After Ning ran off, I turned back to the baby. It had stopped crying and as I approached her, she implored again, "Please help me".
"Who are you and what do you want?" I asked, quite perplexed.
"My name is Princess Jade Wu. I am of the Wu Liang lineage. Due to a curse wrought on me by a jealous sister, I have been transformed into a baby and put here on your earth. I need your help to free me from this curse."
"A curse! But how can I be sure you're telling the truth?" I asked, wondering whether I was having some sort of dream. After all, this is the 21st century!
"All princesses of the Wu Liang lineage have a heart shape birthmark on our bottom. Look, I can show you." She turned around and sure enough there was a small heart on her bottom.
"If what you say is true, how can I help you?" I asked.
"To undo the curse, you need to feed me every evening for seven evenings with chicken blood," she said.
"Chicken blood!" I gasped. "That must be why you won't drink milk or water. But where am I going to get chicken blood?"
"You can ask your friend to help you get it from the market. Please, I need your help, otherwise I shall never be free from the curse."
I hesitated. She sounded so sincere.
"Alright, I shall ask Yunzhi to help." I said finally. "You stay here while I run back to his shack."
I knew Yunzhi had many books on ancient Chinese history - I had to find out whether the baby was telling the truth or not - she could be some kind of demon for all I knew! We found some information on the Wu Liang dynasty, including what the baby had said about the heart shaped birthmark.
"So now I know she's telling the truth," I told Yunzhi. "Can you help with the chicken blood?"
Yunzhi was rather taken aback but told me he could get it from a poultry man at the market. Having settled that, I ran back to the river.
"Alright, I have arranged for everything. I shall take you to an old house not far from here where you will be safe."
For the next seven evenings, I fed the baby with chicken blood ... it was the most detestable and horrible thing I had ever done. Seeing the baby swallowing the blood made me sick every night. But she seemed to enjoy it and gurgled with delight after every spoonful.
Finally, on the seventh evening, after I had fed her, I went outside for a breath of fresh air. When I looked back at the house, I was startled to see strange lights circling the house. Not daring to move, I hid behind a tree. Then to my amazement, I saw a beautiful lady in flowing robes emerge from the building. She was looking for me and softly calling my name.
"Don't be afraid, Da," she said, looking around. "I am Princess Jade Wu - you have freed me from that horrible curse."
I slowly stepped out from behind the tree, unable to believe my eyes.
"Thank you so much, Da," she said. "If it hadn't been for you, I would have been a baby for the rest of my life. Now that you have freed me, I am obligated to grant you one wish before I return home. You can wish for anything you want."
"I don't want anything ... I'm just glad I was able to help you," I stammered.
To my utter confusion, Princess Jade Wu burst into tears, fell to her knees and bowed before me. With tears streaming down her cheeks, she told me that I had just saved her life again.
"It is part of the curse," she said between sobs, " ... that the one who frees me must wish nothing for himself. If you had wished for something for yourself, I would have been burnt to ashes!"
I was stunned. I shuddered at the thought of the beautiful princess being reduced to a pile of ashes - what a wicked and evil being she had for a sister!
"Are you sure you will be safe going back to your home?" I asked anxiously.
"Don't worry. My father would have given just punishment to my sister."
After fervently thanking me again, Princess Jade bid me goodbye, rose steadily into the sky and soon vanished from sight.
I sat down, still overwhelmed by what had happened.
"Gosh, nobody's going to believe me when I tell them this story, least of all Head Nun," I thought to myself as I made my way back to the temple.
Ning was there when I arrived. "So, what happened all this time you were away?"
"Nothing - nothing you would be interested in," I replied. I saw the sour look on his face but I was too tired to care. I jumped into my basket and promptly fell asleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment