Where The Mountain Meets The Moon Part 11

"Maybe we should call it Well Tea," A-Fu laughed, "since the Green Tiger is down in the well."

"No," A-Gong said, "we want to remember our friends, not our enemies."

"Then we should call it Dragon Well 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's eyes that Minli had never seen before. He was unused to kindness, she realized. He had spent most of his years alone and trapped by his flightless body.

Too soon, breakfast was over and Minli was packing her possessions into the yellow silk bag the king had given her while Amah tied supplies onto the backs of A-Fu and Da-Fu. "Just in case," she said, slipping in their simple food of rice wrapped up in leaves and salted boiled eggs. "Bring Minli to Never-Ending Mountain and then come right home."

A-Gong put his hands on Minli's shoulders and said, "You're a brave girl, Minli, quick and clever. But you have been away from home too long. Go as quickly as you can."

Amah wrapped her warm arms around Minli then brought out a warm jacket. "For you," she said. "We made it while you were sleeping. Your dress is too thin for the mountain. "

The jacket was multicolored, made of large patches sewn together - some dark blue, some deep purple, a few bright red. Minli smiled thankfully; already the cold wind was chilling her but she was hesitant to ask these people for anything since they had already given her so much. As she put it on, she marveled at its warmth. The fabric looked like plain cotton, but she felt as warm as if she had put on a thick fur.

"Let's go then!" Da-A-Fu said, and the boy swung up his arm in excitement. It was only then that Minli noticed a large gash missing from his sleeve. She looked at the sleeve of her new coat and the bright red patch that made it and she gasped.

"Goodbye!" Da-A-Fu's family waved. As they waved, Minli saw each of them had missing material in their sleeves. Her goodbyes froze in her throat as she realized her warm coat was made of pieces cut from the family's own clothing.

"Come on," A-Fu said, her white hand 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 as soon as possible."

Minli nodded - and as she waved a grateful goodbye to the village, a sea of ruined sleeves fluttered back at her.

CHAPTER 38.

As Minli and Dragon followed Da-A-Fu up the harsh landscape, the wind blew wildly. But traveling was not difficult. Dragon carried them over any large cracks or openings; Minli had forgotten how enjoyable it was to travel with him. And Da-A-Fu, laughing with pure delight as they rode Dragon, looked like two ripe hawthorne berries. Their merriment and the brilliant red color of their clothes and of Dragon himself, seemed to warm the cold landscape. It was only when Minli's hands poked out of her sleeves into the icy air that she realized how cold it really was.

"It's not much farther," A-Fu said to them after they had walked some distance. "We should be able to see Never-Ending Mountain soon."

"You've never seen the Old Man of the Moon though?" Minli asked. "Has anyone?"

Da-A-Fu shook their heads. "No one has ever seen him," Da-Fu said. "No one in the history of our family or village."

"Though we do know he is the one who moved our ancestors here," A-Fu said.

"The Old Man of the Moon brought your ancestors here?" Minli asked. "How?"

THE STORY OF.

DA-A-FU'S ANCESTORS.

Even though our ancestors did their best to please the magistrate, they were not able to make him happy. One day, 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 the way here to warn you. The magistrate is convinced the answer you sent him was a trick and you are keeping the real secret from him. He is coming here to punish you. He plans to destroy your home and family! Run away while you can! There is not much time - his soldiers will be here tomorrow!"

Our ancestors cried with fear. The large family - the many sons and daughters, aunts and uncles, and children and grandchildren - could not help being scared. But Ye Ye, the great-grandfather and head of the family, raised his hand for attention.

"It looks as if misfortune is coming," he said, "and there is nothing we can do. We will not run. The soldiers would easily find us and the magistrate would be even more brutal. And I do not want to spend our last moments together in panicked flight."

Ye Ye looked at the bright blue sky and sun s.h.i.+ning on the mountain beyond their home. It was hard to imagine the coming trouble. "Little ones," he said to the children, "go fetch your favorite kites." Then Ye Ye turned to the adults. "Sons and daughters," he said, "prepare the finest picnic you can, with enough food and tea for all. We will not waste this time we have together. We will spend it as we always have, in happiness."

The family nodded at Ye Ye's wise words. Quickly, they rushed to do as he asked. They brewed large pots of their best chrysanthemum tea and filled special baskets with golden cakes and custard tarts, boiled chickens, crispy pork, fluffy steamed buns, and tea-stained eggs. And their brilliant kites, in the shapes of bugs and b.u.t.terflies, were dragged out of storage and into the sun.

