Hello and welcome to Super Great Kids Stories.
Wise tales from storytellers around the world which will make you laugh and sometimes cry.
Recommended for ages 5 to 105.
I'm Kim and I love stories.
Today we have a fairy tale for you from China told by the wonderful Alton Chang.
It's called The Luminous Pearl.
How are you super great kids?
Are you having an okay week?
There's been a lot of snow in the US.
I wonder if you've been able to get out and play in it, or have you had to watch it through the window and keep warm indoors?
No matter what the weather it's grey, wet and muddy here in the UK.
I hope you're all finding reasons to be cheerful and entertaining each other with stories and songs if you can't go outside.
I went to see some wassailing this weekend, which is a winter tradition where people go in a procession to an orchard, dancing and singing to thank the apple trees for giving them a good harvest.
They dip bread into spiced apple cider and they hang it on the tree as a little gift.
They also bang instruments and pans to scare away any bad spirits who might just be lurking.
It was all jolly good fun.
And if you like apple trees, then you might enjoy listening to The Apple Tree Man Story which is on our podcast.
Or you could read it in our new book.
And if one of the things that makes you happy is live storytelling and you're in or near London, then Super Great Kids Stories regulars Amy Douglas and Jason Buck are holding their own event to mark the beginning of National Storytelling Week in England and Wales.
Join them in a celebration of dragons, boggarts and boggles for a 45-minute storytelling session in Clerkenwell in London.
There are sessions on Saturday and Sunday, January 31st and February 1st.
And if you don't live near London but want to see some live storytelling, then on February 8th, Paul Aldeburgh, who told Hansel and Gretel last week, is telling stories at our regular monthly online show with Jason and Amy on Sunday, February 8th.
For tickets for both events, Look under news on our website, supergreatkidsstories.com.
Now, just before we hear our story, here's a little seasonal question for you.
While we have a quick word with the grown-ups,
Here in the UK it's still very much winter, with short cold, dark days, animals hibernating and most plants still sleeping under the soil.
In Australia and New Zealand, it's full summer with everything blooming and long, hot, sunny days.
So here's my question.
Do you have a favourite season?
My youngest son really likes winter.
He likes snow and frost and skiing and wintery stories like the 12 seasons.
Hands up if you're a winter person.
Ah, good.
Hands up if your favourite season is summer.
Ah, lots of you.
Do you prefer sunshine and beaches and swimming in the sea?
In which case, you might enjoy sunny stories like Nora and the ackee fruit from the sunny Caribbean.
Have a little think about your favourite season and maybe a story to go with it, while we have a quick word with the grown-ups.
Are you ready?
Off you go.
Hello Super Great Kids, I'm back!
Did you decide your favourite season and a story to go with it?
I think I'm a spring person because I love the bright colours of spring and seeing all the flowers unfurling and making everything bright green after a long grey winter.
And one story I like about growing things is The Seed, told by Amy Douglas.
But now let's sit back, relax and give a warm welcome to Alton, who is going to take us to distant lands with a magical fairy tale from China.
Hi, my name is Alton Takeyama Chung and I'm coming to you today from the northwestern part of the United States, also known as the Pacific Northwest.
Now, it rains so much here that we really don't tan.
We rust.
Here's a story from China called The Luminous Pearl.
A long time ago, in a far and distant land, far off in the eastern sea, There lived the great Dragon King and his daughter Li Mei.
She was a very clever girl.
Her father was hard-pressed to find her an equally clever husband.
See, Li Mei did not like any of the potential husbands who came to visit.
Too short, too tall, too fat, too thin, too lazy, too serious.
Daughter!
What are you looking for in a husband?
Oh, father, I have no need of wealth or of a man who's too full of his own importance.
What I'm looking for, father, is someone who is compassionate and honest and brave.
Hmm.
Compassionate, honest, and brave?
Oh, you don't want much, do you, daughter?
One day The Dragon King heard of a poor young man who lived near the bend in the river at the foot of a tall mountain, who was known for his compassion, his honesty and his bravery.
The King decided to test this young man to see if he might be a suitable match for his daughter.
The next night, this brave young man who was named Chen dreamed of a beautiful young girl who was waiting for him at the bend in the river.
The dream was so real that it woke him up, and he woke up his twin brother Li, and told him of his dream.
Now, although they looked the same, Li was not nearly as nice as his twin brother, Chen.
Li was always jealous of his brother, and now he was jealous of his dream.
I mean, if the dream came true, then Chen would have a gorgeous girlfriend.
And Li, he would have no one.
Oh, dreaming again.
