The beggar's magic: a Chinese tale

Chang, Margaret Scrogin. The beggar's magic: a Chinese tale, New York: M. K. McElderry, c1997.



This is an ancient Chinese folktale, which retells a story about selfishness and sharing. An old beggar-priest arrives in a small village, Fu Nan and his father are totally astonished by the priest who shows the most wonderful and miraculous magic tricks in the world: He draws a sparrow on a paper, then the sparrow turns into a real sparrow and escapes from the page; he fills an old widow’s dry well with full of sweet clean water. When the Moon Festival arrives, the wealthy farmer Wu refuses to share his food with the other villagers, and ripe pears with the priest. The slighted beggar-priest picks up a pear seed, and performs a magic trick that makes the selfish, greedy farmer the laughingstock of the village.

The cat's tale: why the years are named for animals

Orgel, Doris. The cat's tale: why the years are named for animals, New York: Roaring Brook, 2008.

This is a well-know Chinese folktale explaining the naming of the Chinese zodiac. When Willow’s grandma is reading a titular story, the child’s cat, Mao, scratches her granddaughter, Nai Nai, so Nai Nai pushes the cat away from her lap. Mao gets angry and tells her own story. Mao narrates the story of how the Emperor Jade once invited his 13 favorite animals including the Ox, Rat, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig and Cat to a river race. Because some of the animals cannot swim, the emperor arranges that Rabbit and Rooster ride on Dragon’s back, Rat and his friend Cat sit on Ox’s back, and the rest of other animals plunge into the river. The cunning rat betrays the Cat by pushing him into the river. By clawing his way onto a rock in the river, Cat watches how Rat leaps ashore ahead of Ox and comes first to win. Jade Emperor is very happy, and decides to name the first year of the cycle the Year of Rat with every successive year named for the animals that completed the race, except Cat who has not finished. So the Cat and Rat became enemies from that time on. This is a beautiful picture book for children with bright watercolour painting illustrations.

How the rooster got his crown

Poole, Amy Lowry. How the rooster got his crown, New York: Holiday House, c1999.

This is a traditional well-know Chinese folktale set in ancient China. This book has stunningly, transporting artworks and a lovely story. In the early days of the earth, there are 9 suns in the sky. People named them with ancient icons such as Yin-Yang, the spiral, the maze, the raven and a star. When the rains fail, the suns start to roast the earth. All soil, rivers and lakes are in ruins; all living things die one after another. People have to live in caves and cannot come out in the daylight. Wise people gather together to discuss how to take action to save the earth. As a result, a clever and skilful archer named Yi is called from a remote land. He faces 9 suns bravely, uses his powerful arch shooting every suns’ reflection in a pond, so 8 suns drop except one sun which survives. After this he is so scared so that he hides in a cave and never comes out. Nine suns are too many, but only one is very essential. The earth turns into dark. People make every effort to coax the sun out, but the sun still refuses to come out. Until the lowly rooster starts to sing, and the sun is bewitched by the rooster’s singular song and appears. Once the sun hears the people’s cheers for his appearance, he relaxes, enjoys the encouragement, and then goes back to the heaven. Therefore, people gave the crown to the rooster to reward his outstanding achievement in saving the earth, and the rooster gets his glorious task to wake up the sun by singing every morning.

The seven Chinese sisters

Tucker, Kathy. The seven Chinese sisters, Morton Grove, III. : A. Whitman, 2003

A Chinese traditional folktale narrates a story of how six talented Chinese sisters rescue their youngest sister from a dragon. This is a picture book for children aged 0-8 years old. A long time ago, there were seven Chinese sisters who lived together happily in the countryside. Each of them has a unique talent: The eldest sister rides a scooter as fast as the wind; the second eldest knows karate; the third can count to 500 and beyond; the fourth can talk to dogs; the fifth sister can catch any balls; the sixth can cook delicious noodle soup, all, except the youngest baby’s talent has been discovered. One day, a hungry red dragon from faraway smells the noodle soup and flies to their house. The dragon snatches the seventh sister for his dinner instead of the noodle soup so the six sisters go off to rescue her. Each of the sisters utilizes their unique skills in the rescue mission such as the fifth sister using her dog talking ability to communicate with the dragon.

Mouse match: a Chinese folktale

Young, Ed. Mouse match: a Chinese folktale, San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace, c1997.

It retells a very famous traditional Chinese folktale about the truth that nothing is completely prefect; everything has its strength and weakness.  The parents of a mouse want to seek the greatest and most powerful husband for their cherished daughter. The first suitor is the sun with whom her parents are very satisfied; but suddenly a dark cloud passes and eclipses the sun, so her parents consider the cloud is better than the sun; after a while, a wind comes to propose and he easily blows the cloud away. The wind is proud of his unbeatable power until a majestic mountain blocks his way. Despite the wind making great efforts to blow it away; the mountain is still standing stably.  As her parents are going to make their decision on the selection of the mountain, they discover that the mountain is full of caves and have already been nibbled to crumbs by mice. At last her parents realize that a mouse would be their best choice and their daughter finally marries with a mouse. This is an awarded children’s book which combines an excellent meaningful story, unconventional application of colors and special binding.