Wu Kang shrugged and began in earnest to chop down the tree. Little did he realize that with every cut the tree grew back, and every blow only scattered the seeds from the tree into the night sky lake.

So every night Wu Kang cuts the tree. Tied by the string of destiny, he cannot leave it and is fated to chop until he learns his lesson or until the end of time.

Minli walked silently after the rabbit finished the story, and for a while the only sounds were of the tree's flying seeds falling into the water.

Those seeds, Minli said to herself, Minli said to herself, they are really falling through the sky to the earth. They are the seeds that fall onto Moon Rain Village! It's Wu Kang's chopping that makes the strange moon rain. The flowering trees grow from the seeds from the tree on Never-Ending Mountain... they are really falling through the sky to the earth. They are the seeds that fall onto Moon Rain Village! It's Wu Kang's chopping that makes the strange moon rain. The flowering trees grow from the seeds from the tree on Never-Ending Mountain...

But just then Minli's thoughts were interrupted by the rabbit, which had stopped suddenly.

"In there," the rabbit said, motioning toward a circular opening through a stone wall, "is the Old Man of the Moon."

CHAPTER 43.

Minli took one step into the walled courtyard and then stopped. Countless red threads covered the ground like intricate lace. Interwoven in the red strings were thousands and thousands of small clay figures, each no longer than her finger; like a spider, in the exact center, sat the Old Man of the Moon.

He sat cross-legged, with a giant book on his lap. His head was bowed over two clay figures in his hand, so that the most that Minli saw of him was the top of his head. But she could see his delicate, wrinkled hands, skillfully tying the figures in his lap together with a red thread. A blue silk bag full of red strings lay open beside him, and Minli felt a shock run through her as she saw it. She had seen that bag before! Deep blue silk, silver embroidery - it was the bag the buffalo boy's friend had been carrying that starry night. She's the G.o.ddess of Weaving! She's the G.o.ddess of Weaving! Minli realized. Minli realized. She spins the red thread for the Old Man of the Moon. I knew there was something different about her. No wonder she knew how to find the king. She spins the red thread for the Old Man of the Moon. I knew there was something different about her. No wonder she knew how to find the king.

The Old Man reached beside him for his walking stick - a bent, twisted wood stick - and tapped it on the ground. Silently, the clay figures floated from his hand, drifted in the air, then settled to the ground at opposite ends of the courtyard. The Old Man's thread still connected them and the red line wove itself among the other strands surrounding him.

As Minli stared, the Old Man looked at her. The silver hair of his beard seemed to flow like a glowing waterfall and disappear into the folds of his robes, and his dark eyes matched the blackness of the night sky.

"Ah," the Old Man said, "it's you."

Minli nodded and bowed deeply. She would have kneeled on the ground, but she was afraid of disrupting the clay figures standing on the ground at her feet.

"Well, come here, then," the Old Man said impatiently, and he tapped his stick on the ground again. And with a sound like a flapping of a bird's wing, the clay figures moved - clearing a path for Minli.

"I know you have questions for me," the Old Man said. "Every ninety-nine years, someone comes here with their questions. But I will answer only one. So choose your question carefully."

One question! Minli almost stopped walking in shock. If she was only allowed to ask one question, she could not ask Dragon's question for him! Unless... she did not ask her own.

Minli felt like a fish gasping for air. What was she going to do? The memories of the hard work in the rice fields, her father's careworn hands, the plain rice in the dinner bowls, and Ma's sighs washed upon her like the splashes of water from the lake. She had to change her fortune; she must ask how to do that.

But when Minli thought about Dragon, waiting for her patiently, it was as if she had been struck. And like seeds falling from Wu Kang's tree, images of the Dragon rained upon her - their laughter as they pa.s.sed the monkeys, his awkward struggles walking in the woods, his echoing roar as he flung the Green Tiger into the air, the kind hand he put on her shoulder when she cried and the hopeful look in his eyes as she left. Dragon is my friend, Dragon is my friend, Minli said to herself. Minli said to herself. What should I do? What should I do?