Bah, dreams are rubbish.
They mean nothing, brother.
Go back to sleep.
So Chen laid down and went back to sleep.
But that nasty Li, he got dressed and crept out of the house.
And where do you think he went?
That's right.
He went off to the bend in the river.
Now while Chen was sleeping, the dream came again.
And once again there was this beautiful woman beckoning to him, waiting for him at the bend in the river.
Again it was so real that the dream woke him up.
And although it was still dark, Chen could see that his brother, Li, was gone.
Chen quickly dressed and hurried to the bend of the river only to find Li already there waiting.
Before he could call out to his brother, something amazing happened.
Moonbeams cascaded down from the heavens and illuminated the entire area with strange silvery light.
Shooting stars flashed arced across the sky, adding their own shimmering light to the magical scene.
And then there, standing in a clearing near the bend in the glittering river, Chen saw the Princess Li Mei, the beautiful girl from his dream.
Both brothers were captivated by her beauty, and she, in turn, liked them both.
As being identical twins, they looked exactly alike.
Ah, which one of you is compassionate, honest, and brave?
Oh, I am.
Oh, yeah, me too, me too.
Compassion, oh, very compassionate.
And honest, oh, honest as the day is long.
And brave, oh, so very brave, so very brave.
Ah, well, I'll give you both a test.
The one who can bring to me the luminous pearl that shines in the night shall be my husband.
The pearl is in the keeping of the great dragon king of the eastern sea.
She then presented both of them with magic fans.
These fans will allow you to make your way through the sea to the palace of the great dragon king.
I will be here again, at the next full moon.
Now Li, feeling that his brother would get the pearl before him, dashed off at once.
But Chen stayed behind and spoke to Li Mei and got to know her better.
And the longer they spoke, the more he liked her.
And they chatted until it was nearly dawn.
Chen then said goodbye and set off on his quest.
The pearl chen headed back to the house that he shared with his brother to find that their only horse was gone and that lee had also taken every scrap of food in the house.
Chen had no choice and began walking to the eastern sea.
For days he struggled along, eating fruits that he could pick from the trees, drinking water from the river and sleeping under bushes.
In the meantime, Lee had reached a village on the river that had been hit by a massive flood.
The people were stunned, and Lee asked them what had happened.
They told him that the river had overflowed its banks, the village and the fields had been flooded, while the people were starving, and the only way they could save their village was to go to the great dragon king and borrow his wondrous golden dipper.
Oh well, just for you, I will go to see the great dragon king and get his golden dipper for you if you would lend me a boat to get to the sea.
Well, the villagers were very grateful for Lee's help and lent him a boat that he might be able to ride the raging river to the sea and continue on to the palace of the great dragon king of the eastern sea.
When Chin arrived at the village, he stopped to help them, although he was hungry and very tired.
And he heard them chatting about how the golden dipper of the great dragon king of the eastern sea would save their village.
Well, I am heading there myself, and I will bring it back for you.
The villagers were happy to find someone else to help them, and they also offered Chen a boat to aid him in his journey to the eastern sea.
Seeing, however, that villagers needed the boat more than he, Chen declined their offer.
I am strong enough to swim the river.
And with that, Chen dove into the river and began to swim downstream to the eastern sea.
When he arrived at the eastern sea, the water was rough and stormy.
Lightning flashed, thunder crashed and rain fell in sheets, and the wind blew the tops off the waves.
And as the monstrous waves crashed onto the shore, Chen noticed a small figure crouched at the foot of the exposed cliff.
It was Li.
He had been there for days, too afraid to move or to even go near the water.
Without stopping to think, Chen hurled himself into the huge waves and began fanning the water with his magic fan.
The water immediately rolled back and cleared a space for him to walk through.
Meekly, Li immediately moved to follow his brother. silently.
The brothers arrived at the immense gates of the Dragon King's palace.
Seaweed hung like green bunting over the huge archway, and the golden gates themselves were decorated with many wondrous seashells.
The great Dragon King himself was there to meet the brothers, although they had no idea that he was Limei's father.
Oh, I am very pleased to see both of you.
I've been expecting you for some time.
Now, please, follow me to the royal treasury.
The treasury turned out to be a small cave guarded by two enormous sea dragons.
At a nod of the dragon king's head, the great dragons moved aside to reveal a massive pearl-studded door fashioned from the shell of giant clams.
The doors were swung open and the brothers discovered that it was bursting with gems and jewels and riches collected from the ocean and salvaged from ships that had sunk at sea.
Ah, you may view all of my treasures, but you may only select one item each.
