.

The dragon looked chagrined. “If Icould fly,” he said, “I’d be able to get usup there to see the Old Man of theMoon.”

“If you could fly,” A-Fu laughed,“you would not need to see him!”

“But,” Minli said, “it looks likeflying is the only way up to see the OldMan of the Moon.”

“There’s probably another way,”

A-Fu said.“Yes,” Da-Fu said, “you probably

just have to let the Old Man of the Moonknow you’d like to come up.”

“How do we that?” Dragon asked.“Send a message?”

Minli looked up at the sky asDragon and Da-A-Fu continued to talk.Send a message, send a message.Dragon’s words echoed in Minli’s earsand she felt as if she were searching fora match to light a lantern. The windgusted at her, as if it were trying to tellher something. She watched A-Fu’sbraid fly in the air; as she pulled itdown, the cut pieces of her sleeveflapped like the tail of a kite…

“I know!” Minli said excitedly.

“We’ll do it like your ancestors did!”She quickly kneeled on the ground andreached in her traveling bag for the twoborrowed lines. Dragon and the childrenlooked at her curiously as she waved thesheet of paper and the string beforethem.

“We can fly a kite up to the OldMan of the Moon,” Minli exclaimed.“I’ll make a kite of the two borrowedlines, that’s bound to get his attention.”

Da-A-Fu and the dragon grinnedand together they made the borrowedlines into a kite. They fastened the pagefrom the Book of Fortune onto Minli’schopsticks and attached an end of the redcord to the kite. But as they tried to trimthe thread — A-Fu thought it would look

neater if the end didn’t dangle — theydiscovered that the borrowed line couldnot be cut.

“It is a string of destiny,” Dragonsaid, as he tried again without success tocut the thread with his claw. Each ofthem, in succession, had tried to break it— Da-Fu even tried to snap it with histeeth. “It is reasonable to think it isunbreakable.”

“Well, we don’t need to trim thestring to make the kite,” Minli said. “Butwe can’t cut the kite free to go to themoon.”

“Just fly it until the string runs out,”Da-Fu said, “then let go.”

Minli nodded. It made sense. Asthey gazed at the wound coil, she said,

amused, “It won’t take too long for thestring to run out, anyway. There is not alot there!”

“I just hope there is enough for it tofly,” A-Fu said.

So, with Da-Fu running, they beganto fly the kite. As the kite rose higher andhigher, Minli watched the coil of stringin her hand.

“Is the string running out yet?” eachasked over and over again. But Minlishook her head every time. The threadseemed to endlessly unwind. Even as thekite climbed upward becoming the sizeof a name chop mark, the stringcontinued. Slowly, it disappeared fromview with the thread scratching thedarkening sky with a faint red line.

“That is a magic string,” Da-Fusaid in an awed voice.

“Of course,” the dragon saidsuddenly. “It’s a thread of destiny. If weare destined to see the Old Man of theMoon, it will stretch to reach him.”

“You may be destined to meet him,then,” A-Fu said, impressed. However,as she looked at the sky turning to night,she frowned. “But we are not. Da-Fu,we should go back home. We have beengone too long. After the Green Tiger, weshould try not to worry Amah and A-Gong so much.”

“Don’t you have anything you wantto ask the Old Man of the Moon?” Minliasked. “You could change your fortunetoo.”

“No,” Da-A-Fu said, laughing.“Why would we want to change ourfortune?”

The children ran down themountain, their laughter melting into theair. Minli shook her head in confusion,but waved goodbye. As Minli watchedthem turn into figures of shadows,seeming to dance toward their home andvillage, she thought of her own Ma andBa waiting for her in her home far away.

As the sky deepened like brewingtea, Minli and the dragon looked insilence at the red line reaching to theheavens. But just as the moon rose in thedarkness, Minli felt a sudden jerk on thestring. It began to strain and bend.

“Something’s happening!” she cried

out.“Pull the kite in!” Dragon said.

“Bring it back!”“Something has changed!” Minli

said as she strained and pulled. “It’sheavy now!”

The dragon reached above Minli’shead and grabbed the cord. Together,they pulled and dragged. As theystrained, Minli wondered if they werebringing down the moon itself.

But there seemed to be no end tothe string. As they wound up the thread,it seemed to get thicker and thicker. Andwhen the string became the width ofMinli’s little finger, a strange clattering— like a wooden windchime — filledthe air.

“Something has happened to thestring,” the dragon gasped betweenheaves.

And something strange hadhappened. The thread — which wasreally now more like a thick silk rope —seemed to have divided itself into a longstrange web, reinforced with bamboostalks. As the endless U-shape cametoward them, Minli gasped.

“The string,” Minli panted, “it’s…it’s a bridge!”

CHAPTER 40

Ma stood by the window as the starsbegan to poke holes in the deep bluevelvet sky. The days without Minli hadpassed slowly, and the evenings evenslower. Ma wondered how the silvergoldfish could remain calm in the bowl,while she herself felt she could barelybreathe. As the night air touched herface, Ma thought of Minli, bit her lip,and sighed. Her eyes closed as shewilled her tears to stop forming. Whenshe opened her eyes, Ba was standingnext to her.

“I know,” he said to her, and heplaced his hand over hers.

“It is hard to wait,” Ma said.“Yes,” Ba said, “we are like the

dragon waiting for a sign of his pearl.”“The dragon waiting?” Ma asked.“Oh, nothing,” Ba said. “It’s just a

story.”The wind blew gently, like the

calming touch of a healer. “I wouldn’tmind hearing it,” Ma said. “It mightmake the time pass faster.”

Ba looked at her, surprised, andthen nodded with a small smile.

THE STORY OF

THE DRAGON’S

PEARL

Once, a dragon found a largewhite stone, round and softened by theocean and wind. As he admired it, itbegan to shine in his hands. How pretty,he thought, I will make this into a pearl.

So day after day, month after month,for many years, the dragon went withouteating and sleeping as he made the pearl.He carved the stone with his claws andsmoothed it with his scales. He carriedit into the clouds, rolled it in fresh

raindrops, and bathed it in the CelestialRiver. He polished it with palechrysanthemum petals. Finally, it wasdone — perfectly round and luminouslysmooth. It was flawless and beautiful.As the dragon looked at it, a tear ofexhaustion and joy fell from his eye andlanded on the pearl. As the teardropsoaked into the pearl, it began to shinewith a dazzling radiance. The dragonsmiled with delight. Exhausted, he fellasleep in the light of the pearl.

But the pearl continued to glow.The light was so lovely that it caught theattention of the Queen Mother of theHeavens. When she found out that thebrightness came from the dragon’swondrous pearl, she sent two of her

servants to steal it. The servants wereable to accomplish this quite easily, asthe dragon — weary from his manyyears of work — slept quite long andsoundly.

When the Queen Mother receivedthe pearl, even she was astonished by itsloveliness. No pearl, no jewel, notreasure in the heavens or on earth couldcompare. She quickly had a vault madein the deepest part of her kingdom thatone could only get to by going throughnine locked doors. She put the pearl inthe chamber and tied the nine keys to thedoors onto her belt.

When the dragon woke up andfound his pearl missing, he began afrantic search. He hunted the oceans and

mountains, the rivers and valleys. Heflew through the Celestial River,examining each star. But none gave thepure, clear light of his pearl.

Eventually, the dragon was forcedto give up his search. He had no ideawhere to look or where the pearl couldbe. But he did not give up hope that hewould find it. Instead, he waited for asign of it.

And he did not wait in vain. On herbirthday, the Queen Mother had a grandcelebration. Inviting all the immortals ofheaven, she held a “Banquet ofPeaches,” an endless assortment of richand delicious dishes made from thepeaches of immortality. Fragrant andpotent peach wine was served with each

dish, and every time her glass was low,the Queen Mother called for more.

So when the guests heralded herwith compliments, flattery and fine gifts,the Queen Mother recklessly decided toshow off her stolen treasure. “My dearfriends,” she said impetuously, “yourgifts and words are fine, indeed, but Ihave something that far outshines them.”

And she took out her nine keys,unlocked the nine doors, and brought outthe dragon’s pearl. A hush went over theparty as the pearl glowed with a light ofsuch radiance that it flooded out of thepalace and into all the heavens.

As the light broke into the sky, thedragon — ever faithfully alert — jerkedup his head. “My pearl!” he said and

flew as fast as he could toward the light.When the dragon reached the Queen

Mother’s palace, he burst upon a crowdof admiring immortals fawning over thepearl in the hand of the Queen Mother,pompous with pride. “That is my pearl!”he cried. “Give it back!”

The Queen Mother was infuriated.“This is my pearl,” she declared, “howdare you!”

“It is mine!” the dragon said, andlooking at the flush of her cheeks andevading eyes, demanded, “You stole it,didn’t you?”

“I don’t need to steal anything,” theQueen Mother blustered. “I am theQueen Mother of the Heavens! Alltreasures made by the earth or heaven

belong to me!”“Heaven did not make that pearl,”

the dragon said, “nor the earth! I made itwith years of work and effort. It ismine!”

The Queen Mother began to panic,and she fled out of the palace and intothe garden, clutching the pearl. Thedragon pursued her, determined not tolose the pearl again. The party guestsfollowed, creating such a commotion ofexcitement and chaos that the HeavenlyGrandfather (who tended to avoid hisdaughter’s flamboyant parties) decidedto leave his study to investigate thedisturbance.

The Queen Mother, flustered andagitated, ran through the garden, leading

a great chase. As she reached the gardenwall and could not run any farther, shewas horrified to see not only the dragonand her party guests, but also her fathercoming after her. As they reached her, ina fit of terror, she threw the pearl overthe wall.

The dragon gave a roar of dismay,and all rushed to look over the gardenwall to see the pearl fall deep into theCelestial River. In the deep blue waterthat separated heaven and earth, thepearl seemed to grow larger and glowmore radiantly.

The dragon began to makemovements to dive into the river whenthe Heavenly Grandfather stopped him.“Leave it there,” he said, “and shame on

you both. The pearl should not belong toone being. Do you not see this is wherethe pearl belongs, where everyone onheaven and earth can see its beauty andenjoy it?”

Both the dragon and the QueenMother, humbled, nodded and the guestspraised the Heavenly Grandfather’swisdom. And so did the people on earth,for now when they looked up into the skythe moon glowed down upon them.

There was a peaceful silence after Bafinished the story. Finally Ma gave asmall sigh and a smile. “If Minli werehere, she would ask you if that story

were true.”“And I would have to tell her,

‘probably not,’ ” Ba said. “When I wasa very young boy, I remember seeing aglimpse of a rare dragon pearl. It wasbeing carried to the Emperor himself,guarded by hundreds of men, and therewas still a moon in the sky.”

“There is more than one pearl in theocean,” the fish said. “So of course thereis more than one dragon pearl. Thoughthe dragon pearl that makes the moon isby far the largest.”

Ba glanced carefully at the fish andthen at Ma, but both seemed ignorant ofthe other, and neither looked at him.

“I remember hearing about that,”Ma said. “That pearl was supposed to

be worth the Emperor’s entire fortune. Asingle pearl. I suppose it could’vebelonged to a dragon.”

She spoke without the desire orenvy she used to feel when speaking ofthe wealth of others. The moonlightseemed to transform her, lifting the yearsof bitterness and hardship and leavingher with a sad serenity. It affected Baunexpectedly, in a way he had not felt inyears; he filled with great tenderness.

But Ma continued to stare dreamilyout the window, as unaware of histhoughts as she was of the fish’s words.

CHAPTER 41

“It must be a bridge to the top of Never-Ending Mountain,” Dragon said, “and tothe Old Man of the Moon.”

With the attached bamboo stakes,Minli and the dragon had anchored theirend of the bridge to the ground. As itstretched into the night, it quivered in themoonlight.

Minli stared at the vast length of thebridge, hanging in the sky like a delicatered spiderweb. “I don’t think you willbe able to cross it,” Minli said.

Dragon, too, looked at the U-

shaped bridge, with its fragile ropes. “Icannot fit on it,” he said, “and I doubt itwill bear my weight.”

“Well,” Minli said, “maybe it ismagic, like the thread. Try.”

Dragon put one foot onto the ropebridge. But as the rope felt his mass, itgroaned and the bamboo stakes began totear out of the ground. Hurriedly, Dragonstepped off.

“I think,” Dragon said slowly, “Iam not destined to see the Old Man ofthe Moon.”