Minli's thoughts bubbled faster and faster like boiling rice; every step she took seemed to throb and Minli wasn't sure if the pounding was her heart or Wu Kang's axe in the distance. As she pa.s.sed the clay statues, she thought she could see figures of the goldfish man, the buffalo boy, the king, and Da-A-Fu silently watching her. Minli's feet seemed to ignore her pleas for slowness; like the kite being pulled in, she was being drawn toward the Old Man of the Moon without delay. Before she could decide whose question to ask, Minli found herself facing him.

The Old Man of the Moon looked at her expectantly, his black eyes as unreadable as the night sky. Minli looked down into the open book on his lap. She recognized the open page as the king's borrowed line - the smoothed-out folds and the holes she had made in it when she had turned it into a kite were still there. Yet, now the paper was invisibly fastened in the book with only a thin line, like a scar, showing that it had ever been removed.

And the words had changed again. There was a single line of words running down the entire page. As she looked, Minli realized for the first time, she could read the words - or really the word. For the line was only made of one word, written over and over again. And that word was Thank fulness. Thank fulness.

And suddenly, like the light when the clouds move away from the moon, Minli knew clearly what question to ask.

"There is a dragon waiting at the bridge," she said. "Why can he not fly?"

CHAPTER 44.

Ma and Ba continued to wait for Minli, quietly and sadly. Even though they told themselves that they trusted Minli and believed she would return, Ma spent most of her time looking out the window, lost in thought, while Ba grew older and grayer every day. The only time they found comfort was in the evenings, when Ba would tell a story to make the time pa.s.s faster. In the escape of Ba's tales, they could forget that Minli was not with them and imagine that she was there listening.

One evening, when the moon filled the sky, Ma spoke. "Husband," she said, "tonight, I would like to tell you a story."

Ba was slightly surprised, but nodded.

THE STORY THAT MA TOLD Once there was a woman who had a kind husband and a beautiful daughter. A great mountain shadowed their home, making the land that they lived on poor and their house small. But there was always enough to eat, and the water always flowed in hot months, while a fire always burned during the cold ones. Yet the woman was not content.

The woman begrudged the barren mountain and the meager land and swallowed her plain rice with bitterness. She frowned at the humble cotton of their clothes and sighed in resentment at the tight rooms of the house.

Day after day, the woman grumbled. When she heard stories of treasures of gold and jade, she was filled with envy. "Why do we have nothing?" she sulked in frustration. "We have no treasures, no fortune. Why are we so poor?"

Her husband and daughter worked harder every day, hoping to bring wealth to their house. But the unfeeling land did not cooperate, and the house remained cramped, the clothes stayed modest, and there was always only just enough rice for the three of them. The woman also remained unhappy; her displeasure grew like weeds - uncontrollable and tangling.

The woman was so caught up in her dissatisfaction, she did not realize that the she was planting seeds of discontent in her daughter as well. Until then, her daughter had been pleased with their life, but now she began to feel troubled. The rice that filled their bowls began to taste bland, the clothes she had liked for their colors now felt rough, and the house that she had run freely around in had become stifling.

Finally, unable to bear the growing frustration, the daughter stole away in the middle of the night - vowing not to return until she could bring a fortune back to her family.

And it was only then that the woman saw the stupidity of her behavior. For without her daughter, the house became too large and empty, and she was not hungry for the extra rice. As the days pa.s.sed in loneliness, fear, and worry, the woman cursed herself for her selfishness and foolishness. How lucky she had been! She was at last able to see that her daughter's laughter and love could not be improved by having the finest clothes or jewels; that joy had been in her home like a gift waiting to be opened. The woman wept tears for which there was no comfort. For all the time that she had been longing for treasures, she had already had the one most precious.

Now wiser, the woman could do nothing but go to her husband, beg forgiveness for her actions, and hope to someday do the same with her daughter. She did not know if she would receive compa.s.sion from either, but she vowed she would wait for it. If necessary she would wait like the mountain that shadowed them.

