by Grace Lin
“Ahh, good,” the fish said. “If you make happy those that are near, those that are far will come.”
Ma’s head raised in a jerk. She looked over at the fish and then looked at Ba, her eyes wide.
“Did the fish say something?” she asked.
CHAPTER
45
The dragon waited. Mornings rose, nights fell, but he did not move from the bridge. Every night the stars filled the sky like snowflakes falling on black stone and then melted away as the sun mounted. When the sun rose, the red strings of the bridge melted into the sky and the bridge seemed to disappear, only showing itself again at night. A stinging wind blew in a silver mist and the cold rock was hard and unyielding. Still the dragon 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 jumped up and the figure became clearer and clearer. Minli!
“You are back!” Dragon shouted. “Did you see him? Did you ask the Old Man of the Moon my question?”
“Yes, yes,” Minli laughed as she hugged the dragon, “I asked him. And he answered. So now I know! I know how you can fly!”
“How?” Dragon asked.
Minli climbed onto Dragon’s back. With both hands, she clenched the stone ball above his head.
“Take a deep breath,” she said to him; 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,” he said, “so light and peaceful.”
“The Old Man of the Moon said you would not be able to fly until the ball was removed from your head,” Minli told him. “He said it was weighing you down.”
“It was!” Dragon laughed and Minli clutched his neck with her spare arm as he rose into the air. The wind seemed to join their whoop of laughter and sweep them up into the sky as the dragon flew for the first time. The silver clouds embraced them and then parted as the dragon flew through, as if he were rippling the sky; the pale moon looked as if it were smiling at them with a soft glow. As they skimmed the stars, Minli closed her eyes with delight.
As they returned to the ground, the dragon asked, “What about you? Did the Old Man tell you how to change your fortune?”
Minli was silent. Dragon turned to look at her.
“What happened?” he asked. “He did not tell you?”
“I didn’t ask,” Minli said. “I was only allowed one question.”
“What?” the dragon said. “You need to know! You have come all this way. We will fly back and you can ask him!”
Before Minli could utter a protest, the red cord bridge seemed to shriek, and as they turned to look at it, the bamboo stakes began to rip the ground, leaving ugly slashes as the bridge was dragged away from the land. The bridge jerked violently, the bamboo supports clattering as it was pulled up into the darkness.
“The Old Man of the Moon will not see me again,” Minli said. “He won’t answer 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, I suddenly saw I didn’t have to ask it.”
“You did not?” the dragon said.
“No,” Minli said, and suddenly memories rushed through her. She heard the buffalo boy’s laughter as he refused her money, saw the king’s generous smile as he willingly parted with his family’s treasure, and remembered Da-A-Fu’s last words to her. “Why would we want to change our fortune?” they had said. She had shaken her head in confusion then, but now, finally, Minli understood all of it. Fortune was not a house full of gold and jade, but something much more. Something she already had and did not need to change. “I didn’t ask the question,” Minli said again and smiled, “because I don’t need to know the answer.”
CHAPTER
46
The moon began to fade as the brightening sky revealed itself through it. The sun was awakening, and Minli wanted to return home as soon as possible. Dragon, having waited three days and nights, was well rested, so they decided to leave Never-Ending Mountain at once.
As Dragon soared through the sky, any heaviness inside Minli left. He seemed to dance in the air, and his happiness made her feel as light as the clouds around her. The sun seemed to warm her heart and joy bubbled inside of her. She knew she had asked the right question.
Before they left, Minli and the dragon circled over the Village of Moon Rain. Da-A-Fu, Amah, A-Gong, and the villagers saw them and ran out of their stone hut, flapping their ruined sleeves in greeting. “Don’t stop,” Amah shouted with a broad smile, “go home!” Minli nodded and waved goodbye until the flowering trees looked like brush strokes of golden paint on the mountain.
Flying on the dragon made traveling much faster. It seemed as if in no time they were above the City of Bright Moonlight—from the sky, the Inner City and Outer City grids looked like a giant labyrinth, and the two stone guardians looked as if they were dog trinkets molded from clay. Minli saw the roof of the buffalo boy’s broken-down hut, but no glimpse of him. He’s probably inside, sleeping, Minli thought, wondering if the Goddess of Weaving had visited the previous night.
But as they passed the bay of water by the city, Minli saw something strange, like an orange shadow streaking across the sky. Dragon saw it too and slowed down. As it got closer, there was no mistaking it. It was another dragon!
The dragon was orange, the color of the inside of a ripe mango. When she saw Minli and Dragon, a coquettish smile spread across her face.
“Hello,” Dragon breathed in an odd voice. Minli looked at him in surprise.
But the orange dragon kept flying without saying a word. As she passed, she winked at them. Dragon balanced in mid-air as if stunned. He watched the orange dragon sweep down and away to the water below until she was a ginger speck in the distance.
“Are you okay?” Minli asked the dragon as he continued to stare. “You must be excited that you’ve finally seen another dragon.”
“I am,” Dragon said, as if in a daze. Then he shook himself as if trying to rouse himself awake. “But I will find her again later. I will bring you home first.”