Minli looked at Dragon’s downcasteyes and read the years of sadness andfrustration in his face. Tears burned inher eyes as she thought about their longtravels that had led to this

disappointment.“I wish I could fly,” the dragon said

simply.“You will,” Minli said, blinking

her tears away. “The bridge is big andstrong enough for me. I’ll ask the OldMan of the Moon your question andreturn.”

Dragon brightened with hope. “Youwill?” he asked. “You will do that?”

Minli nodded. “I will wait for youhere,” Dragon said. “I will not moveuntil you return. When you tell me whathe says, I will fly you back home to yourfamily.”

“Then I better get going,” Minlisaid, but her smile faded as she lookedat the bridge in front of her that seemed

to loom into nothingness.“I will wait for you here,” Dragon

repeated.Minli nodded and took a deep

breath. Then, grasping the two sideropes for balance, she carefully steppedonto the rope bridge and began to walk.

CHAPTER 42

The sky around Minli was quiet as shewalked on the red rope bridge. The onlysounds she heard were that of her ownbreathing and the pounding of her heartin her chest. After the dragon and landhad faded from view, Minli saw nothingexcept for the night around her. Withsuch a limitless landscape, she could nottell how far she had walked or howmuch of the bridge she had left. Itseemed never ending — she began towonder if she had walked for hours ordays.

But slowly, so slowly Minli almostdidn’t notice it, the darkness of the nightlessened. With each step she took, theworld around her became brighter. Andwith this light, Minli saw that the skybelow her had somehow become a vastlake of pure water and the night cloudswere made of floating lilies. Andstretched before her in the distance, likea faraway coast, she saw a high wall thatseemed to glow. The wall was smoothand creamy white, as if made out ofpearl. It too seemed to be endless; Minlicould not see where it began or ended.

However, as Minli got closer, shesaw a round opening in the wall justbefore her. And in that circularpassageway, a white rabbit stood like a

jade statue. It was only when Minlistepped off the bridge and the rabbitstarted toward her that Minli realized itwas alive.

“Welcome,” the rabbit said.“You’re a little late. Did you havetrouble with the monkeys?”

Minli was too astonished to speak.The rabbit looked extremely like the onepainted on her blue rice bowl. Shenodded with her mouth gaping.

“Well, let’s go,” the rabbit said.“You’re going to have to keep it shortwith the Old Man; he’s very busy and hehates unnecessary talk.”

Minli followed the rabbit throughthe round opening into a white courtyardand over a polished stone bridge that

seemed to grow from the ground. As theypassed over it, Minli saw the smoothwater wave with gentle ripples andheard what sounded like faint drumming.To one side of her in the distance,standing out against the flat landscape,Minli saw the silhouette of a man cuttingdown a lone tree, his ax making athumping rhythm. As he chopped, thebranches of the tree shook; leaves,blossoms, and seeds flew through the airand dropped into the water likeraindrops.

“Is that the Old Man of the Moon?”Minli asked.

“Him?” the rabbit said, followingMinli’s gaze. “Oh, no. That’s Wu Kang.”

“Why is he cutting down the tree?”

Minli asked. It seemed a shame to herthat the only tree on Never-EndingMountain was being cut down.

“Questions, questions,” the rabbitsaid. “I should make you wait to ask theOld Man, but if you must know Wu Kangtries to cut down that tree every night.”

“Every night?” Minli couldn’t helpasking.

“Yes,” the rabbit said.

THE STORY OF WU

KANG

Most thought Wu Kang was verylucky. His wife was beautiful and hischildren were healthy and they all livedin a comfortable cottage on a farm in thecountry. His parents and elder brotherlived with him and his neighbors werefaithful friends. But Wu Kang alwayswanted more. So when his crops thrivedand flourished, he decided farming wasnot satisfying enough for him and the dayhe reaped his successful harvest, he toldhis friends that he was leaving thecountryside to move to town.

“Why?” they asked him.“I want more,” Wu Kang said.“But we are so happy here all

together,” they said. “It is not enough,”

Wu Kang said.So he packed up his possessions,

and sold his cottage, farm, and land.Then, with his wife, children, parents,and brother he moved to town. It wascrowded and inconvenient in the smallerhouse, but Wu Kang was able toapprentice himself to a furniture maker,and his family began to adapt to theircramped home. However, the day hewas able to carve a chair frombeechwood was the day he quit anddecided to move to the city.

“Why?” his parents asked him.“I want more,” Wu Kang said.“But we are happy here together,”

they said.“It is not enough,” Wu Kang said.

So, with his wife and childrenwalking behind him, Wu Kang left hisparents and brother behind and moved tothe city to search for something more.Their new home was a small hut of earthsqueezed between other tumbledownhouses on a filthy street, far away fromthe tight, cozy house in town or thecomfortable cottage on the farm.Nonetheless, his wife and childrenadjusted to life in the city while WuKang looked for satisfaction. But stillnothing was enough for him. Aftermastering the abacus, Wu Kang decidedto quit the training to be a store keeper.After learning how to hold a paintbrush,he stopped studying for a governmentposition. Wu Kang always wanted more.

“Maybe you should try to becomean Immortal,” his young son said to him.“You couldn’t want more than that.”

“I think,” Wu Kang said, “perhaps,you are right.”

So Wu Kang packed up a small bagand left his wife and children to find anImmortal to study under. His heartbrokenwife pleaded with him as he stepped outthe door.

“Don’t leave,” she said. “Here, weare together.”

“It is not enough,” Wu Kang said.Wu Kang searched and traveled

long and far and, one night, he found theOld Man of the Moon. “At last,” WuKang said, “an Immortal! Master, willyou teach me?”

The Old Man of the Moonpreferred to decline, but Wu Kanginsisted and begged. So, withmisgivings, the Old Man agreed andbrought Wu Kang to Never-EndingMountain.

So the Old Man began to teach WuKang lessons full of wonder, thatcommon men would marvel at.However, Wu Kang, true to his nature,was unmoved and aspired for more.When the Old Man showed him how toobtain red threads from hisgranddaughter, the Goddess of Weaving,traveling across the sea of stars on abridge of night birds, Wu Kang watchedand followed but, after three days, wasdiscontent. “Master,” Wu Kang said,

“there must be something more you canteach me.”