Lee soon found a huge basket of pearls and picked out the largest one with the most dazzling light.
Oh, it flashed like a mirror or a ship's beacon on a dark night.
Once he had secured the best pearl, he looked about at the chests of rare gems and jewels.
He tried to grab a handful of gemstones and stuff it into his pocket, but a sharp-eyed guard saw him and ushered him out of the treasury.
Chen also saw the pearls, but he remembered his promise to the villagers.
Amongst all of the brilliant treasures he spied the wondrous golden dipper of the great Dragon King.
With this magical dipper, he knew that the village could be saved, and he selected it as his prize.
When he came outside of the treasury, he found that his brother had already left for the surface, leaving him behind.
Oh, the great dragon king felt sorry for Chen and personally escorted him to the edge of his kingdom.
Of course, Li reached the flooded village first, and the villagers were very happy to see him.
Oh, young man, were you able to bring the golden dipper from the great dragon king?
Oh, the dragon king, he was cold-hearted, cold-hearted, and he would not lend it to me.
Before the villagers could question him further, Li leapt onto his horse and rode off, leaving the villagers sadly disappointed.
A little while later, Chen arrived and gave the villagers the golden dipper from the great dragon king.
The people were overjoyed and began to scoop the water from their lands with the magic dipper.
At once, the floodwaters rolled back to the river, revealing an enormous oyster sitting on the riverbed.
Inside of that enormous oyster was a huge black pearl.
An oyster such as this had not been seen for many generations.
The villagers took it to be a good omen.
For saving their village.
The villagers presented Chen with that huge black pearl with their thanks and best wishes.
Chen was delighted.
It was not the luminous pearl that the princess had requested, but it was lovely and he was grateful for the generosity of the villagers.
He thanked them for their kindness and set off to return home, while both brothers arrived at the bend in the river on the very night of the full moon.
Once again, moonbeams cascaded down from the heavens and illuminated the entire area with strange silvery light.
Shooting stars arced across the sky, adding their own shimmering light to the magical scene.
Once again there, standing in the clearing near the bend in the glittering river Chen, saw the princess Li Mei standing in front of the brothers in all of her shimmering radiance.
For both brothers bowed and presented their pearls.
Oh, thank you for your gifts.
When the full moon rises above the mountains, then we shall see how these pearls shine and which one is the luminous pearl of the great dragon king of the eastern sea.
Well, Li was very confident.
When the moon rose, high in the sky above the mountain peaks, Li Mei pulled out his gorgeous luminous pearl.
But something was wrong.
Mysteriously, the glow that shone so brightly in the dragon king's treasure room was now gone.
The pearl lay dull, and lifeless in the princess's hand.
Li snatched it from her and furiously polished the pearl on his dirty sleeve, but it remained the same.
Chen's black pearl, on the other hand, shone with the fire and brilliance of ten million stars.
It was so bright that Li had to cover his eyes and turn away.
When he turned back could see again, he found that he was sitting alone at the bend in the river lee may and chen had disappeared.
They were soon married and, like all fairy tale couples, lived happily ever after.
Oh, thanks so much Alton, for sharing your version of that story.
Isn't it great the way Alton can do a deep dragon king voice and also a sweet light princess voice?
Very clever.
Young boys often find it hard to imagine they'll have a deep voice one day.
But you know what?
You very likely will be talking deep down here.
What an amazing thing.
Did you have a favourite moment in that story?
I liked it when Chen chose the golden dipper from the treasury.
I hope I'd have done the same thing, but it's difficult to know if I'd really be that unselfish when it came to that moment.
What do you think you'd have done?
I know there are lots of good people in this world who would have definitely chosen the golden dipper.
If you were going to draw a picture from that story, what scene would you draw?
Maybe the treasure cave guarded by two enormous sea dragons?
Or Chen, standing by the glittering river, holding out the shining pearl to Princess Li Mei, with shooting stars and shimmering moonbeams all around.
Send your pictures via our website to supergreatkidsstoriescom and we can share them with other story lovers on our website picture gallery and on our facebook page facebookcom.
Forward slash super great kids stories.
And if you're an owlet, there are two more stories this week a scary one about a faceless ghost, told by alton in our super great scary stories channel on patreon, And a very upbeat one called Horns.
Only a trickster tale from South Africa.
And now it's time to fly around the world with Story Owl to say hello and a big thank you to the owlets who recently joined our storytelling club.
Let's begin in Vancouver in Canada to greet Thomas who is six and Teddy who is four.
They became owlets for Christmas.
Thomas's favourite storyteller is Toop, and his favourite story is Nora and the ackee fruit told by Kate Corkery, as well as the Baba Yaga ones.
