Tales of a Chinese Grandmother by Frances Carpenter

Author:Frances Carpenter
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-8048-3409-4
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing

XVII

THE WONDERFUL PEAR TREE

THE GARDEN OF SWEET SMELLS behind the Ling courtyards was gay with color on this summer afternoon. Flowers of many hues bloomed in the fat porcelain pots set here and there along its neat paths, and pink lotus lilies floated upon the Pool of the Goldfish. But quite as bright as the petals of the garden flowers were the children in their summer suits of thin cotton and silk. Small Dragon, the youngest of all the Ling grandchildren, looked like a giant poppy in his jacket and trousers of bright red, and the little girls in their pinks, blues, and greens made Grandmother Ling think of the butterflies that flitted about in the warm summer sun.

The Old Old One, clad in a pale lavender gown of thinnest silk, sat fanning herself upon a stone bench by the side of the pool. Her slanting black eyes beamed with pleasure as she watched her grandchildren playing round its edges.

Ah Shung had just come into the garden. On his way from the Court of Learning he had stopped in at the little low house that served as a kitchen, for a chat with his friends, the two merry men cooks. And as usual, he had come away with a handful of cakes.

"Cakes! Cakes! Ah Shung is eating cakes!" the children cried to each other, and they made a rush for the boy."

"These are mine," Ah Shung cried. "They are small! Wang Lai will bring for you a great bowlful. She is even now on her way. " The boy was not really selfish. But he could not help teasing his playmates a little. He ran away from them, holding his cakes clutched tight in his hand. Up this path, down that one, the children pursued him.

At last they trapped Ah Shung in the very middle of the white humpbacked bridge that rose over the Pool of the Goldfish. There was a playful scuffle. Then a shout arose. The cakes had been knocked out of Ah Shung's hand and had fallen in a shower of crumbs into the water. The red dragon-eyed goldfish snapped up the crumbs hungrily, almost before Ah Shung knew what had happened. His grandmother, who had been watching the little play, burst into a merry laugh at the change in the boy's face.

"The goldfish won in that battle!" she called out to him. "But do not feel badly, Small Bear; Wang Lai will come with the cakes for us all. You will just have to wait like the others. You only received the reward you deserved for being so stingy. It happened with you as with the stingy fruit peddler in the tale of the wonderful pear tree. Come, rest here beside me, and I will tell you about him."

"Long, long ago, on a summer afternoon when the sun shone as brightly as it does today, this stingy fruit peddler halted his wheelbarrow at the side of the road which ran between two large towns and upon which many people were always going and coming.

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