So the Old Man taught Wu Kanghow to tie the threads of destiny, sealingthe knots with a shaft of light from themoon. Wu Kang studied and copied, butafter two days he again grew restless.“Master,” Wu Kang said, “I know youcan teach me more.”

Hence, the Old Man took out thesacred Book of Fortune and began toteach Wu Kang how to read its text. Butafter one day, Wu Kang exclaimed,“There must be more than this!”

With that, the Old Man clapped thebook shut. “Yes,” the Old Man agreed,“there is.”

And without a word, the Old Man

led Wu Kang to a barren area of Never-Ending Mountain. The Old Man knockedthe ground with his walking stick andfrom the rock a silver tree grew. As WuKang stared, the Old Man tied a string ofdestiny around him and the tree.

“The only things for me to teachyou,” the Old Man said to Wu Kang ashe handed him an axe, “are the lessonsof contentment and patience. Only whenyou are able to cut this tree down will Iknow you have learned it.”

Wu Kang shrugged and began inearnest to chop down the tree. Little didhe realize that with every cut the treegrew back, and every blow onlyscattered the seeds from the tree into thenight sky lake.

So every night Wu Kang cuts thetree. Tied by the string of destiny, hecannot leave it and is fated to chop untilhe learns his lesson or until the end oftime.

Minli walked silently after the rabbitfinished the story, and for a while theonly sounds were of the tree’s flyingseeds falling into the water.

Those seeds, Minli said to herself,they are really falling through the skyto the earth. They are the seeds thatfall onto Moon Rain Village! It’s WuKang’s chopping that makes thestrange moon rain. The flowering treesgrow from the seeds from the tree onNever-Ending Mountain…

But just then Minli’s thoughts wereinterrupted by the rabbit, which hadstopped suddenly.

“In there,” the rabbit said,motioning toward a circular openingthrough a stone wall, “is the Old Man of

the Moon.”

CHAPTER 43

Minli took one step into the walledcourtyard and then stopped. Countlessred threads covered the ground likeintricate lace. Interwoven in the redstrings were thousands and thousands ofsmall clay figures, each no longer thanher finger; like a spider, in the exactcenter, sat the Old Man of the Moon.

He sat cross-legged, with a giantbook on his lap. His head was bowedover two clay figures in his hand, so thatthe most that Minli saw of him was thetop of his head. But she could see his

delicate, wrinkled hands, skillfully tyingthe figures in his lap together with a redthread. A blue silk bag full of red stringslay open beside him, and Minli felt ashock run through her as she saw it. Shehad seen that bag before! Deep blue silk,silver embroidery — it was the bag thebuffalo boy’s friend had been carryingthat starry night. She’s the Goddess ofWeaving! Minli realized. She spins thered thread for the Old Man of theMoon. I knew there was somethingdifferent about her. No wonder sheknew how to find the king.

The Old Man reached beside himfor his walking stick — a bent, twistedwood stick — and tapped it on theground. Silently, the clay figures floated

from his hand, drifted in the air, thensettled to the ground at opposite ends ofthe courtyard. The Old Man’s thread stillconnected them and the red line woveitself among the other strandssurrounding him.

As Minli stared, the Old Manlooked at her. The silver hair of hisbeard seemed to flow like a glowingwaterfall and disappear into the folds ofhis robes, and his dark eyes matched theblackness of the night sky.

“Ah,” the Old Man said, “it’s you.”Minli nodded and bowed deeply.

She would have kneeled on the ground,but she was afraid of disrupting the clayfigures standing on the ground at her feet.

“Well, come here, then,” the Old

Man said impatiently, and he tapped hisstick on the ground again. And with asound like a flapping of a bird’s wing,the clay figures moved — clearing apath for Minli.

“I know you have questions forme,” the Old Man said. “Every ninety-nine years, someone comes here withtheir questions. But I will answer onlyone. So choose your question carefully.”

One question! Minli almost stoppedwalking in shock. If she was onlyallowed to ask one question, she couldnot ask Dragon’s question for him!Unless… she did not ask her own.

Minli felt like a fish gasping for air.What was she going to do? Thememories of the hard work in the rice

fields, her father’s careworn hands, theplain rice in the dinner bowls, and Ma’ssighs washed upon her like the splashesof water from the lake. She had tochange her fortune; she must ask how todo that.

But when Minli thought aboutDragon, waiting for her patiently, it wasas if she had been struck. And like seedsfalling from Wu Kang’s tree, images ofthe Dragon rained upon her — theirlaughter as they passed the monkeys, hisawkward struggles walking in thewoods, his echoing roar as he flung theGreen Tiger into the air, the kind hand heput on her shoulder when she cried andthe hopeful look in his eyes as she left.Dragon is my friend, Minli said to

herself. What should I do?Minli’s thoughts bubbled faster and

faster like boiling rice; every step shetook seemed to throb and Minli wasn’tsure if the pounding was her heart or WuKang’s axe in the distance. As shepassed the clay statues, she thought shecould see figures of the goldfish man, thebuffalo boy, the king, and Da-A-Fusilently watching her. Minli’s feetseemed to ignore her pleas for slowness;like the kite being pulled in, she wasbeing drawn toward the Old Man of theMoon without delay. Before she coulddecide whose question to ask, Minlifound herself facing him.

The Old Man of the Moon looked ather expectantly, his black eyes as

unreadable as the night sky. Minlilooked down into the open book on hislap. She recognized the open page as theking’s borrowed line — the smoothed-out folds and the holes she had made init when she had turned it into a kite werestill there. Yet, now the paper wasinvisibly fastened in the book with onlya thin line, like a scar, showing that ithad ever been removed.

And the words had changed again.There was a single line of words runningdown the entire page. As she looked,Minli realized for the first time, shecould read the words — or really theword. For the line was only made of oneword, written over and over again. Andthat word was Thank fulness.

And suddenly, like the light whenthe clouds move away from the moon,Minli knew clearly what question to ask.

“There is a dragon waiting at thebridge,” she said. “Why can he not fly?”

CHAPTER 44

Ma and Ba continued to wait for Minli,quietly and sadly. Even though they toldthemselves that they trusted Minli andbelieved she would return, Ma spentmost of her time looking out the window,lost in thought, while Ba grew older andgrayer every day. The only time theyfound comfort was in the evenings, whenBa would tell a story to make the timepass faster. In the escape of Ba’s tales,they could forget that Minli was not withthem and imagine that she was therelistening.