As Ma finished, she sat herself down at Ba's feet and, like a child, she placed her head in his lap.

"Husband," she said, "I've said it was your fault that Minli ran away and I was wrong. I am to blame. Minli knew I was discontent with our fortune; if I had not been, she would not have left. I am sorry."

Ba could not speak. The moon outside was so full it looked as if it would burst, and moistness dampened his eyes. He placed his hand tenderly on Ma's head.

"Ahh, good," the fish said. "If you make happy those that are near, those that are far will come."

Ma's head raised in a jerk. She looked over at the fish and then looked at Ba, her eyes wide.

"Did the fish say something?" she asked.

CHAPTER 45.

The dragon waited. Mornings rose, nights fell, but he did not move from the bridge. Every night the stars filled the sky like snowflakes falling on black stone and then melted away as the sun mounted. When the sun rose, the red strings of the bridge melted into the sky and the bridge seemed to disappear, only showing itself again at night. A stinging wind blew in a silver mist and the cold rock was hard and unyielding. Still the dragon waited.

But on the third night, just as the moon began to slip down in the sky, Dragon saw a faint figure on the bridge. With a joyous roar, the dragon jumped up and the figure became clearer and clearer. Minli!

"You are back!" Dragon shouted. "Did you see him? Did you ask the Old Man of the Moon my question?"

"Yes, yes," Minli laughed as she hugged the dragon, "I asked him. And he answered. So now I know! I know how you can fly!"

"How?" Dragon asked.

Minli climbed onto Dragon's back. With both hands, she clenched the stone ball above his head.

"Take a deep breath," she said to him; and with a jerk that took all her strength, she yanked the ball off his head.

"Ouch!" Dragon yelped. But then, he began to smile. "I feel so light," he said, "so light and peaceful."

"The Old Man of the Moon said you would not be able to fly until the ball was removed from your head," Minli told him. "He said it was weighing you down."

"It was!" Dragon laughed and Minli clutched his neck with her spare arm as he rose into the air. The wind seemed to join their whoop of laughter and sweep them up into the sky as the dragon flew for the first time. The silver clouds embraced them and then parted as the dragon flew through, as if he were rippling the sky; the pale moon looked as if it was smiling at them with a soft glow. As they skimmed the stars, Minli closed her eyes with delight.

As they returned to the ground, the dragon asked, "What about you? Did the Old Man tell you how to change your fortune?"

Minli was silent. Dragon turned to look at her.

"What happened?" he asked. "He did not tell you?"

"I didn't ask," Minli said. "I was only allowed one question."

"What?" the dragon said. "You need to know! You have come all this way. We will fly back and you can ask him!"

Before Minli could utter a protest, the red cord bridge seemed to shriek, and as they turned to look at it, the bamboo stakes began to rip the ground, leaving ugly slashes as the bridge was dragged away from the land. The bridge jerked violently, the bamboo supports clattering as it was pulled up into the darkness.

"The Old Man of the Moon will not see me again," Minli said. "He won't answer any question for another ninety-nine years."

"But, you..." the dragon sputtered, "your fortune, your parents..."

"It's all right," Minli told him. "When it was time for me to choose, I suddenly saw I didn't have to ask it."

"You did not?" the dragon said.

"No," Minli said and suddenly memories rushed through her. She heard the buffalo boy's laughter as he refused her money, saw the king's generous smile as he willingly parted with his family's treasure, and remembered Da-A-Fu's last words to her. "Why would we want to change our fortune?" they had said. She had shaken her head in confusion then, but now, finally, Minli understood all of it. Fortune was not a house full of gold and jade, but something much more. Something she already had and did not need to change. "I didn't ask the question," Minli said again and smiled, "because I don't need to know the answer."

CHAPTER 46.

The moon began to fade as the brightening sky revealed itself through it. The sun was awakening, and Minli wanted to return home as soon as possible. Dragon, having waited three days and nights, was well rested, so they decided to leave Never-Ending Mountain at once.

