Hello.
Welcome to Chinese Folk Tales.
I'm Bob Jones and I've got an amazing story to tell you.
I hope you enjoy it.
All the best stories have something to teach us.
And this story is all about the kindness of strangers.
As our story shows, being kind to people you don't even know can bring about wonderful rewards.
We're travelling today to a pretty little village in ancient China that has a very big well.
It gave the villagers all their drinking water and sometimes, when the sun was beating down and no rain came, it also provided water for their crops and quenched the thirst of their animals.
In the middle of the little village with the big well lived a young boy and his mother, who was a widow.
The boy had never known his father, so he had grown up with just his mum, and quite often he wished he had more family members at home.
Wouldn't it be great to have a grandmother to spoil me, like all my friends at school have said?
The That would be lovely and I'd love to give that to you, but it's just the two of us, said his mother.
And that's also nice, so let's not worry about it.
But the boy couldn't stop thinking about it.
And no matter how many times his mother tried to change the subject, the boy would talk and talk about how happy it would make him to have a doting grandmother.
Granny could give me lots of cuddles.
She would bake me my favourite treats and would read me stories.
Oh, my son.
However much you want that, I suggest you think about something else.
And for now, we need some water.
So could you go and collect some from the well, please?
Now one day there came a knock at the door.
When the boy opened it, he found a little old woman.
She was very dirty, a bit smelly, and wearing tattered rags.
But she was smiling kindly up at him.
Hello, dear, said the old lady.
Have you got any food to spare?
And could you perhaps give me a little drink from your wonderful village well?
The boy was delighted and asked the woman to take a seat while he scampered off to the well.
He quickly returned with a cool cup of water for her.
Then he found some dumplings and a little grain, as his mother invited the woman to sit at their table and eat.
The old lady really was very grubby indeed, and after she'd eaten her fill, the boy's mother very gently suggested that if her son brought another bucket of well-worn, the old woman could give herself a jolly good wash.
Hmm.
Well, if you think I could do with sprucing up, I'm very happy to have a wash.
No offence, but I think it would be nice if you did.
Plus, you seem to have a lot of spiky chestnut tree pods in your hair which I can pick out for you if you like.
And excitedly, the boy asked, Can you be my granny too? always wanted to have a grandmother.
The old woman laughed, agreed to have a bath and said she'd be delighted to join the family, on one condition.
Now this is very important.
Don't throw away those spiky seed pods.
Gather them all together in a jar and bury them under that chestnut tree in the garden.
You must not dig them up again until the great flood comes.
When is the great flood coming?
The boy asked, feeling slightly worried.
You will know when the time has come, when the eyes of the two stone lions outside the prison turn red.
One last thing.
It's Very important that you take a piece of linden wood and carve a little sand ship and keep it in a box.
And so the boy did what he was told.
He crafted a tiny sand ship with a square sail and a flat bottom and placed it delicately in a tiny box made of jade.
After that, the boy checked the lions every day.
The stone creatures stood guard over the imposing building.
It was the job of many stone lions in ancient China.
He checked and he checked and every day he looked to see that the eyes were not red.
One day, as the boy ran past the butcher's shop on his way to check the lions, the butcher shouted after him Hey, what's so special about the stone lions?
My grandmother says that when the lion's eyes grow red, a great flood will come, said the boy.
The butcher thought this was hilarious and decided he would play a trick on the boy.
I'm going to get up very early tomorrow when no one is around, and I'll rub some chicken blood into the stone lion's eyes.
The boy will think they've been magically turned red!"
So the next day he did just that and laughed when he watched the boy see the lion's bloody eyes and race home to see his mother and woman.
Dig up the jar and take that carved ship out of its little jade box.
The boy did what he was told and dug up the jar of spiky seed pods.
But he was astonished to see that they had transformed into precious and beautiful pearls.
And as soon as he took the tiny ship out of the jade box, it started to grow until it was as big as any ocean-going vessel.
The boy's grandmother had one warning.
The great flood is coming and when it does, remember this.
You may save all the animals that are driven into the ship.
But aside from our little family, do not allow any other human beings to board the vessel.
At this, the boy, his mother and his grandmother climbed aboard the sand ship.
Suddenly, the grandmother disappeared.
Almost immediately came a great glugging sound from the old village.
Well, and with a huge spurt, water began to belch out.
The ground was quickly covered, but the water did not stop, and soon the ship began to bob and float as the water levels rose.
It wasn't long before a very wet dog came drifting along, The boy called it to climb onto the ship.