One evening, when the moon filledthe sky, Ma spoke. “Husband,” she said,“tonight, I would like to tell you astory.”

Ba was slightly surprised, butnodded.

THE STORY THAT

MA TOLD

Once there was a woman whohad a kind husband and a beautifuldaughter. A great mountain shadowed

their home, making the land that theylived on poor and their house small. Butthere was always enough to eat, and thewater always flowed in hot months,while a fire always burned during thecold ones. Yet the woman was notcontent.

The woman begrudged the barrenmountain and the meager land andswallowed her plain rice withbitterness. She frowned at the humblecotton of their clothes and sighed inresentment at the tight rooms of thehouse.

Day after day, the womangrumbled. When she heard stories oftreasures of gold and jade, she wasfilled with envy. “Why do we have

nothing?” she sulked in frustration. “Wehave no treasures, no fortune. Why arewe so poor?”

Her husband and daughter workedharder every day, hoping to bring wealthto their house. But the unfeeling land didnot cooperate, and the house remainedcramped, the clothes stayed modest, andthere was always only just enough ricefor the three of them. The woman alsoremained unhappy; her displeasure grewlike weeds — uncontrollable andtangling.

The woman was so caught up in herdissatisfaction, she did not realize thatthe she was planting seeds of discontentin her daughter as well. Until then, herdaughter had been pleased with their

life, but now she began to feel troubled.The rice that filled their bowls began totaste bland, the clothes she had liked fortheir colors now felt rough, and thehouse that she had run freely around inhad become stifling.

Finally, unable to bear the growingfrustration, the daughter stole away inthe middle of the night — vowing not toreturn until she could bring a fortuneback to her family.

And it was only then that thewoman saw the stupidity of herbehavior. For without her daughter, thehouse became too large and empty, andshe was not hungry for the extra rice. Asthe days passed in loneliness, fear, andworry, the woman cursed herself for her

selfishness and foolishness. How luckyshe had been! She was at last able to seethat her daughter’s laughter and lovecould not be improved by having thefinest clothes or jewels; that joy hadbeen in her home like a gift waiting to beopened. The woman wept tears forwhich there was no comfort. For all thetime that she had been longing fortreasures, she had already had the onemost precious.

Now wiser, the woman could donothing but go to her husband, begforgiveness for her actions, and hope tosomeday do the same with her daughter.She did not know if she would receivecompassion from either, but she vowedshe would wait for it. If necessary she

would wait like the mountain thatshadowed them.

As Ma finished, she sat herself down atBa’s feet and, like a child, she placedher head in his lap.

“Husband,” she said, “I’ve said itwas your fault that Minli ran away and Iwas wrong. I am to blame. Minli knew Iwas discontent with our fortune; if I hadnot been, she would not have left. I amsorry.”

Ba could not speak. The moonoutside was so full it looked as if itwould burst, and moistness dampenedhis eyes. He placed his hand tenderly on

Ma’s head.“Ahh, good,” the fish said. “If you

make happy those that are near, thosethat are far will come.”

Ma’s head raised in a jerk. Shelooked over at the fish and then lookedat Ba, her eyes wide.

“Did the fish say something?” sheasked.

CHAPTER 45

The dragon waited. Mornings rose,nights fell, but he did not move from thebridge. Every night the stars filled thesky like snowflakes falling on blackstone and then melted away as the sunmounted. When the sun rose, the redstrings of the bridge melted into the skyand the bridge seemed to disappear, onlyshowing itself again at night. A stingingwind blew in a silver mist and the coldrock was hard and unyielding. Still thedragon waited.

But on the third night, just as the

moon began to slip down in the sky,Dragon saw a faint figure on the bridge.With a joyous roar, the dragon jumpedup and the figure became clearer andclearer. Minli!

“You are back!” Dragon shouted.“Did you see him? Did you ask the OldMan of the Moon my question?”

“Yes, yes,” Minli laughed as shehugged the dragon, “I asked him. And heanswered. So now I know! I know howyou can fly!”

“How?” Dragon asked.Minli climbed onto Dragon’s back.

With both hands, she clenched the stoneball above his head.

“Take a deep breath,” she said tohim; and with a jerk that took all her

strength, she yanked the ball off his head.“Ouch!” Dragon yelped. But then,

he began to smile. “I feel so light,” hesaid, “so light and peaceful.”

“The Old Man of the Moon saidyou would not be able to fly until theball was removed from your head,”Minli told him. “He said it wasweighing you down.”

“It was!” Dragon laughed and Minliclutched his neck with her spare arm ashe rose into the air. The wind seemed tojoin their whoop of laughter and sweepthem up into the sky as the dragon flewfor the first time. The silver cloudsembraced them and then parted as thedragon flew through, as if he wererippling the sky; the pale moon looked as

if it was smiling at them with a softglow. As they skimmed the stars, Minliclosed her eyes with delight.

As they returned to the ground, thedragon asked, “What about you? Did theOld Man tell you how to change yourfortune?”

Minli was silent. Dragon turned tolook at her.

“What happened?” he asked. “Hedid not tell you?”

“I didn’t ask,” Minli said. “I wasonly allowed one question.”

“What?” the dragon said. “Youneed to know! You have come all thisway. We will fly back and you can askhim!”

Before Minli could utter a protest,

the red cord bridge seemed to shriek,and as they turned to look at it, thebamboo stakes began to rip the ground,leaving ugly slashes as the bridge wasdragged away from the land. The bridgejerked violently, the bamboo supportsclattering as it was pulled up into thedarkness.

“The Old Man of the Moon will notsee me again,” Minli said. “He won’tanswer any question for another ninety-nine years.”

“But, you…” the dragon sputtered,“your fortune, your parents…”

“It’s all right,” Minli told him.“When it was time for me to choose, Isuddenly saw I didn’t have to ask it.”

“You did not?” the dragon said.

“No,” Minli said and suddenlymemories rushed through her. She heardthe buffalo boy’s laughter as he refusedher money, saw the king’s generoussmile as he willingly parted with hisfamily’s treasure, and remembered Da-A-Fu’s last words to her. “Why wouldwe want to change our fortune?” theyhad said. She had shaken her head inconfusion then, but now, finally, Minliunderstood all of it. Fortune was not ahouse full of gold and jade, butsomething much more. Something shealready had and did not need to change.“I didn’t ask the question,” Minli saidagain and smiled, “because I don’t needto know the answer.”

