Chinese Tea Stories



I grew up with a childhood filled with Aesop, Brothers Grimm, and Disney. I faintly knew the stories and fables of a country hundreds of years old, China. I was familiar with the festivals and names of a handful of tales: Moon Cake Festival, The Water Margin, The Monkey King, but not knowing the full story nor the significance to the Chinese culture.

As I was trying to explore these myths, I found that there was a lack of storytelling on the Net. So I'm presenting these stories for you to enjoy, like a fresh cup of tea: full of flavor and distinctiveness.




Long time ago in a village tucked away in the mountains lived a little boy name Mike. His family were farmers. Farming was hard to do on a mountainside. There wasn't much success for his family, nor for the rest of the village. Being poor didn't bother Mike because he loved to paint. In the fields, Mike drew animal shapes in the dirt. By the river, Mike drew fish and plants on rocks with his wet finger. There was no stopping Mike's creativity for canvas and paint. When he was old enough, he went to the monastery to speak with the head monk. He knew the head monk was a famous painter and Mike wanted to learn from him. The old monk told Mike he was too young and that he should stay with his family to farm. Mike was devastated and walked home slowly, crying silently all the way.


That night, a white owl appeared at Mike's window. "Whooo," the owl cried as it flew into Mike's bedroom. In a flash, the owl changed into an old man. Mike hid behind his bed, trembling. The old man laughed and said, "I've been watching you, Mike. You're a very talented artist. I've brought a gift from the gods. It's a magic paintbrush. Use it, and it'll make many people happy." Then the old man turned back into the white owl, flying out the window and into the night.
Mike blinked his eyes, and blinked them again. The brush was on the table, waiting for the boy to pick it up. Mike picked up the brush and a tingle ran up his arm. He had to try out his gift. He unrolled a torn piece of cloth, mixed some ash with water to make ink, then drew a bird. Nothing happened for a moment but then Mike couldn't believe his eyes. The bird blinked, then ruffled its feathers. With a stretch of its wings, the bird came to life and flew off the paper. Mike fell to the ground! He tried again, but this time with a turtle. The turtle came to life with a hard shell and a head that popped in and out of that shell. All night, Mike drew little animals that came to life.


When morning arrived, Mike ran to the farm to greet his father. He had to show him his new paintbrush. Mike walked towards the broken cart. It hasn't been used in years because it was missing a wheel. Mike waved his magical paintbrush in the air and drew a wheel for the cart. POOF, a wheel appeared on the cart. Mike continued to draw things for his father to use on the farm. They were both very happy.

A week went by and news of Mike's paintbrush spread through the village. Neighbors visited Mike to have him draw new farming equipment. He was happy to help them all. One neighbor who heard about Mike was Mustache Sam, the mean rancher who lived at the end of the village. No one liked him. He abused his animals and stole from the village.

Mustache Sam had a plan. He told his henchmen to kidnap Mike and steal his paintbrush. Wednesday night, Mustache Sam's men grabbed Mike when he was walking home from the farm. Mike was thrown into an abandoned shed and two guys stood guard at the door while another ran for Mustache Sam.


When Mustache Sam arrived, he smelled something burning from inside the shed. He opened the door and found a cooked meal and a blanket, both of which were drawn by Mike for comfort. Mustache Sam discovered something else: a ladder perched against the back window of the shed. Mike had drawn a ladder to escape his capture. With all of his might, Mustache Sam yelled and knocked over the fire, burning the shed to the ground. Mike watched the chaos from behind a big rock and was not found. He ran home and hid for the next month.

During this month, stories of Mike's magical paintbrush travel all over China. People described animals coming to life and how one village poverty turned around with the aid of new farming equipment; all of this because of one little boy's big heart and his paintbrush. The news reached even to the ears of the Emperor.


The Emperor was a greedy man. He hoarded gold and gems from far away lands. He counted his money daily. He even had servants killed if they were eating too much food. The Emperor wanted Mike's magical paintbrush. He set out a million-dollar reward for the capture of Mike and his paintbrush.

Mike was captured by the Emperor's soldiers and brought before the emperor. Mike was separated with his brush and then thrown into jail. The Emperor wondered what was to be his first drawing with the magical paintbrush. He drew what he thought was a golden phoenix. A golden phoenix to lay him golden eggs. The bird flapped its wings and came to life as a common chicken. "Bock," it cried and ran around the royal throne room. The emperor tried to draw a bar of gold. Since he was a greedy man, he drew a long bar of gold. The gold bar wiggled off the paper in the shape of a snake. The huge snake crept towards the emperor and wrapped itself around him. The emperor yelled for his men of court to free him. At the same time, the chicken ran and jumped up on the head of emperor, and laid a big yellow egg.


