Blackberry Blue by Jamila Gavin

Author:Jamila Gavin
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781448121298
Publisher: RHCP
Published: 2018-06-21T04:00:00+00:00

‘Get him away!’ screamed the dreadful creature, and Lu was dragged out by the palace guards, while his father fled in utter humiliation.

Suddenly, the palace doors flew open. There was a low chanting and murmuring of summer winds and lapping waters and rustling reeds.

A mother and her son entered the hall. The woman, once young, now old before her time, stood beside a youth as green as jade, dripping with lake water, his hair tangled with lotus flowers.

Chi walked towards the hag princess, holding out his bundle; his gift. Two gnarled hands received it. Bony fingers prised open the folds and revealed the jade animals: a blue dragon, a white tiger, a black tortoise and, finally, a golden fish, all made from the palest, most translucent jade, through which the sun gleamed, turning it to gold. And she began to sing:

‘East the Blue Dragon,

West the White Tiger,

North the Black Tortoise,

South the Gold Fish.’

And as she sang, the ugly, wizened, loathliest of creatures was transformed into the beautiful maiden from the lake, in a long, creamy silken gown, her hands covered by floating sleeves, her long, unpinned black hair wafting around her like evening shadows.

‘It’s you!’ sighed Chi joyfully.

Then the king spoke. ‘When our daughter grew into such a beautiful maid, a wise fairy told us that only by turning her into an ugly creature would she know the true worth of any of her suitors. And only when the right man came would she transform back to her beautiful self. It seems you are that young man.’

The princess lifted up a garland of jade petals and dropped it over Chi’s shoulders. ‘I choose you for my husband, if you will have me.’

As Chi murmured, ‘I will,’ his rags fell away and jade flowed over his golden skin like fish scales.

Chi married the princess, and not only lived happily ever after with her, but rescued his family farm, which became prosperous once more. And when his mother had time, she would sit in the workshop as his father had done, and carve precious stones. Once again, the poor were provided for with all the generosity they had known when Chi’s father was alive.

In due course, Chi’s mother became a grandmother, and she would often wander with the little ones by the lake, and skip pebbles across the surface. Sometimes the golden carp would appear, and whenever she looked into the fish’s eyes she would meet her husband’s gaze, and whisper, ‘Thank you, my dearest one.’

As for the stepfather and his son, they didn’t return to the farm but disappeared, never to be heard of again. Perhaps they tricked another innocent widow, or perhaps they got the punishment they deserved. Who knows?

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