As Dragon soared through the sky, any heaviness inside Minli left. He seemed to dance in the air, and his happiness made her as feel as light as the clouds around her. The sun seemed to warm her heart and joy bubbled inside of her. She knew she had asked the right question.

Before they left, Minli and the dragon circled over the Village of Moon Rain. Da-A-Fu, Amah, A-Gong, and the villagers saw them and ran out of their stone hut flapping their ruined sleeves in greeting. "Don't stop," Amah shouted with a broad smile, "go home!" Minli nodded and waved good-bye until the flowering trees looked like brush strokes of golden paint on the mountain.

Flying on the dragon made traveling much faster. It seemed as if in no time they were above the City of Bright Moonlight - from the sky, the Inner City and Outer City grids looked like a giant labyrinth, and the two stone guardians looked as if they were dog trinkets molded from clay. Minli saw the roof of the buffalo boy's broken-down hut, but no glimpse of him. He's probably inside, sleeping, He's probably inside, sleeping, Minli thought, wondering if the G.o.ddess of Weaving had visited the previous night. Minli thought, wondering if the G.o.ddess of Weaving had visited the previous night.

But as they pa.s.sed the bay of water by the city, Minli saw something strange, like an orange shadow streaking across the sky. Dragon saw it too and slowed down. As it got closer, there was no mistaking it. It was another dragon!

The dragon was orange, the color of the inside of a ripe mango. When she saw Minli and Dragon, a coquettish smile spread across her face.

"h.e.l.lo," Dragon breathed in an odd voice. Minli looked at him in surprise.

But the orange dragon kept flying without saying a word. As she pa.s.sed, she winked at them. Dragon balanced in mid-air as if stunned. He watched the orange dragon sweep down and away to the water below until she was a ginger speck in the distance.

"Are you okay?" Minli asked the dragon as he continued to stare. "You must be excited that you've finally seen another dragon."

"I am," Dragon said, as if in a daze. Then he shook himself as if trying to rouse himself awake. "But I will find her again later. I will bring you home first."

Minli shrugged. Dragon was acting oddly. But there was something familiar about that orange dragon, perhaps the way her scales reflected in the sun were like fish scales glistening in the water and those knowledgeable eyes, nodding as if she knew her. Minli smiled.

Hours pa.s.sed and the land below them blurred. Minli slept on and off; the smooth ride of the flying dragon made it easy for her to sleep. Minli was impressed by how far they had journeyed and how much faster they were able to travel by flying. The sun was only beginning to go down past the horizon when they saw the edge of the peach forest. The tops of the peach trees seemed to sway a welcome to them as they flew overhead and as they continued to fly, Minli thought she saw the monkeys still attached by the fishnet around the pot of rice.

But Dragon was still acting strangely. When Fruitless Mountain, with its familiar black peak cutting into the pink and orange sunset sky, came into view, the dragon almost stopped flying.

"What mountain is that?" he asked Minli.

"It's Fruitless Mountain," Minli told him. "Right beyond it, next to the Jade River, is my home."

"Fruitless Mountain," he said to himself, and even though he continued to fly, he seemed to be in a daze. Minli wondered if flying had somehow made him lightheaded. But her attention could not be kept by her concern for him. Night was falling and the dark lines of Fruitless Mountain softened in the shadowy sky. But Minli could still see that every moment brought the Jade River and Fruitless Mountain closer. She was almost home!

However, when they reached Fruitless Mountain, Dragon suddenly stopped. He dropped lightly to the base of Fruitless Mountain, where so long ago Minli had taken some stone to make her compa.s.s.

"This is Fruitless Mountain," Dragon said, and again Minli looked at him. He was definitely acting out of the ordinary.

"Yes," Minli said, a bit puzzled. "My village is just a bit past this. I can walk from here if you wish."

"Do you mind?" Dragon asked. "For some reason, I feel as if I do not want to leave here."

"No, I don't mind," Minli said. "Are you okay?"

The dragon looked at her and smiled. "Yes," Dragon said. "Strangely, I feel like I am home."