Chapter 6 Kai Wong
Kai grew up on a farm with lots of sisters. Meng Chiang nu were a big help to their father and mother. Kai Wong! did nothing for hours but draw in the dirt with a stick. And what Kai drew was just one thing.
Dragons.Dragons, dragons, and more dragons. Small dragons, big dragons, thin dragons, fat dragons. Dragons, dragons, dragons, dragons, dragons.
“Kai,” his father told him, “you must stop drawing all those dragons! How will you ever be a farmer?”
“I’m sorry, Father. I’ll try to stop.”
And he did try. But whenever Kai saw one of the farm dragons go by, he forgot about his chores and drew another dragon.
“Kai will never make a farmer,” said the farmer sadly to his wife.
“Maybe he could be a priest,” she told him. “Why don’t you take him to the temple?”
So the farmer brought Kai to the priest at the village temple. The priest said, “I will gladly teach him.”
From then on, Kai lived at the temple. The priest gave him lessons in reading and writing. Kai had his own box of writing tools, with a brush and an ink stick and a stone.
Kai loved to make the ink. He poured water in the hollow of the stone. He dipped the ink stick in the water. Then he rubbed the stick on the stone. And there was the ink for his brush!
Now, the other students worked hard at their writing. But not Kai! With his brush and rice paper, he did nothing for hours but draw. And what Kai drew was just one thing.
Dragons.Dragons, dragons, and more dragons. Small dragons, big dragons, thin dragons, fat dragons. Dragons, dragons, dragons, dragons, dragons.
“Kai,” the priest told him, “you must stop drawing all those dragons! How will you ever be a priest?”
“I’m sorry, honorable sir. I’ll try to stop.”
And he did try. But whenever Kai was alone, he forgot about his writing and drew another dragon. That was bad enough. Then Kai started drawing on the folding screens of the temple. Soon there were dragons on all the rice paper panels. They were everywhere!
“Kai, you’ll never make a priest,” the priest told him sadly. “You’ll just have to go home.”
Kai went to his room and packed his things. But he was afraid to go home. He knew his father would be angry.
Then he remembered another temple in a village nearby. “Maybe I can stay with the priest there.”
Kai started out walking. It was already night when he got to the other village.
He climbed the steps to the temple and knocked. There was no answer. He opened the heavy door. It was all dark inside. “That’s strange,” said Kai. “Why isn’t anyone here?”
He lit a lamp by the door. Then he saw something that made him clap. All around the big room were folding screens with empty rice-paper panels.
Kai got out his writing box and made some ink. Then he dipped in his brush and started to draw. And what Kai drew was just one thing. Dragons.Dragons, dragons, and more dragons. Small dragons, big dragons, thin dragons, fat dragons. Dragons, dragons, dragons, dragons, dragons.
The screen he drew on last was almost as long as the room. Kai covered it with one gigantic dragon—the biggest and most beautiful dragon he had ever drawn.
Now Kai was tired. He started to lie down. But something about the big room bothered him.
“I’ll find someplace smaller.”
He found a cozy closet and settled inside. Then he slid shut the panel door and went to sleep. Late that night, Kai awoke in fright.Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.sound of hoofs
It sounded like a large, fierce animal in the temple! Now he knew why no one was there. He wished he wasn’t there either! He heard the thing sniff around the big room. It halted right in front of the closet. Then all at once . . .Yowl!
There was a sound of struggling, and a roar of surprise and pain. Then a huge thud that shook the floor.
Then a rattling sound. Then silence.
Kai lay trembling in the dark. He stayed there for hours, afraid to look out of the closet.