Teddy is a fan of Kate Corkery Me too, Teddy.
And one of the stories he loves is The Hat Seller and the Monkeys.
And of course, The Ghost of the Bloody Finger.
Across the sea now to Bushy in Hertfordshire here in the UK to say hello to Sol, who's six, and four-year-old, Zephyr and Astara, who is one.
Thanks very much to their grandma for subscribing for them.
They listen at bedtime and on long drives, and their favourite story is you've guessed it the Ghost of the Bloody Finger.
Let's flip-flap-fly a little further north now, to historic York, where Jeannie, who's eight, and Margot, who is six, have also just become owlets, thanks to their grandparents.
They also like The Ghost of the Bloody Finger as well as the fairy tale from Sicily, Mama Draga.
And now let's head all the way west, back across the Atlantic, to the US, to greet Juliet, who's nine, and six-year-old Audrey, who live in Hickson Tennessee.
Juliet's favourite is How Maui Slowed the Sun and Audrey's is The Ghost of the Bloody Finger.
We head north now, up to Grosse Pointe in Michigan to say hello to nine-year-old Audrey and Callie, who is six.
Audrey's favourite story is River Mama and Callie is another fan of The Ghost of the Bloody Finger.
Let's fly southeast now to Hyattsville Maryland, where Mavis, who's 10, and Juna, who's 7, have been listening since 2021.
Wow, that makes you super fans.
Mavis' favourites are The Velvet Ribbon and Baba Yaga's Bubble Bath.
And Juna loves, among others, Packer and the Beetle and The Three Bears Rap.
Both also love The Bird of a Thousand Colours because it comes from Cuba, just like their abuelo.
Back up now to Chicago, where eight-year-old James Adelaide, who's five, and Eleanor, who's three, have become owlets thanks to their Grammy and Papa.
Their favourites are The Cheeky Cockerel and The Baba Yaga Stories.
Over to North Carolina now, where five-year-old Nora listens almost every day in the car or at home while she draws.
Her favourite story is Br'er Rabbit and Br'er Wolf a long flight west, all the way over the US, to Long Beach California, to greet Owlet Sloane, who's six, and Charlie, who's four, who've been Owlets for a few months now.
Sloane's favourite is The Tiger's Tale and Charlie loves Bonita, the Tricky Sheep and The Ghost of the Bloody Finger.
And they were given the super great kids stories book for christmas and have been enjoying reading it at bedtime.
And finally, we fly back across the atlantic to south derbyshire here in the uk to say hello to ruby, who is nine, and etta, who is six.
They enjoy listening to stories in the car.
They've also been enjoying the book at bedtime.
They became owlets thanks to Grandad and Kirsty.
Ruby's favourite story is The Name of the Tree.
And Etta's favourites are A Nancy and the Hot Pepper Soup and Molly and the Leprechaun.
Their mum Rebecca says she loves The Whistling Giants.
And our Pitcher of the Week goes to eight-year-old Esme from Minneapolis.
It was inspired by the two silly witches told by Emily Hannah Gracebrook.
A very imaginative picture, Esme.
I love the knotted strings that the two girls made and all of the townspeople standing on the hill looking well, very cross.
Thank goodness the mother witch returned and stopped all that rain.
Thanks for sharing this picture.
It's super great.
If you want to see that picture and others, go to our website supergreatkidsstoriescom and click on the tab Artwork and Photos, or go to our Facebook page facebookcom.
Forward slash supergreatkidsstories.
And if you follow us on Instagram, you can see our picture gallery at supergreatkids underscore art.
Well, that's it for this week.
Thanks to all outlets for your super great support.
It's because of you that we're able to keep finding new storytellers in different countries.
If you'd like to support us on patreon or on apple podcasts, we'll say hello to you on the show.
You can hear our stories, advert free and, depending on your level of subscription, you'll have access to at least 45 super great scary stories and over 60 bonus stories.
Plus, you'll get access to our Super Great Kids Stories Express with short introductions, no adverts, purely story.
Great for listening to stories back to back.
Visit our website for more details, supergreatkidstories.com.
And finally...
We wanted to say a big thank you to those of you who bought a copy of our book, and also to those of you who've written to us about it and reviewed it online.
Thank you very much.
It puts a big wag in my tail.
Keep telling those stories and singing those songs.
Thank you again to our storyteller this week, Alton Takayama-Chung.
Remember to look for your bonus and scary story if you're an owlet.
This podcast was produced at Wardour Studios in fabulous Fitzrovia in London.
