Part 12 (1/2)
CHAPTER.
40.
Ma stood by the window as the stars began to poke holes in the deep blue velvet sky. The days without Minli had pa.s.sed slowly, and the evenings even slower. Ma wondered how the silver goldfish could remain calm in the bowl, while she herself felt she could barely breathe. As the night air touched her face, Ma thought of Minli, bit her lip, and sighed. Her eyes closed as she willed her tears to stop forming. When she opened her eyes, Ba was standing next to her.
”I know,” he said to her, and he placed 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't mind hearing it,” Ma said. ”It might make the time pa.s.s faster.”
Ba looked at her, surprised, and then nodded with a small smile.
THE STORY OF.
THE DRAGON'S PEARL.
Once, a dragon found a large white stone, round and softened by the ocean and wind. As he admired it, it began to s.h.i.+ne 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 without eating and sleeping as he made the pearl. He carved the stone with his claws and smoothed it with his scales. He carried it into the clouds, rolled it in fresh raindrops, and bathed it in the Celestial River. He polished it with pale chrysanthemum petals. Finally, it was done - perfectly round and luminously smooth. It was flawless and beautiful. As the dragon looked at it, a tear of exhaustion and joy fell from his eye and landed on the pearl. As the teardrop soaked into the pearl, it began to s.h.i.+ne with a dazzling radiance. The dragon smiled with delight. Exhausted, he fell asleep in the light of the pearl.
But the pearl continued to glow. The light was so lovely that it caught the attention of the Queen Mother of the Heavens. When she found out that the brightness came from the dragon's wondrous pearl, she sent two of her servants to steal it. The servants were able to accomplish this quite easily, as the dragon - weary from his many years of work - slept quite long and soundly.
When the Queen Mother received the pearl, even she was astonished by its loveliness. No pearl, no jewel, no treasure in the heavens or on earth could compare. She quickly had a vault made in the deepest part of her kingdom that one could only get to by going through nine locked doors. She put the pearl in the chamber and tied the nine keys to the doors onto her belt.
When the dragon woke up and found his pearl missing, he began a frantic search. He hunted the oceans and mountains, the rivers and valleys. He flew through the Celestial River, examining each star. But none gave the pure, clear light of his pearl.
Eventually, the dragon was forced to give up his search. He had no idea where to look or where the pearl could be. But he did not give up hope that he would find it. Instead, he waited for a sign of it.
And he did not wait in vain. On her birthday, the Queen Mother had a grand celebration. Inviting all the immortals of heaven, she held a ”Banquet of Peaches,” an endless a.s.sortment of rich and delicious dishes made from the peaches of immortality. Fragrant and potent peach wine was served with each dish, and every time her gla.s.s was low, the Queen Mother called for more.
So when the guests heralded her with compliments, flattery and fine gifts, the Queen Mother recklessly decided to show off her stolen treasure. ”My dear friends,” she said impetuously, ”your gifts and words are fine, indeed, but I have something that far outs.h.i.+nes them.”
And she took out her nine keys, unlocked the nine doors, and brought out the dragon's pearl. A hush went over the party as the pearl glowed with a light of such radiance that it flooded out of the palace and into all the heavens.
As the light broke into the sky, the dragon - ever faithfully alert - jerked up 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 crowd of admiring immortals fawning over the pearl 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, ”how dare you!”
”It is mine!” the dragon said, and looking at the flush of her cheeks and evading eyes, demanded, ”You stole it, didn't you?”
”I don't need to steal anything,” the Queen Mother bl.u.s.tered. ”I am the Queen Mother of the Heavens! All treasures made by the earth or heaven belong to me!”
”Heaven did not make that pearl,” the dragon said, ”nor the earth! I made it with years of work and effort. It is mine!”
The Queen Mother began to panic, and she fled out of the palace and into the garden, clutching the pearl. The dragon pursued her, determined not to lose the pearl again. The party guests followed, creating such a commotion of excitement and chaos that the Heavenly Grandfather (who tended to avoid his daughter's flamboyant parties) decided to leave his study to investigate the disturbance.
The Queen Mother, fl.u.s.tered and agitated, ran through the garden, leading a great chase. As she reached the garden wall and could not run any farther, she was horrified to see not only the dragon and her party guests, but also her father coming after her. As they reached her, in a fit of terror, she threw the pearl over the wall.
The dragon gave a roar of dismay, and all rushed to look over the garden wall to see the pearl fall deep into the Celestial River. In the deep blue water that separated heaven and earth, the pearl seemed to grow larger and glow more radiantly.
The dragon began to make movements to dive into the river when the Heavenly Grandfather stopped him. ”Leave it there,” he said, ”and shame on you both. The pearl should not belong to one being. Do you not see this is where the pearl belongs, where everyone on heaven and earth can see its beauty and enjoy it?”
Both the dragon and the Queen Mother, humbled, nodded and the guests praised the Heavenly Grandfather's wisdom. And so did the people on earth, for now when they looked up into the sky the moon glowed down upon them.
There was a peaceful silence after Ba finished the story. Finally Ma gave a small sigh and a smile. ”If Minli were here, she would ask you if that story were true.”
”And I would have to tell her, 'probably not,' ” Ba said. ”When I was a very young boy, I remember seeing a glimpse of a rare dragon pearl. It was being carried to the Emperor himself, guarded by hundreds of men, and there was still a moon in the sky.”
”There is more than one pearl in the ocean,” the fish said. ”So of course there is more than one dragon pearl. Though the dragon pearl that makes the moon is by far the largest.”
Ba glanced carefully at the fish and then at Ma, but both seemed ignorant of the 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. A single pearl. I suppose it could've belonged to a dragon.”
She spoke without the desire or envy she used to feel when speaking of the wealth of others. The moonlight seemed to transform her, lifting the years of bitterness and hards.h.i.+p and leaving her with a sad serenity. It affected Ba unexpectedly, in a way he had not felt in years; he filled with great tenderness.
But Ma continued to stare dreamily out the window, as unaware of his thoughts 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 to the Old Man of the Moon.”
With the attached bamboo stakes, Minli and the dragon had anch.o.r.ed their end of the bridge to the ground. As it stretched into the night, it quivered in the moonlight.
Minli stared at the vast length of the bridge, hanging in the sky like a delicate red spiderweb. ”I don't think you will be able to cross it,” Minli said.
Dragon, too, looked at the U-shaped bridge, with its fragile ropes. ”I cannot fit on it,” he said, ”and I doubt it will bear my weight.”
”Well,” Minli said, ”maybe it is magic, like the thread. Try.”
Dragon put one foot onto the rope bridge. But as the rope felt his ma.s.s, it groaned and the bamboo stakes began to tear out of the ground. Hurriedly, Dragon stepped off.
”I think,” Dragon said slowly, ”I am not destined to see the Old Man of the Moon.”