CHAPTER 46

The moon began to fade as thebrightening sky revealed itself through it.The sun was awakening, and Minliwanted to return home as soon aspossible. Dragon, having waited threedays and nights, was well rested, so theydecided to leave Never-EndingMountain at once.

As Dragon soared through the sky,any heaviness inside Minli left. Heseemed to dance in the air, and hishappiness made her as feel as light asthe clouds around her. The sun seemed

to warm her heart and joy bubbledinside of her. She knew she had askedthe right question.

Before they left, Minli and thedragon circled over the Village of MoonRain. Da-A-Fu, Amah, A-Gong, and thevillagers saw them and ran out of theirstone hut flapping their ruined sleeves ingreeting. “Don’t stop,” Amah shoutedwith a broad smile, “go home!” Minlinodded and waved good-bye until theflowering trees looked like brush strokesof golden paint on the mountain.

Flying on the dragon made travelingmuch faster. It seemed as if in no timethey were above the City of BrightMoonlight — from the sky, the Inner Cityand Outer City grids looked like a giant

labyrinth, and the two stone guardianslooked as if they were dog trinketsmolded from clay. Minli saw the roof ofthe buffalo boy’s broken-down hut, butno glimpse of him. He’s probablyinside, sleeping, Minli thought,wondering if the Goddess of Weavinghad visited the previous night.

But as they passed the bay of waterby the city, Minli saw something strange,like an orange shadow streaking acrossthe sky. Dragon saw it too and sloweddown. As it got closer, there was nomistaking it. It was another dragon!

The dragon was orange, the colorof the inside of a ripe mango. When shesaw Minli and Dragon, a coquettishsmile spread across her face.

“Hello,” Dragon breathed in an oddvoice. Minli looked at him in surprise.

But the orange dragon kept flyingwithout saying a word. As she passed,she winked at them. Dragon balanced inmid-air as if stunned. He watched theorange dragon sweep down and away tothe water below until she was a gingerspeck in the distance.

“Are you okay?” Minli asked thedragon as he continued to stare. “Youmust be excited that you’ve finally seenanother dragon.”

“I am,” Dragon said, as if in a daze.Then he shook himself as if trying torouse himself awake. “But I will find heragain later. I will bring you home first.”

Minli shrugged. Dragon was acting

oddly. But there was something familiarabout that orange dragon, perhaps theway her scales reflected in the sun werelike fish scales glistening in the waterand those knowledgeable eyes, noddingas if she knew her. Minli smiled.

Hours passed and the land belowthem blurred. Minli slept on and off; thesmooth ride of the flying dragon made iteasy for her to sleep. Minli wasimpressed by how far they hadjourneyed and how much faster theywere able to travel by flying. The sunwas only beginning to go down past thehorizon when they saw the edge of thepeach forest. The tops of the peach treesseemed to sway a welcome to them asthey flew overhead and as they

continued to fly, Minli thought she sawthe monkeys still attached by the fishnetaround the pot of rice.

But Dragon was still actingstrangely. When Fruitless Mountain,with its familiar black peak cutting intothe pink and orange sunset sky, came intoview, the dragon almost stopped flying.

“What mountain is that?” he askedMinli.

“It’s Fruitless Mountain,” Minlitold him. “Right beyond it, next to theJade River, is my home.”

“Fruitless Mountain,” he said tohimself, and even though he continued tofly, he seemed to be in a daze. Minliwondered if flying had somehow madehim lightheaded. But her attention could

not be kept by her concern for him. Nightwas falling and the dark lines ofFruitless Mountain softened in theshadowy sky. But Minli could still seethat every moment brought the JadeRiver and Fruitless Mountain closer.She was almost home!

However, when they reachedFruitless Mountain, Dragon suddenlystopped. He dropped lightly to the baseof Fruitless Mountain, where so long agoMinli had taken some stone to make hercompass.

“This is Fruitless Mountain,”Dragon said, and again Minli looked athim. He was definitely acting out of theordinary.

“Yes,” Minli said, a bit puzzled.

“My village is just a bit past this. I canwalk from here if you wish.”

“Do you mind?” Dragon asked.“For some reason, I feel as if I do notwant to leave here.”

“No, I don’t mind,” Minli said.“Are you okay?”

The dragon looked at her andsmiled. “Yes,” Dragon said. “Strangely,I feel like I am home.”

Minli wrinkled her forehead inconfusion, but was too eager to get hometo her parents to ask any more questions.Minli hugged Dragon goodbye. Hereturned her hug warmly, but she couldtell he was distracted. She held out theround ball she had taken from Dragon’shead. “Do you want this?”

“No,” Dragon glanced at itabsentmindedly. “You can have it.”

Minli shrugged again, but the urgeto go home began to pull at her strongly.She waved goodbye to Dragon andbegan to run toward the village.

It was late at night when she finallyreached home. The slumbering villagewas silent and as Minli crept into herhome the pale goldfish greeted her.

“Shh,” the goldfish said to her.“Your parents are sleeping. Welcomehome.”

Minli was a little surprised to see agoldfish, but smiled a greeting.Moonlight misted over the rough floorsand made the sparse room glow silver,the goldfish bowl looking like a second

moon. The shabby walls and wornstones seemed to shimmer as if atranslucent silk veil covered them,muting any flaws and transforming thehouse into a dwelling of luminous lightand delicate shadows. Minli had neverseen her home look so beautiful.

Tiptoeing, she put her bag and thedragon’s stone on the table and went intoher room. Smiling, she climbed into herbed and went to sleep.

CHAPTER 47

“Minli? Minli!” Ma and Ba’s happinessburst from them like explodingfirecrackers and even before she couldopen her eyes they had flung themselvesupon her. The joy! How it flowed andflooded over her! More golden than theking’s dragon bracelet, sweeter than apeach from the Queen Mother’s garden,and more beautiful than a Goddess ofHeaven! Minli smiled, treasuring hergood fortune.

Ma and Ba only stopped huggingher when her stomach began to grumble

with hunger. Ma rushed to make aspecial breakfast, taking out the carefullysaved dried pork to make Minli’sfavorite porridge, while Ba jumped toget some fresh water to make tea.