Mike was ordered out of jail to the emperor's throne room. The emperor was furious and frustrated, unable to paint gold and riches. He ordered Mike to draw for him a sailing vessel, large enough for the royal family and all of its servants. Mike drew the most beautiful boat, carved from rare woods and gilded with gold and gemstone sparkles. Next he was ordered to draw a river to where to dock the boat. Mike drew a river. When it came to life, it picked up speed and enough strength to give birth to a tidal wave. Water crashed and destroyed the royal palace. The rough tides towed the boat far out to sea. The evil emperor was stuck on the royal boat never to return to China.

With all of the confusion, no one saw Mike sneak away, draw himself a horse and ride away. Where did he go? Some say that Mike went home to continue to help the poor. Some others say he created animal refuge in the middle of China's mountain range and drew animals until the day he died.



The first time I heard of this story was when my best friend and I went to see the movie at the Pagoda Theater. It was raining that day, but not as hard as when Xu Xian met Lady White and Miss Green for the first time.


Xu Xian traveled by boat to the river town of Zhenjiang to oversee the local medicine shop. On his way, he read his medical journals. The sky grew dark and began to pour down. Xu Xian put his books away so not to drench them. He then saw two beautiful women standing at the riverside. They were alone without anything to cover their heads. He motioned the boat captain to pull along side of the women.

Xu Xian offered to take them to their destination. The older of the two women introduced herself at Lady White and declined the kind offer by Xu Xian. Lady White’s sister, Miss Green, motioned that she was feeling cold from the downpour of rain. Xu Xian, noticing this and was taken by their beauty, gave them his umbrella. Xu Xian’s boat pulled away from the dock and Xu Xian watched the two women walk away into the brush.


When Xu Xian arrived at Zhenjiang, he again met Lady White and Miss Green. He thought it was fate that they were together again. Not long after that, Xu Xian and Lady White married. Everything was going well for Xu Xian: his lovely wife was pregnant; his sister-in-law helped around the house and his shop; and his medicine shop was a success. The villagers loved Xu Xian because he was a good physician and had a kind heart. He made house calls and healed people who didn’t have money to pay him. He was very popular in the village.

Xu Xian was walking to his shop one day and came across a monk. The monk confided that Lady White and her sister, Miss Green, were snake spirits. Xu Xian called the monk crazy, disbelieving that his beautiful wife and her sister were snake spirits. Monk said if he didn’t believe him, to have his wife drink the special dragon festival wine. If snake spirits drink this wine, they would show their true selves. Xu Xian walked away, shaking his head, and feeling sorry for the monk, who he thought, was crazy.

The dragon boat festival was upcoming and one of Xu Xian's patients paid for his treatment in dragon boat festival wine. He brought it home to share with his wife. She refused saying wine would harm her baby to be. Xu Xian put the cup to her mouth and the wine poured into her mouth. Instantly, she turned into an eight-foot snake. Xu Xian’s eye widened and his hair turned white. To that, his heart stopped and Xu Xian fell to the ground, dead. Miss Green ran into the room and screamed. The pitch of her voice awoke Lady White, who transformed back into her beautiful human self.


Lady White knew of one herb, which would bring her husband back to life. But to obtain it, she’d have to travel far to the mountaintop. She and Miss Green immediately climbed the mountainside. At the top of the mountain was a lake; in the middle of the lake was an island. On the island was a lone tree. On this lone tree, grew the magical herb that would bring Xu Xian back to life. Lady White and Miss Green ascended to the edge of the lake. They saw the traveling monk sitting on the island meditating. He opened his eyes and chanted some mumbo jumbo spirit incantations. He was trying to prevent the two snake spirits from taking the magical herb. The two snake spirits flew to the island in the middle of the lake. The monk blocked them and said that humans and snake spirits couldn't live in harmony.

A confrontation broke out with the monk fighting the snake spirits. Miss Green drew her sword first. The monk fought back. Lady White dove into the lake, creating a huge wave, attempting to wash the monk off the island. The monk stood firm. Miss Green explained to the monk that they were not evil, but trying to keep Lady White’s loving husband alive because he was a good man and deserved to live. The monk refused to listen to her. Lady White jumped up and her gown turned into a white cloud. Behind this cloud, Lady White quickly snatched a sprig of the magic herb. The cloud and the two spirits disappeared, leaving the monk alone and defeated.


The snake spirits returned back to the village. They made a potion with the magical herb. Lady White soaked a cotton ball with the potion and put it in her dead husband’s mouth. Lady White and Miss Green waited for a minute. The wait was unbearable. Then something stirred in Xu Xian and his eyes opened up. He sat up and spat out the cotton ball. He remembered nothing of the past couple of days, and couldn’t figure out why he had the biggest headache of his life. He shook his head, looked up and was glad to see Miss Green and her lovely sister, Lady White.
The Pagoda Theater doesn’t stand at the corner of Filbert and Vallejo any more, so my best friend and I have to watch Chinese movies elsewhere. But we have our memories: dark empty theaters, moy and shrimp chips for snacks, watching double features endlessly, and seeing the film, "Tale of White Snake" along with an off the wall vampire flick.

"Chinese Tea Stories"
Copyright (c) 1998
by Colette Chooey
All Rights Reserved.