The Mystery of Ephraim

This is certainly a make-up story, a fiction, and I have a pekinese in my novel, another work of fiction, but fiction times fiction sometimes make sense lol. Here, I’d like to share with you a bedtime story that you might had heard when your mum were trying to put you to sleep when you were tiny, but it is a funny story about how the pekinese originated or how they were transformed as they are today, so I’m posting it here.  Do enjoy a hilarious reflection at the end lol

::A Tale of a Chinese Dragon::

In ancient times, there were many dragons on earth——strange, fierce creatures with lashing tails. and scaled bodies. These dangerous animals took great pride in their ability to breathe out fire, which no other animal has ever been able to do. Brave men became heros by hunting and slaying these alarming creatures, and armies were sent at times to destroy them. Eventually, few of them were left on earth. They remained in China, for although they were feared and hunted there, they were also much admired for their exotic beauty. But even in this vast land, after years of hunting, there remained only one old she-dragon and her three babies, hiding in a cave, in a wild, dense forest near the east coast of China. This rather nice old lady-dragon was greatly concerned for about the future of her children. So she decided to consult the wise magic man of the white mountains for his advice on how to save her babies.

After much thought, the great man suggested that the only hope for their survival was to change their form to one so different that men could love and cherish them rather than fear and kill them. Just as any mother would not take kindly to the ideas of having her beautiful babies changed, mother dragon did not like this idea very much, but it was either this or her constant fear of their being killed, so she accepted his suggestion.

“But I should like to know what kind of creature you are going to turn them into,” she said. “They are such lovely babies, it would break my heart if they were changed into ugly, unattractive things.”

The wise man assured her that he would do his best and ask her for her suggestions as to how she would like them to appear.

“I should like them to be fairly small,” said the mother dragon, “so that men can make pets of them, and it would be so lovely to think that my darling babies would never grow really big. But I don’t want them to be poor-spirited, feeble, little creatures. I should like them brave and bold like lions. Indeed, I should very much like them to have something of a lion’s look as regards to the shape of them, for the lion is the king of beasts, and dragons have always been of royal blood. At the same time, I should like them to have soft, dark eyes, like the eyes of a deer, together with the deer’s slender, pointed muzzle—for deer are the great beauties of the world of animals, and dragons too, have always been beautiful. Lastly, I should like them to have silky, tawny orange fur, soft and smooth like the spaniel’s coat, for dragons have always been rather exceptional in this matter of coat, and I do not wish my children to grow up regretting the loss of their scales.”

After reminding her that she was asking a great deal, the wise man agreed to make the changes she suggested. He reminded her that her children would no longer be dragons and he warned her that she must not teach them to breathe out fire. This greatly grieved the dragon mother, as dragons had always been most proud of this ability and the secret of fire breathing had been handed down from parent to child for thousands of year. Still, the wise man was most emphatic on this point, so she promised not to teach her children to do this, if only they could be changed and safe from harm.

So the wise man stood them in a row and worked his powerful spell while their mother stood anxiously watching. To her delight, they were transformed before her very eyes into completely new creatures. They had lovely, silken coats of bright tawny orange, soft dark eyes, and delicately pointed muzzles. Their feathery tails were elegant and graceful, and though they were so small, they had a proud way about them that made them indeed seem like miniature lions.

Their mother thanked the wise man and said, “They will be the admiration of all the world, princes of the animal kingdom, and loved by man, who will make pets of them and their children ever after.”

Unfortunately, her joy did not last long, as she kept feeling what a pity it was that they could not breathe fire as their ancestors had done. this crowning accomplishment of her kind should not be doomed to disappear from earth with her death she brooded.

“After all,” she thought, “it will do no harm just to teach them how to do it. They need never make any use of it. I am sure the wise man will understand when I explain this to him after they learn.”

So she began the long and difficult task of teaching her children the art of breathing flames. Every evening before bedtime, she would sit them down quietly, while she explained how this feat was done, patiently encouraging them to try to copy her own spectacular performance.

At last came the day when the mother’s patience was rewarded and all three children learned at the same moment how to breathe fire. But alas! Mother had not realized that her darlings were no longer really dragons at all, and they were not built to be fire-breathers. As the flames began to come from their mouths, their dear little noses all caught fire. Their dark eyes became huge and bulged with fright as their poor mother raced from one to the other in a terrible state of alarm and distress.

Meanwhile, the wise man, who had known all along what the mother dragon had been doing, was standing by outside the cave. He rushed in and put out the fire instantly, but the wise man admonished the mother for breaking her promise. She begged him to forgive her and restore the babies’ noses, promising never to be foolish again. But the wise man could not give them back their noses, and they grew with flat faces, all blackened from the smoke, and huge, round eyes made prominent from the dreadful fright they had. Still, they were the dearest of creatures, with their own kind of beauty, and they won the hearts of men and the princes of men— as have their descendents to this very day.

~ by Joel Huan on July 16, 2009.

Posted in Pekinese stories
Tags: Chinese Classic, Dragons, Monsters, Mount Fuji, Pekinese