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ORIENTAL WOMEN TALK
Martial Art Fantasy Short Story
Author: Hani Law Copyright © 2006
Poems
Wise talk
Taiji
Idioms
Buddhism
History of China
"Butterfly Lovers"
Calligraphy
Lyric verses
Yi Jing
Famous painting
Chinese tea
A true story
Confucianism
Book talk
Link to
chinesechinese.net
Wise talk
Taiji
Idioms
Buddhism
History of China
"Butterfly Lovers"
Calligraphy
Lyric verses
Yi Jing
Famous painting
Chinese tea
A true story
Confucianism
Book talk
Link to
chinesechinese.net
SWAN BEAUTY
CHAPTER 1
This is a no man’s land. I find myself walking in the snow
under a pitch-dark sky. I can feel the loneliness and
despondency hanging over the place. Have I, Mei Mei,
been abandoned by my family and friends? Or have I
deserted them myself?
Shortly after I turned eighteen, my mother sat me down
and told me about our village tradition, whereby girls
unlucky enough to be born without a pretty face were
dumped into the ocean as a form of sacrifice to the
Eternal God. Given my unattractive appearance, my
mother and I deliberated over the issue: should I stay
behind and surrender myself to my inevitable fate or flee
from the village to make a new life for myself elsewhere?
But if I made the second choice, where would I go? When
I was a little girl, I often noticed that there were girls who
I knew had disappeared and when I asked my mother
about it, she usually evaded my question. Presumably, she
did not wish to scar my childhood.
It is my nineteenth birthday today and I ought to be
celebrating it with my father and my mother. However,
here I am, all alone. After prolonged discussions about
the choices that were available to me, my parents had
decided that I should leave the village for the Magic
Lake, the waters of which were known to transform one’s
plain appearance and turn one into a beauty. No wonder
the name “Mei Mei”, which means beautiful, was given to
me. My parents naturally hoped that I would grow up to
be a beautiful woman, and I would not be made a
sacrifice to the eternal god. Nobody knew, however,
where the Magic Lake was located. If I managed to
become pretty by going to the lake, I would then be able
to return to the village and, hopefully, change the attitude
of its residents, persuading them to give up their evil
custom. But first, I needed to find a way of avoiding
rejection from the villagers when I returned home. And
the only way was to transform myself into an attractive
woman. Two days ago, my mother had packed a bag for
me containing some dried food and warm clothing and
asked me to sneak out of the village right after dusk had
fallen. I had obeyed her. But now that I’m completely on
my own and headed for the unknown, I keep asking
myself: where is the Magic Lake? Not a soul knows. I
have no option but to find it myself.
As I walk along, I cannot sense the presence of a single
human being. All I hear is the whistling of the wind. All I
feel is the coldness piercing my heart. The night I left the
village, I had worn a dark suit and coat to camouflage my
identity. My long silky hair had been bundled up and
hidden under a black woolly hat. Although the fact of
having to leave home against my will makes me feel
terribly rejected, I have confidence in myself that I will
some day return home in a blaze of glory. All through the
journey, the aroma of food my imagination keeps
conjuring up makes my knees weak and my stomach
ache. My teeth move of their own accord in a grinding
and chewing motion, but they have nothing of substance
to help them along! I have never had to do without food
before to suffer the pangs of hunger. Nor have I ever left
my village in the past. I have no idea of what lies beyond
it because as a young girl, I was not even allowed to cross
its perimeter.
I don’t realize how far I have walked till I detect smoke in
the distance. I am overcome by exhaustion. It starts
snowing again and the cold is like a vice around my torso
and my soul. I feel like a corpse. But smoke! “If there is
smoke”, I tell myself, “there has to be a fire somewhere”.
A ray of hope at last! I know I have to get there. I have to
survive, to live. I am my parents’ only offspring and they
adore me. I quickly put my hunger pangs and exhaustion
on hold. My heart skips a beat. Am I dreaming? Is it real?
Is my mind playing tricks on me? I have heard that those
lost in the wilderness often see visions that impel them to
carry on. I try to run, but find my feet dragging. It is the
snow slowing me down, I reason. I have to be careful. I
must not fall down, I have to stay focused. I must go on.
Despite these silent exhortations to myself, I am utterly
confused. Gradually, a tiny hut appears in the distance. I
manage to stride up to it without fear or hesitation. It is
when I try knocking on the door that I realize it is not
there at all. It is a figment of my wishful thinking, a
hallucination. There is no real smoke, no real door. All
that is palpable is the thudding of my heart in its rib cage.
With no hope of a shelter and alone in the wilderness,
tears begin to course down my cheeks. Feeling the cold
seep in through the soles of my shoes, I stare down at my
feet. That’s when I notice footprints. Yes! Footprints in
the snow! I have been longing to find someone to share
my emptiness with and here is a sign suggesting the
presence of someone other than myself in this vast void.
Ignoring my hunger and exhaustion, I stagger on,
following the path traced by the footprints. I am
overcome by self-pity and cannot stop sobbing. I know it’
s just one of those moments in life when you are feeling
really low at the thought of being completely on your
own.