Then a pair of mice, squeaking in fear, clambered aboard.
The water continued to rise and it slopped over the highest rooftops, where a terrified cat leapt onto the boat.
When only the treetops were visible, A raven cawing loudly and beating its wings, flapped and flopped onto the deck of the sand ship.
As it took shelter, there was a muted buzzing and a swarm of bedraggled bees so wet they could hardly fly found their way to the little ship and out of the rain.
Finally, there was something else that caught the boy's eye.
Help!
It's the butcher.
We must save him too.
No!
Remember what your grandmother said.
Just let him float past.
The butcher was clearly struggling and the boy wanted to help him.
Help!
I can't swim!
But the boy, who had a kind heart, threw out a rope and the grateful butcher was rescued.
Gradually the water subsided, the treetops became visible and then the houses could be seen again.
When the water had receded completely, they all stepped off the boat onto dry land.
Immediately, the ship started shrinking, growing smaller and smaller until the boy could put it back into its special jade box.
Now, you would have thought the butcher would have been very happy to have survived.
But he wasn't a very nice man and had spotted the boy's jar stuffed full of precious pearls.
The butcher was very jealous.
The pearls were beautiful and would bring the owner great wealth.
Even though the boy had saved his life.
The butcher wanted the pearls, and so he went to the judge and made up so many lies about the youngster and his mother that they were both thrown in jail.
I said we should have let him float past.
Yes, maybe you had a point.
The jail was not a very nice place to be, but things could have been much worse for the boy and his mother.
Their kindness to the animals they rescued had not been forgotten.
The mice dug a hole in the wall, which enabled the dog to wriggle through to bring them meat.
And the cat, who could climb and jump so easily, was able to find its way in with bread, so the two of them didn't go hungry.
Thank you, dog and mice.
It's very good of you to help us.
Yes, and thank you cat for the bread.
We're very grateful.
As they sat eating food in their jail cell they thought they could hear the cawing of the raven.
It was also very pleased to have found the boat during the great flood, and the raven was now carrying a magical letter that had been written by a god.
The bird dropped the letter on the judge's desk and the old judge began to read.
I was alone, wandering about in this world of men, disguised as a beggar woman.
This boy and his mother fed me, brought me water to drink and helped me to wash, as I really was very dirty and a bit smelly.
They welcomed me into their home and the boy treated me as his own grandmother.
The judge read on.
When the great flood came, I chose to save only them, due to their true hearts and their kindness to a stranger.
However, their accuser has a dark heart and showed no kindness.
I say to you, judge, free these good people. or misfortune will follow you.
The judge was no fool and knew better than to disobey a god.
So he made sure that the boy and his mother were released straight away.
And just for good measure, he punished the ungrateful butcher.
As for the boy and his mother, they returned to their little village where they lived very happily as the boy grew up.
They always collected spiky seed pods, and the boy became famous for his tiny carved linden.
But that's not quite the end of the story.
One day, the royal entourage came to his little village.
By now the boy had grown into a fine man.
He remained kind and was wise and good to his mother.
The kingdom's princess had announced she was looking for a husband, but was keen to make a good choice.
He watched as the royal proclamation was made near to the village.
Well, hereby declare that whoever can find the real princess may have her hand in marriage.
It wasn't that easy, as the entourage was filled with dozens of litters bearing many ladies, all wearing thick veils.
Hiding among them was the beautiful princess.
Princesses are always beautiful in stories like this.
With only one guess.
It was nearly impossible to work out which litter was the one with Her Royal Highness.
Hmm, this could be tricky, said the boy who was now a handsome young man.
But before he could make any mistake, he heard a loud buzzing.
There's our swarm of bees.
So much drier than on the boat.
And they're gathering over that veiled lady's head.
I'm making my choice.
Thanks, bees.
My lord, I believe this is the princess.
And he was right.
And it was a good thing, too, because it was love at first sight.
The princess was very pleased to be marrying such a kind and handsome man.
The wedding was celebrated with dancing and singing around.
The old well and the God who liked a party arrived at the ceremony disguised once again as the boy's grandmother.
I bless your marriage and can see you will both live long and happy lives together.
So, you see, it doesn't take a lot of effort to be kind.
And sometimes, kindness can bring amazing rewards.
And it's always good to treat strangers kindly.
They may not always turn out to be a god, but you never know, do you? and with that we conclude this episode of chinese folk tales thanks for listening if you like our stories do give this podcast a five star rating leave your comment and share with your friends to hear more please subscribe to chinese folk tales on all major podcast platforms we'll see you next time ... ...
