Hello, welcome to Chinese Folk Tales.
I'm Victoria Meakin and I've got another amazing story to tell you.
I really hope you enjoy it.
This story is all about how sometimes, when we think we have lost something important, we find that we had it with us all the time.
Once in a little village in the Chinese countryside there was a woman who lived alone and worked hard in the village and helped all her neighbours and would cook and clean for the older people who, like her, lived all alone.
Every morning she would get up early, before the sun rose, and she would walk to the field.
Every now and then she would stop and look into the sky and see all the stars.
And as the sky got lighter, she would watch how they would all gradually disappear until there was always one left.
Perhaps you've seen this star.
It's actually a planet called Venus.
Many people know it as the morning star.
Sometimes she would talk to it as she walked and tell it about the things she would do that day, what she would grow, the food she would cook, the people she would visit later.
Today I shall plant some corn.
Later I shall make some bao buns.
Mrs Ma, who lives alone on the hill.
One morning, just after setting off from home in the dark, she noticed something was different.
She stopped and looked up at the sky.
Wait a minute, where's my star?
She looked and looked, but it was nowhere to be seen.
It made her sad.
But then she noticed something else.
There was an old man holding the hand of a little boy.
They seemed to be waiting for her on the bridge.
Are you waiting for me? she asked the old man.
Yes.
I need you to look after this young man for a while.
He handed the boy's hand to her.
She took it.
The old man turned away and walked. into the darkness.
That is odd, thought the woman, and she knelt down to talk to the boy.
Hello, what's your name then?
But the boy hadn't learned how to speak.
I know, let's call you Skyodorn, a perfect name.
And together they looked up at the stars.
Time passed the way it does, some days faster than others.
The world turned.
The moon and stars made way for the sun, day after day.
And all the while the woman looked after the little boy, like Sky O'Dawn was her own son.
She was very happy.
But sometimes she thought the little boy was sad.
She'd wake up in the morning and see him staring at the sky and pointing to where the morning star should be.
One day she awoke and he was gone.
She searched everywhere and asked everyone in the village if they'd seen him, but he was nowhere to be found.
Have you seen him?
Have you seen my little boy?
No?
No?
Days went by, and she went about her work as usual, but was heartbroken.
But then one day Skye Adorn appeared in the yard, a little older, and all his clothes were tattered and torn.
She was so angry but didn't want to frighten him, so hugged him and made him promise never to go away again.
You had me so worried!
Where on earth did you go?
The boy looked at her curiously. and pointed to the sky.
A few years later the exact thing happened again.
The boy disappeared.
But by now, over the years, the woman had come to know that he was no ordinary boy.
There was something very special about him.
Just as before.
He came back, as if nothing had happened, a little older than before and he could speak.
Where did you go this time?
You've been away for a whole year to play in the purple sea and it stained my clothes and I thought you'd be cross.
So I jumped into the sky and washed myself in the spring of the morning sun to wash them clean.
Of course you did, but that doesn't take a year.
Where else did you go?
The boy thought for a moment.
Well, after I'd washed my clothes, I
I had a little rest in the City of the Dead.
I must have fallen asleep.
I remember now.
The skies were dark, there was no one to talk to until I woke up hungry and the King of the East gave me red chestnuts and rosy dawn juice to eat, and that filled me right up.
What an imagination you have.
Then I was thirsty and I went up to the dark skies drank the yellow dew and my thirst was quenched.
I was feeling a bit sleepy after that when I met a black tiger and thought I could ride home on his back.
But that wasn't a good idea at all.
He bit me.
Look, right here, in the leg.
It took me a bit longer to come back to tell you about it.
Well, never mind.
I'll kiss it better.
Come, eat some jiaozi.
But please don't go away again.
You've made me so happy.
But deep down she knew she would not be able to keep him, but also knew she had been so lucky to have any time with him at all.
The day came when he left again.
He was quite the young man by now.
The last she saw of him was walking down the road.
He turned and waved her goodbye.
Far from being sad, she wept tears of happiness.
And indeed the next morning, as she walked to her field, she looked up and Oh my morning star's back.
After all these years.
And just for a moment, she thought... it twinkled back at her.
But that isn't the end of our story.
You see, Sky Adorn is always there in the sky, reliable, constant, a comfort to all who see it.
And if, for some reason, you can't find it, it means that somewhere in the world He has come down to help someone with a problem.
There are so many amazing tales all across China of people who have met him.
Take, for example, the old man of the swamp.
He was so old he didn't need to eat anymore.
He lived off air.
One day, while he was thinking and looking at the stars and trying to find the morning star, he noticed a young boy.
What do you want?
Have you eaten?
I've no food to give you.
No, I'm fine, thanks.
I think you have something better to give me.
How old are you?
He stared at his long white hair, yellow eyebrows and a strange green glow in his eyes.
Every thousand years or so, I like to treat myself to a makeover.
You know, regenerate the old bones and hair.
Now, let me think.
I've done that three times, so that makes me, uh, five, seven, uh, very old indeed.
But you're looking at my eyes, aren't you?
No.
Sky Adorn knew it was rude to stare.
He also knew it was wrong to lie.
Well, yes.
They help me see all hidden things.
Can I be your apprentice?
Teach me all you know.
And the old man agreed.
Actually, it made him happy that he had someone to pass on all his wisdom to.
After he'd finished, he fell asleep and never woke up again.
But before he closed his eyes for the last time, he looked into the sky.
Oh, look.
The Morning Star is exactly where it should be.
Back in its rightful place.
A few years later, Skyadorn came down again from the sky.
Someone else needed his help.
This time it was Emperor Wu, no less.
One morning he had overheard the Emperor talking to his peach orchard as he looked up into the sky at the stars.
I'm so sad.
I love the Empress so much.
Skyadorn leapt down into the garden.
Oh, where did you come from?
You do know this is a private, imperial garden, don't you?
I should call the guards, and they'll probably cut your head off.
Don't do that.
I might be able to help you.
And the emperor listened as the boy told him fantastical things.
Ten thousand stories of the places he had been and the amazing things he had done.
Most importantly though, Sky Adorn told him where he could find the mushrooms of everlasting life, guarded by a white horse which belonged to the gods and which was twice the height of a mortal, how he had picked some and had ridden the horse across the sky, how the horse had become so tired and hungry, and how he had found food and water on an enchanted mountain.
But have you still brought the mushrooms?
No, I lost them along the way. but I do have some magic dew which can make people young again.
So you have that?
No, I drank it.
Skyadorn stayed at the palace for many years, entertaining the court.
They enjoyed the story so much that it made them all happy and they forgot about the silly idea of living forever.
They were all happy, and that was more important.
One day, however, Sky O'Dawn was gone.
Has anyone seen Sky O'Dawn?
No one had, apart from the court astrologer.
Your Majesty, he is gone, but I know where he is.
For all the years he was with us, the Morning Star has been absent from the sky.
But now, now he has left us, it has returned.
Suddenly, the Emperor understood.
He wasn't sad.
Sky O'Dawn made us all happy for so many years.
He's no longer here on Earth, but he's always there in the sky.
So there you go.
You can always try to catch a star and pin it down. but it'll always go back to the sky eventually.
That's where it belongs.
But whether you have it in your hands or admire it in the heavens, enjoy the way it sparkles.
And with that, we conclude this episode of Chinese Folk Tales.
Thanks for listening.
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We'll see you next time.
Bye for now.
Thank you.
