A'Mei And The Dragon

Once upon a time, there was a girl named A'Mei. A'Mei was the general's daughter and spent her days in their large manor reading. A'Mei would read all kinds of books. She read history books, books about strategy, and books about all living things. In her free time, she would also carve little stone sculptures to decorate her room and yard. Her father loved to make stone carvings and had taught her himself.

One day, her father came back with a surprise. A'Mei heard the commotion from her room and hurried outside to see what was happening. A'Mei stared in shock. Soldiers were pulling a giant cage into the courtyard, and in the cage was a dragon.

The dragon's long body was covered in wounds. The dragon noticed A'Mei standing off to the side, and it looked at her with sad eyes.

Later in the day, A'Mei went to find her father. "You captured a dragon?" she asked.

Her father nodded. "We finally caught a dragon. The emperor wants an everlasting dragon. I hope this one will be able to please him when I present it to him at the end of the month."

"The dragon looked sad," A'Mei said. "It isn't right to kidnap it."

But her father was too distracted to listen to her concerns.

That night, A'Mei couldn't fall asleep. She was still thinking about the dragon and how sad it had looked. She had read about dragons and knew they were kind and gentle creatures. A'Mei decided to climb out of bed and get medicine for the dragon's wounds. A'Mei tiptoed through the courtyards, but suddenly, she felt something bite her leg.

"Ouch!" A'Mei exclaimed. She looked down. In the moonlight, there was a little snake that had clamped its fangs into her leg. A'Mei bent down and pulled the snake off. The snake was so small, A'Mei hardly felt any pain. A'Mei crouched down to scold the snake. "What was that for?"

"That was a threat!" the snake squeaked. "Take me to the dragon!"

A'Mei nearly fell over in surprise. "A talking snake?"

"I'm not a snake!" said the snake.

A'Mei just stared at it. "If you're not a snake, then what are you?"

"I'm a dragon!" said the snake.

"Why did you bite me?" A'Mei asked it.

"I'm here to save my mother," the little dragon told her. "She got taken away."

A'Mei lowered her voice. "I'm also going to help the dragon."

There was a flash of light, and A'Mei looked away. When she looked back at the little dragon, she found a boy standing in its place. The boy brushed his long hair out of his eyes. "If they see another dragon, they'll capture me too. This way is safer to move around."

A'Mei gave the boy a look. "No one's going to capture a snake."

"I'm a dragon!" the boy said sourly.

A'Mei and the boy snuck through the manor together and eventually made it to the courtyard where the dragon was being kept.

"Mother!" the boy hurried over to the cage and reached through the bars. "I've come to save you!"

The caged dragon sighed. "Silly child, coming here will only get you captured too."

The boy tugged at the bars, but they didn't budge.

"My father is the only one with the key to the cage," A'Mei said as she applied the medicine to the dragon's wounds. She turned to the boy. "If we want to free your mother, we have to get the key from him. I'll try to think of a way."

A'Mei led the boy back to her room and they did their best to think of ideas. They thought about searching her father's room for the key, or sneaking it off him when he wasn't looking. But none of those seemed like good ideas.

The boy looked sad, and A'Mei did her best to comfort him. She did the only thing she could think of and handed him one of her stone carvings to play with. A'Mei turned to find him another one, but when she looked back at him, the stone tiger in his hands had turned to jade.

A'Mei's mouth fell open. "You can turn stone to jade?"

The boy nodded. "It's my special skill. I thought this way the tiger would be more majestic."

A'Mei smiled. "I just had an idea. The emperor wants a dragon. Let's make him a jade dragon."

When her father left the manor for a couple of days, A'Mei and the boy hurried to his room. A'Mei picked up the long unused carving tools. There were many blocks of stone in the room waiting to be carved.

A'Mei spent the entire day carving. The next day, she was back as soon as the sun was up to continue. On the day her father was to return, the stone dragon was finally done. A'Mei proudly stepped back to admire her work.

Next, the boy stepped forward, grinning. "Now it's my turn."

A'Mei watched in awe as the boy put his hand on the stone dragon. Jade began to spread from the boy's hand, covering the stone until all of it had turned to jade.

When her father entered the room, he was very surprised to see the jade dragon.

"Father," A'Mei said, "will you please let the dragon in the cage go? I made you a new dragon."

"This is absolutely perfect," A'Mei's father exclaimed. "The emperor has made it clear that he wants an everlasting dragon, but has always been disappointed by the dragons others have presented. Now I suddenly understand. A jade dragon . . . this is the everlasting dragon the emperor has been asking for! Thank you for carving it and figuring out the true meaning behind the emperor's words."

"So will you let the dragon in the cage go?" A'Mei asked hopefully.

Her father nodded.

The emperor was very pleased to receive the carving of the jade dragon. It turned out that the emperor had been disappointed when others brought him live dragons and would set them free. The emperor was hoping to find someone just and benevolent who shared his beliefs. The emperor rewarded the general for passing his test with land and the title of Dragon Protector. The general saw to it that on those lands, the dragons could roam freely and were protected.

A'Mei would go with her father to visit the dragons, where she would play with her new friend, and they lived happily ever after.

✦ End ✦