Minli shrugged. Dragon was acting oddly. But there was something familiar about that orange dragon, perhaps the way her scales reflected in the sun like fish scales glistening in the water, and those knowledgeable eyes, nodding as if she knew her. Minli smiled.
Hours passed and the land below them blurred. Minli slept on and off; the smooth ride of the flying dragon made it easy for her to sleep. Minli was impressed by how far they had journeyed and how much faster they were able to travel by flying. The sun was only beginning to go down past the horizon when they saw the edge of the peach forest. The tops of the peach trees seemed to sway a welcome to them as they flew overhead, and as they continued to fly, Minli thought she saw the monkeys still attached by the fishnet around the pot of rice.
But Dragon was still acting strangely. When Fruitless Mountain, with its familiar black peak cutting into the pink and orange sunset sky, came into view, the dragon almost stopped flying.
“What mountain is that?” he asked Minli.
“It’s Fruitless Mountain,” Minli told him. “Right beyond it, next to the Jade River, is my home.”
“Fruitless Mountain,” he said to himself, and even though he continued to fly, he seemed to be in a daze. Minli wondered if flying had somehow made him lightheaded. But her attention could not be kept by her concern for him. Night was falling and the dark lines of Fruitless Mountain softened in the shadowy sky. But Minli could still see that every moment brought the Jade River and Fruitless Mountain closer. She was almost home!
However, when they reached Fruitless Mountain, Dragon suddenly stopped. He dropped lightly to the base of Fruitless Mountain, where so long ago Minli had taken some stone to make her compass.
“This is Fruitless Mountain,” D
ragon said, and again Minli looked at him. He was definitely acting out of the ordinary.
“Yes,” Minli said, a bit puzzled. “My village is just a bit past this. I can walk from here if you wish.”
“Do you mind?” Dragon asked. “For some reason, I feel as if I do not want to leave here.”
“No, I don’t mind,” Minli said. “Are you okay?”
The dragon looked at her and smiled. “Yes,” Dragon said. “Strangely, I feel like I am home.”
Minli wrinkled her forehead in confusion, but was too eager to get home to her parents to ask any more questions. Minli hugged Dragon goodbye. He returned her hug warmly, but she could tell he was distracted. She held out the round ball she had taken from Dragon’s head. “Do you want this?”
“No.” Dragon glanced at it absentmindedly. “You can have it.”
Minli shrugged again, but the urge to go home began to pull at her strongly. She waved goodbye to Dragon and began to run toward the village.
It was late at night when she finally reached home. The slumbering village was silent, and as Minli crept into her home the pale goldfish greeted her.
“Shh,” the goldfish said to her. “Your parents are sleeping. Welcome home.”
Minli was a little surprised to see a goldfish, but smiled a greeting. Moonlight misted over the rough floors and made the sparse room glow silver, the goldfish bowl looking like a second moon. The shabby walls and worn stones seemed to shimmer as if a translucent silk veil covered them, muting any flaws and transforming the house into a dwelling of luminous light and delicate shadows. Minli had never seen her home look so beautiful.
Tiptoeing, she put her bag and the dragon’s stone on the table and went into her room. Smiling, she climbed into her bed and went to sleep.
CHAPTER
47
“Minli? Minli!” Ma and Ba’s happiness burst from them like exploding firecrackers and even before she could open her eyes they had flung themselves upon her. The joy! How it flowed and flooded over her! More golden than the king’s dragon bracelet, sweeter than a peach from the Queen Mother’s garden, and more beautiful than a Goddess of Heaven! Minli smiled, treasuring her good fortune.
Ma and Ba only stopped hugging her when her stomach began to grumble with hunger. Ma rushed to make a special breakfast, taking out the carefully saved dried pork to make Minli’s favorite porridge, while Ba jumped to get some fresh water to make tea.
But when Ba went into the main room, he made a choking noise that caused Minli and Ma to come running.
“What is that?” he said, pointing. Minli followed his finger and saw him pointing at her traveling possessions on the table. The fish swam merrily around in its bowl as the silk of her brocade bag made the sunlight skip around the room.
“That is a bag given to me by the King 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. Ba took it in his hands reverently, a look of awe on his face.
“This is not just any gift,” Ba whispered, and he took his sleeve and gently rubbed the surface of the stone. To Minli’s great surprise, the grayness of the stone began to smudge away and a translucent, lustrous glow seemed to shine through. “This is a dragon’s pearl.”
Minli and Ma stared. “A dragon’s pearl!” Ma said slowly. She sat down and 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 a great shouting and clamoring outside on the street. Ba quickly, but carefully, put the dragon pearl back on the table before they all hurried out to see what the uproar was about.
“What is it?” Ma asked, grabbing a neighbor. The entire village had flowed into the street, talking and shouting like a flock of birds discovering a feast. “What is happening?”
“It’s Fruitless Mountain!” the neighbor said. “Fruitless Mountain has turned green.”
“What?” Ba said.
“It’s true, it’s true!” another neighbor chimed in. “Fruitless Mountain is no longer fruitless! And the Jade River is clear and fresh too!”