At home, I had been a cheerful person, quite unperturbed
by my lack of looks. I had always been seized by
wanderlust. But as a young girl, I was not allowed to
travel far and had, therefore never had a chance to
explore the real world. As I plod along, I fail to make
sense of all the misfortune that has befallen me so far.
“Why was I not born to be beautiful?” I sobbed again
when I thought of it.
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
CHAPTER 1
This is a no man’s land. I find myself walking in the snow
under a pitch-dark sky. I can feel the loneliness and
despondency hanging over the place. Have I, Mei Mei,
been abandoned by my family and friends? Or have I
deserted them myself?
Shortly after I turned eighteen, my mother sat me down
and told me about our village tradition, whereby girls
unlucky enough to be born without a pretty face were
dumped into the ocean as a form of sacrifice to the
Eternal God. Given my unattractive appearance, my
mother and I deliberated over the issue: should I stay
behind and surrender myself to my inevitable fate or flee
from the village to make a new life for myself elsewhere?
But if I made the second choice, where would I go? When
I was a little girl, I often noticed that there were girls who
I knew had disappeared and when I asked my mother
about it, she usually evaded my question. Presumably, she
did not wish to scar my childhood.
It is my nineteenth birthday today and I ought to be
celebrating it with my father and my mother. However,
here I am, all alone. After prolonged discussions about
the choices that were available to me, my parents had
decided that I should leave the village for the Magic
Lake, the waters of which were known to transform one’s
plain appearance and turn one into a beauty. No wonder
the name “Mei Mei”, which means beautiful, was given to
me. My parents naturally hoped that I would grow up to
be a beautiful woman, and I would not be made a
sacrifice to the eternal god. Nobody knew, however,
where the Magic Lake was located. If I managed to
become pretty by going to the lake, I would then be able
to return to the village and, hopefully, change the attitude
of its residents, persuading them to give up their evil
custom. But first, I needed to find a way of avoiding
rejection from the villagers when I returned home. And
the only way was to transform myself into an attractive
woman. Two days ago, my mother had packed a bag for
me containing some dried food and warm clothing and
asked me to sneak out of the village right after dusk had
fallen. I had obeyed her. But now that I’m completely on
my own and headed for the unknown, I keep asking
myself: where is the Magic Lake? Not a soul knows. I
have no option but to find it myself.
As I walk along, I cannot sense the presence of a single
human being. All I hear is the whistling of the wind. All I
feel is the coldness piercing my heart. The night I left the
village, I had worn a dark suit and coat to camouflage my
identity. My long silky hair had been bundled up and
hidden under a black woolly hat. Although the fact of
having to leave home against my will makes me feel
terribly rejected, I have confidence in myself that I will
some day return home in a blaze of glory. All through the
journey, the aroma of food my imagination keeps
conjuring up makes my knees weak and my stomach
ache. My teeth move of their own accord in a grinding
and chewing motion, but they have nothing of substance
to help them along! I have never had to do without food
before to suffer the pangs of hunger. Nor have I ever left
my village in the past. I have no idea of what lies beyond
it because as a young girl, I was not even allowed to cross
its perimeter.
I don’t realize how far I have walked till I detect smoke in
the distance. I am overcome by exhaustion. It starts
snowing again and the cold is like a vice around my torso
and my soul. I feel like a corpse. But smoke! “If there is
smoke”, I tell myself, “there has to be a fire somewhere”.
A ray of hope at last! I know I have to get there. I have to
survive, to live. I am my parents’ only offspring and they
adore me. I quickly put my hunger pangs and exhaustion
on hold. My heart skips a beat. Am I dreaming? Is it real?
Is my mind playing tricks on me? I have heard that those
lost in the wilderness often see visions that impel them to
carry on. I try to run, but find my feet dragging. It is the
snow slowing me down, I reason. I have to be careful. I
must not fall down, I have to stay focused. I must go on.
Despite these silent exhortations to myself, I am utterly
confused. Gradually, a tiny hut appears in the distance. I
manage to stride up to it without fear or hesitation. It is
when I try knocking on the door that I realize it is not
there at all. It is a figment of my wishful thinking, a
hallucination. There is no real smoke, no real door. All
that is palpable is the thudding of my heart in its rib cage.
With no hope of a shelter and alone in the wilderness,
tears begin to course down my cheeks. Feeling the cold
seep in through the soles of my shoes, I stare down at my
feet. That’s when I notice footprints. Yes! Footprints in
the snow! I have been longing to find someone to share
my emptiness with and here is a sign suggesting the
presence of someone other than myself in this vast void.
Ignoring my hunger and exhaustion, I stagger on,
following the path traced by the footprints. I am
overcome by self-pity and cannot stop sobbing. I know it’
s just one of those moments in life when you are feeling
really low at the thought of being completely on your
own.
At home, I had been a cheerful person, quite unperturbed
by my lack of looks. I had always been seized by
wanderlust. But as a young girl, I was not allowed to
travel far and had, therefore never had a chance to
explore the real world. As I plod along, I fail to make
sense of all the misfortune that has befallen me so far.
“Why was I not born to be beautiful?” I sobbed again
when I thought of it.
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17