But when Ba went into the mainroom, he made a choking noise thatcaused Minli and Ma to come running.

“What is that?” he said, pointing.Minli followed his finger and saw himpointing at her traveling possessions onthe table. The fish swam merrily aroundin its bowl as the silk of her brocade bagmade the sunlight skip around the room.

“That is a bag given to me by theKing of the City of Bright Moonlight,”Minli said. “It is very fine, isn’t it?”

“Not that,” Ba said, waving the bag

away. “That!”And now Minli saw that he was

pointing to Dragon’s stone ball.“It’s just a gift from a friend,”

Minli said, handing it to her father. Batook it in his hands reverently, a look ofawe on his face.

“This is not just any gift,” Bawhispered, and he took his sleeve andgently rubbed the surface of the stone.To Minli’s great surprise, the graynessof the stone began to smudge away and atranslucent, lustrous glow seemed toshine through. “This is a dragon’spearl.”

Minli and Ma stared. “A dragon’spearl!” Ma said slowly. She sat downand looked at Minli. “A dragon’s pearl

is worth the Emperor’s entire fortune.”Minli opened her mouth but before

any words could come out there was agreat shouting and clamoring outside onthe street. Ba quickly, but carefully, putthe dragon pearl back on the table beforethey all hurried out to see what theuproar was about.

“What is it?” Ma asked, grabbing aneighbor. The entire village had flowedinto the street, talking and shouting like aflock of birds discovering a feast. “Whatis happening?”

“It’s Fruitless Mountain!” theneighbor said. “Fruitless Mountain hasturned green.”

“What?” Ba said.“It’s true, it’s true!” another

neighbor chimed in. “Fruitless Mountainis no longer fruitless! And the JadeRiver is clear and fresh too!”

Minli, Ma, and Ba looked at themountain. It was true. Fruitless Mountainwas no longer a black shadow abovethem. As the day dawned, the mountainhad transformed. A green lushnessseemed to bloom from the rock — ajewel-colored splendor softened thesharp edges that had painfully sliced thesky. The sky itself seemed to beembracing the mountain. The wind softlycaressed the newborn greenery with anurturing breeze and skimmed the JadeRiver, the water now as clear as tears ofjoy.

“How is this possible?” Ma asked.

“Jade Dragon must be happyagain,” Ba said. “Perhaps she is reunitedwith one of her dragon children.”

Dragon! Minli thought, and herquick-thinking mind seemed to spin.Dragon said he was making his home onFruitless Mountain. Could he be one ofJade Dragon’s children? But how?Dragon was born from a painting, frompaint brushes and ink stones… and likean echo, Minli remembered Ma talkingabout the artist who had come toFruitless Mountain many years ago. Hetook the mountain rock to carve intoinking stones.

Perhaps Dragon was born from aninkstone made of Fruitless Mountain, theheart of Jade Dragon. Then perhaps he

was one of Jade Dragon’s children. Andby bringing him to Fruitless Mountain,Minli had discovered how to makeFruitless Mountain green again.

“Minli!” A villager, finallyrecovered from the shock of the greenmountain, stared at Minli. “You cameback! Look, everyone! Minli hasreturned!”

As the neighbors clamored around,Ma sighed. But it was a sigh of joy, asound of happiness that floated like abutterfly in the air. “Good fortune hascome to the village,” Ma said, smiling.“And to us, as well.”

“Yes,” Ba said, lookingaffectionately at Minli. “But the bestfortune is the one that returned.”

Minli smiled back. And suddenly,as she thought about her journey to andfrom Never-Ending Mountain, Minlirealized that while she had not asked theOld Man of the Moon any of herquestions, they had all been answered.

CHAPTER 48

The goldfish man shaded his eyes as hepushed his cart along the Jade River.Yes, he was almost there. How long hadit been? Two years? Perhaps three. Yes,the poor Village of Fruitless Mountainshould be ahead soon, he thought.

But, possibly, he was mistaken.When he had been there last, the moststriking characteristic of the landscapehad been the black mountain, its shadowcasting gloom upon the village. But therewas no dark silhouette in the sky now; infact, the landscape looked like as if it

were from a heavenly painting. Amajestic green mountain sat in harmonywith the deepening blue sky, the sunspreading its light for the last timebefore it set. Had he taken a wrong turnsomewhere?

As he gazed, two flying figures inthe sky caught his eye. Red and orange, adragon and his mate frolicking amongstthe clouds… wait, dragons? Thegoldfish man shook his head in disbelief,rubbed his eyes, and looked again. Onlythe dimming sky and feathery cloudsfanning the wind were above. I musthave been imagining things, he thought.

The goldfish man pushed onward.The water in the fishbowls rippled andwaved as the fish gazed calmly; their

brilliant colors against the abundantgreen land glinted like gold and jade.

As he entered the village, thegoldfish man again began to doubt if hewas in the right place. Smooth stonelined the roadway and, instead of therough board houses he remembered, richwooden doors — some elaboratelycarved — lined the street. As he pushedhis cart down the narrow street, livelychildren dressed in gay colors flewtoward him like a festival of silk kites.“Goldfish! Goldfish!” they cried. “Ma!Ba! Can we get one?”

Parents walked over and smiledindulgently at their children, and by thetime the sun disappeared, the goldfishman had sold out of his wares. Clearly

this was not the same poor village hehad come to before, where only that onegirl purchased a fish.

But then he remembered hearing astory about how a family that lived bythe Jade River had given the King of theCity of Bright Moonlight the incrediblegift of a Dragon Pearl, refusing anypayment. In gratitude, the king presentedthe entire village with gifts of seeds andfarming equipment that brought moreprosperity than any reward of gold andjade. Maybe this was the place.

“Little one,” the goldfish man askeda young girl dressed in a peony-pink silkjacket and leaf-green pantaloons, “thelast time I was here, the last time I cameto the Village of Fruitless Mountain, a

child ran away from home. Whathappened to her?”

“Ran away from here?” the girllooked at him in disbelief, as if the ideawas foreign. Then she nodded. “Oh, youmust mean Minli! That’s when this usedto be called the Village of FruitlessMountain. Now it’s called the Village ofFruitful Mountain.”

“Yes, Minli,” the goldfish mansaid. “I think that was her name. Whathappened to her?”