Minli, Ma, and Ba looked at the mountain. It was true. Fruitless Mountain was no longer a black shadow above them. As the day dawned, the mountain had transformed. A green lushness seemed to bloom from the rock—a jewel-colored splendor softened the sharp edges that had painfully sliced the sky. The sky itself seemed to be embracing the mountain. The wind softly caressed the newborn greenery with a nurturing breeze and skimmed the Jade River, the water now as clear as tears of joy.
“How is this possible?” Ma asked.
“Jade Dragon must be happy again,” Ba said. “Perhaps she is reunited with one of her dragon children.”
Dragon! Minli thought, and her quick-thinking mind seemed to spin. Dragon said he was making his home on Fruitless Mountain. Could he be one of Jade Dragon’s children? But how? Dragon was born from a painting, from paintbrushes and inkstones… and like an echo, Minli remembered Ma talking about the artist who had come to Fruitless Mountain many years ago. He took the mountain rock to carve into inking stones.
Perhaps Dragon was born from an inkstone made of Fruitless Mountain, the heart of Jade Dragon. Then perhaps he was one of Jade Dragon’s children. And by bringing him to Fruitless Mountain, Minli had discovered how to make Fruitless Mountain green again.
“Minli!” A villager, finally recovered from the shock of the green mountain, stared at Minli. “You came back! Look, everyone! Minli has returned!”
As the neighbors clamored around, Ma sighed. But it was a sigh of joy, a sound of happiness that floated like a butterfly in the air. “Good fortune has come to the village,” Ma said, smiling. “And to us, as well.”
“Yes,” Ba said, looking affectionately at Minli. “But the best fortune is the one that returned.”
Minli smiled back. And suddenly, as she thought about her journey to and from Never-Ending Mountain, Minli realized that while she had not asked the Old Man of the Moon any of her questions, they all had been answered.
CHAPTER
48
The goldfish man shaded his eyes as he pushed his cart along the Jade River. Yes, he was almost there. How long had it been? Two years? Perhaps three. Yes, the poor Village of Fruitless Mountain should be ahead soon, he thought.
But, possibly, he was mistaken. When he had been there last, the most striking characteristic of the landscape had been the black mountain, its shadow casting gloom upon the village. But there was no dark silhouette in the sky now; in fact, the landscape looked as if it were from a heavenly painting. A majestic green mountain sat in harmony with the deepening blue sky, the sun spreading its light for the last time before it set. Had he taken a wrong turn somewhere?
As he gazed, two flying figures in the sky caught his eye. Red and orange, a dragon and his mate frolicking amongst the clouds… wait, dragons? The goldfish man shook his head in disbelief, rubbed his eyes, and looked again. Only the dimming sky and feathery clouds fanning the wind were above. I must have been imagining things, he thought.
The goldfish man pushed onward. The water in the fishbowls rippled and waved as the fish gazed calmly; their brilliant colors against the abundant green land glinted like gold and jade.
As he entered the village, the goldfish man again began to doubt if he was in the right place. Smooth stone lined the roadway and, instead of the rough board houses he remembered, rich wooden doors—some elaborately carved—lined the street. As he pushed his cart down the narrow street, lively children dressed in gay colors flew toward him like a festival of silk kites. “Goldfish! Goldfish!” they cried. “Ma! Ba! Can we get one?”
Parents walked over and smiled indulgently at their children, and by the time the sun disappeared, the goldfish man had sold
out of his wares. Clearly this was not the same poor village he had come to before, where only that one girl purchased a fish.
But then he remembered hearing a story about how a family that lived by the Jade River had given the King of the City of Bright Moonlight the incredible gift of a Dragon Pearl, refusing any payment. In gratitude, the king presented the entire village with gifts of seeds and farming equipment that brought more prosperity than any reward of gold and jade. Maybe this was the place.
“Little one,” the goldfish man asked a young girl dressed in a peony-pink silk jacket and leaf-green pantaloons, “the last time I was here, the last time I came to the Village of Fruitless Mountain, a child ran away from home. What happened to her?”
“Ran away from here?” the girl looked at him in disbelief, as if the idea was foreign. Then she nodded. “Oh, you must mean Minli! That’s when this used to be called the Village of Fruitless Mountain. Now it’s called the Village of Fruitful Mountain.”
“Yes, Minli,” the goldfish man said. “I think that was her name. What happened to her?”
“She and her family live over there,” The girl waved her arm. “They built a courtyard in front and in back of their house. It’s behind the gate with the pictures of the lucky children on the door.”
The goldfish man wheeled his empty cart to the indicated gate. On each half of the crimson doors hung a painting of a round-faced, laughing child dressed in brilliant red. Their pink cheeks and merry smiles made it impossible not to smile back, and as he grasped one of the metal door knockers shaped like a grinning lion head, he realized that the painting on the left was of a girl and the one on the right was a boy.
The door flew open as soon as he knocked and the goldfish man was face-to-face with a woman he scarcely recognized. He recognized her even less when she threw her arm around him like an old friend.
“You!” she said to him, her face wrinkling in cheerful smiles. “Come in, come in! My husband will be happy to see you.”