A story for Hakka kids

[CHUNG Yoon-Ngan <chungyn@mozart.collective.com.au>]

    HAPPY NEW YEAR 

    This is a story for Hakka kids.


    THE DRAGON WITH A HUMAN FOOT

   Centuries ago in a little village in the province of Sichuan, China,
there lived a very rich landlord who owned vast tracts of farming land 
which he leased to the villagers. The villagers were requied to pay him 
rent in the form of produce after every harvest. He would bribe the local
police to jail those who were too poor to pay. He was regarded a tyrant.
The villagers both feared and hated him and they called him Big Bully.
  
    Xiao Dong, a little boy of ten years old, also lived in the village 
with his mother. His father was imprisoned for failing to pay rent and 
later died in gaol. Xiao Dong was too young to work in the field and Big
Bully repossessed the farming land he leased to Xiao Dong's father. There 
was no job suitable for such a young boy like Xiao Dong, so every day he 
went fishing at the river. He supported himself and his mother by selling 
his catch to the fishmonger. 

   One day Xiao Dong was fishing at the river. Despite spending the whole 
day from dawn to dusk he could not catch any fish. As the sun was setting
and darkness fell he got ready to go home when, suddenly, he felt 
something jerking his line. He tried to raise his rod but it would not 
budge. Something very heavy was at the end of the line. He pulled and 
pulled to no avail. Then, suddenly a gold fish broke the water surface
with the fishing line in its mouth. 

The gold fish spoke with a delicate human voice,
  " Little boy, please release me. I will reward you greatly".

   Xiao Dong was shocked and frightened to hear a voice from the fish. He 
quickly removed the fishing hook from the gold fish's mouth and the fish 
swam away. But a short time later, it return to where Xiao Dong was. From 
its mouth the fish spat out a pearl as big as a marble and said softly to 
Xiao Dong, 
  " Little boy this is your reward", and disappeared.
 
   Xiao Dong went home with the pearl but without any fish. He showed
the pearl to his mother and related to her how it came into his 
possession.

   The mother said, " Oh, my God. It is too precious for us. It is for the
rich. Perhaps we should sell it in the town. For the time being we must 
hide it."

   So his mother hid the pearl inside the rice container where there were
a few grains left for the night. Not long later when she went to fetch some 
rice to cook dinner she was amazed to see the rice container full of rice.
She called her son who came running and said ,
   "The pearl has magical powers". Xiao Dong then remembered what the gold
fish had told him that he could be richly rewarded.
 
   Since the rice container was now full of rice, she hid the pearl inside 
the money bag which contained only a few copper coins. Next morning she 
found the money bag all puffed up. She opened it and saw it was full of 
silver coins.
 
   Even though they had become rich Xiao Dong continued to fish in the river 
as if nothing had happened. But the villagers knew they were rich from the 
way they bought their provisions at the market. 

 One morning, while Xiao Dong's mother was hanging out the washing the 
wife of Big Bully passed by and she said to Xiao Dong's mother, 
  "I suspect that you and your son are stealing money from other people. 
    That's why you are living so well now. I will call in the police to
    investigate and arrest you".
 
   Xiao Dong's mother became frightened and confided to Big Bully's 
wife about the pearl that made them rich and asked her to keep it a
secret.

   Very early the next morning, before Xiao Dong went out fishing, Big 
Bully came to their house with a policeman. Xiao Dong secretly took the 
pearl and held it firmly in the palm of his hand. Big Bully and the 
policeman searched the house high and low but could not find the pearl.
When they turned to ask Xiao Dong for the pearl he was terrified. Without 
them noticing, he put the pearl into his mouth. Although asked numerous 
questions, Xiao Dong remained silent all the time because he dared that 
if he opened his mouth to speak, the pearl might fall out. Seeing that he
had remained silent for so long they grabbed and shook him violently. Xiao 
Dong accidentally gulped down the pearl. As they could not find anything, 
Big Bully and the policeman left but promised to return the next day.
 
   After they had left, Xiao Dong felt sick. He told his mother that he 
had palpitation and felt very thirsty. His mother went to the backyard 
to fetch a bucket of water from the well. Even after drinking the whole 
bucket of water he was still thirsty. It seemed the water from the well 
was not enough to quench his thirst and he ask for more. 

She took him to the river and there Xiao Dong drank and drank. After he had 
almost drunk half of the water from the river he told his mother that he was 
about to change into a dragon. On hearing this his mother went and grabbed
his left foot, weeping and begging him not to change.

  " Oh, dear mother I cannot help myself".
    
The mother held on even tighter but Xiao Dong continued to change. 
Eventually  he completely changed into a dragon except for the foot that his 
mother was tightly holding. Finally, his mother loosened the grip as Xiao
Dong the dragon began to drift up into the sky. Xiao Dong floated skyward, 
with a human foot. 

   His mother cried, "Come back my son" The dragon was not listening.

   "Give me a look, my son". The dragon looked back at his mother and a
hot tear dropped from his eye.

   "I must go mother. I haven't had the power to stop myself from going".

   "Look at me again, my son". The dragon looked back and another drop of
tear felt out from his eye.

  "Give me another look, my son". Another drop of tear from his eye felt
to the ground. 

  "Look at me once more, my son" Another drop of tear felt from his eye.
 
   For twenty-four times his mother called out to him, beseeching him to
look back and each time a drop of tear fell to the ground. Eventually the
dragon disappeared from the sky. The twenty-four drops of tear turned 
into twenty-four little lakes around the district near the river. 
The twenty-four little lakes were presents the dragon gave his mother.
  
   Having just lost lost her only son, the poor lady walked slowly home,
weeping and still calling out,
 
    " .... Give me another look, my son .........". 


 A Chinese fairy tale.         

CHUNG Yoon-Ngan