“She and her family live overthere,” the girl waved her arm. “Theybuilt a courtyard in front and in back oftheir house. It’s behind the gate with thepictures of the lucky children on thedoor.”

The goldfish man wheeled hisempty cart to the indicated gate. On eachhalf of the crimson doors hung a paintingof a round-faced, laughing child dressedin brilliant red. Their pink cheeks andmerry smiles made it impossible not tosmile back, and as he grasped one of themetal door knockers shaped like agrinning lion head, he realized that the

painting on the left was of a girl and theone on the right was a boy.

The door flew open as soon as heknocked and the goldfish man was face-to-face with a woman he scarcelyrecognized. He recognized her even lesswhen she threw her arm around him likean old friend.

“You!” she said to him, her facewrinkling in cheerful smiles. “Come in,come in! My husband will be happy tosee you.”

The goldfish man, speechless withsurprise, let himself be led through thegate doors. Was this the mother withangry eyes he had met in the woods longago? Yes, this pleasant-faced woman,her plum-colored coat embroidered with

flowering trees, was the same person.He shook his head in disbelief.

As he glanced upward, he realizedthe courtyard was like a well for the sky— the stars and night seemed to flowinto it endlessly. Was the courtyardbuilt for just that purpose? hewondered. Light from the housestreamed through the lattice-patterneddoors, illuminating the enclosure like alit lantern. There, the father wassurrounded by visiting children, whomthe goldfish man recognized as hisearlier customers. Some of the childrenwere playing on the ground with claytoys of boys, buffalo, monkeys, andrabbits while others were being servedtea by the father. “This tea is a gift from

our faraway friends,” the father wassaying as he handed a child a cup. “Theycall it Dragon Well…”

“Husband,” the woman called.“Husband! Look who is here!”

As he caught sight of the goldfishman, the father stopped in mid-sentence,and his face broke into a wide smile.“Ah!” he cried. “Dear friend!”

And like the mother, before lettinghim bow politely, the father embracedhim warmly. “Come,” the father said,“have some tea. My wife will bring outsome cakes and snacks.”

The goldfish man finally found hisvoice. “I am glad to see you and yourwife so happy and prosperous,” he said.“I only stopped to see if… last time we

met… how is your daughter?”“Minli?” the father said, laughing,

waving his hand towards the house. “Sheis in the back. She will be happy to seeyou too, but she will come out later. Thisis the time of night she likes to watch themoon.”

“She returned, then?” the goldfishman asked. “I thought she would. Whathappened?”

“Ah, my friend.” Ba laughed again.“You have come at the right time. Whydo you think these children are here?They come here every night because theywant to hear the story again — the storyof Minli’s journey to and from Never-Ending Mountain! Come, sit! You canhear it for the first time.”

The goldfish man sat downwillingly on a stone seat and found afragrant cup of tea in his hand. Thechildren clamored around Ba, each moreexcited than the last and eager for thestory to begin. But as Ma went inside thehouse to get refreshments, she left thedoor wide open and the goldfish mancould not help peering in.

He could see all the way throughthe house to the back courtyard wherethe figure of a young girl sat on a bench,a small pond of fish at her feet. Themoonlight washed over everything like arich bath of gold and silver, making thefish shimmer like pearls and the girlglow with a magical glory reserved forthe stars of heaven. But Minli was

obviously unaware of all around her,lost in faraway dreams. For even in themisty light, the goldfish man could seeher smiling a secret smile up to the skyto where the mountain meets the moon.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

By the age of eleven, I had fullydisregarded my Asian heritage. My wisemother, knowing that any type of forcedcultural exposure would lead to scorn,silently left half a dozen Chinese folktaleand fairy-tale books on the bookshelf.Unable to resist the pull of a new book, Ivery quietly began to read them.

At first I was disappointed. Thetranslation from Chinese to English hadleft the stories extremely thin and attimes rough and hard to understand.There were hardly any details or

descriptions and the plain illustrationswould be best described as rudimentary.

But slowly I began to overlookthese flaws. Even in the barest of states,the timeless stories had a charm of theirown — and I began to add my owndetails to the stories. My imaginationdisregarded dynasties and historicalelements, and I filled the stories with myown images and fanciful layers.

Over time, I began to embrace myroots. I visited Hong Kong, Taiwan, andChina and was able to steep myself withthe vastness of those lands; the storiesthat I had read and imagined seemed tocome alive again. But the storiescontinued to deviate, tinged with myAsian-American sensibilities. I found

myself enjoying the Chinese tradition ofhomophonic puns, but I conceived themin English. I invented storylines for one-sentence legends, created histories fornondescript mythical characters, andpictured a Chinese girl free of real-lifecultural limitations as a spirited heroine.

And these are the stories andcharacters that make up Where theMountain Meets the Moon. It is afantasy inspired by the Chinese folktalesthat enchanted me in my youth and theland and culture that fascinates me in myadulthood. I hope there is magic in it foryou as well.

Some of the books that inspiredWHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS

THE MOON

Birch, Cyril. Tales from China (OxfordMyths and Legends). New York:Oxford University Press, 2000.

Editorial Committee of The OverseasChinese Library. Folk Stories Number2002. Taipei: The Overseas ChineseLibrary, 1985.

Editorial Committee of The OverseasChinese Library. Stories FromClassical Allusions Number 3001.Taipei: The Overseas Chinese Library,1985.

Editorial Committee of The OverseasChinese Library. Stories FromMencious Number 2003. Taipei: TheOverseas Chinese Library, 1985.

Fang, Linda. The Ch’i-lin Purse, ACollection of Ancient Chinese Stories.New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1995.

The Frog Rider — Folk Tales fromChina (First Series). Beijing: ForeignLanguages Press, 1980.

Hume, Lotta Carswell. FavoriteChildren’s Stories from China andTibet. Rutland, Vt.: Tuttle Publishing,1962.

Kendall, Carol and Yao-wen Li. Sweetand Sour, Tales from China. New York:Clarion Books, 1978.

Roberts, Moss, trans. Chinese FairyTales and Fantasies. New York:Pantheon Books, 1979.

Various. Folk Tales of the West Lake.N.p.: Olympia Press, 2007.

Wang, Gia-Zhen. Auntie Tigress andOther Favorite Chinese Folktales. NewYork: Purple Bear Books, 2006.