Ye Ye smiled at his family as they finished their tasks. He carried his favorite books of poetry, stories, and songs in a bag. "Come," he said, "let us climb the mountain."

So together, with the tree leaves waving farewell, the family made their way up the mountain. They climbed high, so the kites could fly without the trees getting in the way. When there was nothing between them and the sky, they stopped.

And had a delightful time. The children laughed as their kites soared in the wind. The women smiled as they sipped the tea and the men happily ate the delicious treats. Ye Ye recited poetry that made the women sigh, told stories that made the men gasp, and sang songs that made all the children join in.

But all too soon, the day was ending. The moon was already rising in the sky when the children were told to wind the strings of their kites.

"Why bring the kites down?" an older boy asked. "This will be the last time we will be able to play with them."

"Yes," a girl said. "Let them fly for as long as they can."

So instead of bringing the kites in, they cut the strings. As the kites were freed, a strong gust of wind burst from the sky. One by one, the b.u.t.terflies and dragons disappeared as if flying home to the moon. As the kites vanished from sight, there was a sad sigh. No one spoke, but they all wished for an escape from tomorrow's tragedy.

Quietly, the family packed their belongings and began to climb down the mountain. They walked a long time, so long that the moon rose overhead and they began to s.h.i.+ver with cold.

"Are we lost?" a child asked. "This does not look like the way home."

"That's impossible," his mother told him. "How can we be lost? There is no other direction than down."

"But the boy is right," Ye Ye said. "Look at the rock before us. We have climbed this mountain many times yet I have never seen this rock or any rock of this type before."

"And there are no trees," a young girl said. "Always there were trees below us, and now there is just more rock."

"It's colder too," another said. "It is much too cold for an early autumn night."

"What has happened?" a woman asked.

"I think," Ye Ye said slowly, "we are no longer on our mountain. Somehow we are on a different one."

"How is that possible?" a man asked. "And why?"

Before Ye Ye could open his mouth to reply, one of the children shouted.

"Home!" she cried. "Our home is right there!"

And it was their home - the dark red gate doors were wide open, allowing them to see light s.h.i.+ning from the windows of their houses. Their chickens squawked a greeting, and their dogs jumped through the gate with cheerful barks.

Our ancestors couldn't believe it. Dirty pots and pans that they had left in the morning were still in the washbasin, mixed-up shoes and hanging laundry were exactly where they were before. Even the book that Ye Ye had left was open on the same page. Ye Ye walked from room to room and house to house, with the family following like a parade. Finally, he found a slip of bright silk stuck in the hinges of the gate doors. He turned around to look at the family crowding about him.

"It is a miracle," he said to them. "We have been moved here, beyond the magistrate's reach. We are saved!"

The family cheered, but could not help asking, "How? Who did this?"

Ye Ye looked at the empty land around him and the dark blue sky with the moon above and then at the thin strip of silk in his hand. "This silk is from one of the children's kites. The kites brought our wishes up to the Old Man of the Moon and he must have decided that our destinies lay here," Ye Ye said, and he motioned upward. "For there is only one other here with us tonight. It is only us and the moon."

"And your family has been here ever since?" Dragon asked.

Both children nodded. "For over a hundred years, our family has lived on the mountain, and we keep growing. Sometimes we travel down the mountain, sometimes people come to us; anyone who visits is welcome to call our place home."

"So..." Minli began, but her words died away as Da-Fu pointed toward the horizon. Minli and Dragon followed his hand and finally saw what could only be Never-Ending Mountain, home of the Old Man of the Moon.

CHAPTER 39.

Never-Ending Mountain was enormous, so large that it made Fruitless Mountain seem a like a loose pebble. Minli could not see the tip or the bottom of it, as it seemed to grow out of a gorge so deep that the base must have been at the foundation of the earth. Minli felt as if she were on the edge of the world as she stared across the great gulf separating them from the Never-Ending Mountain. It stood before them like a piece of raw green stone towering forever into the sky and disappearing into silver mist.

"There it is," Da-Fu said, "Never-Ending Mountain!"

"I bet the Old Man of the Moon does live up there," A-Fu said. "The top of this mountain must reach the moon."

