Favorite Children's Stories from China & Tibet by Lotta Carswell-Hume

Author:Lotta Carswell-Hume
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4629-0800-4
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing

The Magic Pancakes at the

Footbridge Tavern

West China

In a faraway province in western China there was once, long ago, a famous inn by the side of the road. This inn was called the Footbridge Tavern. It was kept by a young woman who went by the name of Mrs. Number Three. No one knew a single thing about her, or even where she came from. She carefully guarded her real name as a great secret.

The inn was large, with many rooms and these rooms were always filled with guests, because Mrs. Number Three always welcomed everyone to her door. Even if they had no money, she would take them in without any charge. At the back of the inn she had built rows and rows of stalls for her many fine donkeys.

Now, one night quite late, a certain Mr. Chao stopped at this inn, and Mrs. Number Three gave him the room just next to her own. There were already six other guests stopping at the inn, and when Mr. Chao arrived, Mrs. Number Three was serving them all large goblets of wine. They all drank freely except Mr. Chao, who was not in the habit of drinking wine. All the guests chatted gaily together for a time, and then they all scattered to their rooms, and, in a short time, they were all fast asleep.

But Mr. Chao was restless and could not sleep. At midnight he heard some strange noises coming from the room of Mrs. Number Three. He peeked through a crack in the wall and saw the strangest sight he had ever seen in all his life. Mrs. Number Three had taken down from the shelf above her bed a wooden box. From this box she took out a row of tiny wooden figures. She set the wooden figures out on the carpet, then she blew on them, and, as if by magic, all the little figures came to life.

One little man scattered dirt on the rug. Tiny oxen drew a plow back and forth over the dirt. Then, from a sack, the little man scattered buckwheat seeds into the furrows. In less time than it takes to tell about it, little sprouts came up; the grain ripened and the little man set his mill to running and ground it into flour. He put the flour into a tiny sack and handed it to Mrs. Number Three.

Then the little man and the oxen lined up on the edge of the rug. Mrs. Number Three blew on them, exactly as she had done before. Instantly, the tiny creatures were changed back into wooden figures, which the lady stored away in the box. Then she covered the box and replaced it on the shelf over her bed.

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