"How do we get up there?" Minli asked. She was starting feel dizzy from staring upward so long.

The dragon looked chagrined. "If I could fly," he said, "I'd be able to get us up there to see the Old Man of the Moon."

"If you could fly," A-Fu laughed, "you would not need to see him!"

"But," Minli said, "it looks like flying is the only way up to see the Old Man 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 Moon know you'd like to come up."

"How do we that?" Dragon asked. "Send a message?"

Minli looked up at the sky as Dragon and Da-A-Fu continued to talk. Send a message, send a message. Send a message, send a message. Dragon's words echoed in Minli's ears and she felt as if she were searching for a match to light a lantern. The wind gusted at her, as if it were trying to tell her something. She watched A-Fu's braid fly in the air; as she pulled it down, the cut pieces of her sleeve flapped like the tail of a kite... Dragon's words echoed in Minli's ears and she felt as if she were searching for a match to light a lantern. The wind gusted at her, as if it were trying to tell her something. She watched A-Fu's braid fly in the air; as she pulled it down, the cut pieces of her sleeve flapped 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 and reached in her traveling bag for the two borrowed lines. Dragon and the children looked at her curiously as she waved the sheet of paper and the string before them.

"We can fly a kite up to the Old Man of the Moon," Minli exclaimed. "I'll make a kite of the two borrowed lines, that's bound to get his attention."

Da-A-Fu and the dragon grinned and together they made the borrowed lines into a kite. They fastened the page from the Book of Fortune onto Minli's chopsticks and attached an end of the red cord to the kite. But as they tried to trim the thread - A-Fu thought it would look neater if the end didn't dangle - they discovered that the borrowed line could not be cut.

"It is a string of destiny," Dragon said, as he tried again without success to cut the thread with his claw. Each of them, in succession, had tried to break it - Da-Fu even tried to snap it with his teeth. "It is reasonable to think it is unbreakable."

"Well, we don't need to trim the string to make the kite," Minli said. "But we can't cut the kite free to go to the moon."

"Just fly it until the string runs out," Da-Fu said, "then let go."

Minli nodded. It made sense. As they gazed at the wound coil, she said, amused, "It won't take too long for the string to run out, anyway. There is not a lot there!"

"I just hope there is enough for it to fly," A-Fu said.

So, with Da-Fu running, they began to fly the kite. As the kite rose higher and higher, Minli watched the coil of string in her hand.

"Is the string running out yet?" each asked over and over again. But Minli shook her head every time. The thread seemed to endlessly unwind. Even as the kite climbed upward becoming the size of a name chop mark, the string continued. Slowly, it disappeared from view with the thread scratching the darkening sky with a faint red line.

"That is a magic string," Da-Fu said in an awed voice.

"Of course," the dragon said suddenly. "It's a thread of destiny. If we are destined to see the Old Man of the Moon, 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 been gone too long. After the Green Tiger, we should try not to worry Amah and A-Gong so much."

"Don't you have anything you want to ask the Old Man of the Moon?" Minli asked. "You could change your fortune too."

"No," Da-A-Fu said, laughing. "Why would we want to change our fortune?"

The children ran down the mountain, their laughter melting into the air. Minli shook her head in confusion, but waved goodbye. As Minli watched them turn into figures of shadows, seeming to dance toward their home and village, she thought of her own Ma and Ba waiting for her in her home far away.

As the sky deepened like brewing tea, Minli and the dragon looked in silence at the red line reaching to the heavens. But just as the moon rose in the darkness, Minli felt a sudden jerk on the string. 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's heavy now!"

The dragon reached above Minli's head and grabbed the cord. Together, they pulled and dragged. As they strained, Minli wondered if they were bringing down the moon itself.

But there seemed to be no end to the string. As they wound up the thread, it seemed to get thicker and thicker. And when the string became the width of Minli's little finger, a strange clattering - like a wooden windchime - filled the air.

"Something has happened to the string," the dragon gasped between heaves.

And something strange had had happened. The thread - which was really now more like a thick silk rope - seemed to have divided itself into a long strange web, reinforced with bamboo stalks. As the endless U-shape came toward them, Minli gasped. happened. The thread - which was really now more like a thick silk rope - seemed to have divided itself into a long strange web, reinforced with bamboo stalks. As the endless U-shape came toward them, Minli gasped.

"The string," Minli panted, "it's... it's a bridge!"