Read Online Starry River of the Sky by Grace Lin - Free Book Online
Authors: Grace Lin
Tags: Juvenile Fiction / Fairy Tales & Folklore - Adaptations, Juvenile Fiction / Action & Adventure - General, Juvenile Fiction / Historical - Asia
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search and search until it was found, not caring whom or what he destroyed until he got what he wanted.
Night had fallen, and she heard the heavy footsteps of WangYi coming for her. She fluttered around the room like a trapped butterfly, but as the clear light of the pill shimmered, she suddenly knew what to do. So when WangYi opened the door, she stood waiting for him with the shining pill in her hand.
He stared at her, surprised and speechless. And in that moment of shock, she put the white pill in her mouth and swallowed.
A searing pain swelled inside her as if she was being filled with a vicious poison. Her skin tightened, choking her, and her eyes closed as she fell to the floor,gasping. As she put her hands on the floor to lift herself, she was horrified to see that they had become mottled, wrinkled… and webbed! They were the hands of a toad!
When she looked up at WangYi, through his look of revulsion and fear, she could see her reflection in his eyes. It was not just her hands that were toadlike—she herself had been transformed into a giant toad.
WangYi, finally recovering from his astonishment, gave a shout of anger and started toward her. In terror, she jumped out the door and into the courtyard and the cool night air. As WangYi chased her, she leaped away with all her strength.
To the surprise of them both, her jumps brought her deep into the sky—higher than the palace rooftops and the mountain peak—into where the sky turned into the Starry River. The stars glittered around her like fireflies, and the night water clasped her with welcoming waves, but she was too frightened to understand what had happened. She could still hear WangYi’s cries of fury, and her transformation into a toad had confused her.
In the distance, in front of her, she saw a round, glowing object as smooth and as white as a pearl.
Another pill!
she thought, bewildered.
I’ll swallow that one too.
She jumped toward it, her silhouette darkening its surface. But instead of swallowing it, she landed on it. For it was the moon, and her new home.
“But even as a toad,” Madame Chang finished, “she was still herself on the inside. The pill she had swallowed just transformed her appearance.”
“Did she always stay a toad?” Peiyi asked, wide-eyed.
Madame Chang smiled faintly. The sadness that Rendi had seen earlier in her eyes returned, and he looked at her curiously. “Many believe that as WangYi’s wife lived on the moon, the pill slowly ripened inside her,” she said. “And one day, when it was finally gold, she changed back into a woman and became the Moon Lady.”
“The Moon Lady?” Rendi asked. He vaguely remembered hearing that name before and had a sudden vision of his mother tilting her head toward the moon with hereyes closed. “Doesn’t the Moon Lady make wishes come true or something?”
“They say the Moon Lady can hear your most secret wish and grant it,” Madame Chang said. “It may be a wish so secret that you don’t even know you have it.”
“Is your secret wish to turn back into a rabbit?” Mr. Shan said playfully to the toad, the coins tinkling as he rattled them. “You’ll have to go to the moon!”
But there is no moon now
, Rendi thought.
Without it, can the Moon Lady still grant wishes? Does she wish the sky would stop crying and the moon would come back? Would she grant my wish of leaving the Village of Clear Sky?
CHAPTER
16
Rendi walked down the shady side of a twisted street; even the scant protection of shadows was welcome in the searing sun.
I’ll just get some water at the Half-Moon Well, and then I’ll pack up my things at the inn and leave
, he thought. The swinging sound of his mended buckets on his new carrying stick echoed against the crumbling stones of the empty ruins.
However, the ruins were not completely empty. In front of him, Rendi saw a figure at the Half-Moon Well. As hedrew closer, he recognized Mr. Shan. He was on his knees, gazing into the well.
“Mr.
Night had fallen, and she heard the heavy footsteps of WangYi coming for her. She fluttered around the room like a trapped butterfly, but as the clear light of the pill shimmered, she suddenly knew what to do. So when WangYi opened the door, she stood waiting for him with the shining pill in her hand.
He stared at her, surprised and speechless. And in that moment of shock, she put the white pill in her mouth and swallowed.
A searing pain swelled inside her as if she was being filled with a vicious poison. Her skin tightened, choking her, and her eyes closed as she fell to the floor,gasping. As she put her hands on the floor to lift herself, she was horrified to see that they had become mottled, wrinkled… and webbed! They were the hands of a toad!
When she looked up at WangYi, through his look of revulsion and fear, she could see her reflection in his eyes. It was not just her hands that were toadlike—she herself had been transformed into a giant toad.
WangYi, finally recovering from his astonishment, gave a shout of anger and started toward her. In terror, she jumped out the door and into the courtyard and the cool night air. As WangYi chased her, she leaped away with all her strength.
To the surprise of them both, her jumps brought her deep into the sky—higher than the palace rooftops and the mountain peak—into where the sky turned into the Starry River. The stars glittered around her like fireflies, and the night water clasped her with welcoming waves, but she was too frightened to understand what had happened. She could still hear WangYi’s cries of fury, and her transformation into a toad had confused her.
In the distance, in front of her, she saw a round, glowing object as smooth and as white as a pearl.
Another pill!
she thought, bewildered.
I’ll swallow that one too.
She jumped toward it, her silhouette darkening its surface. But instead of swallowing it, she landed on it. For it was the moon, and her new home.
“But even as a toad,” Madame Chang finished, “she was still herself on the inside. The pill she had swallowed just transformed her appearance.”
“Did she always stay a toad?” Peiyi asked, wide-eyed.
Madame Chang smiled faintly. The sadness that Rendi had seen earlier in her eyes returned, and he looked at her curiously. “Many believe that as WangYi’s wife lived on the moon, the pill slowly ripened inside her,” she said. “And one day, when it was finally gold, she changed back into a woman and became the Moon Lady.”
“The Moon Lady?” Rendi asked. He vaguely remembered hearing that name before and had a sudden vision of his mother tilting her head toward the moon with hereyes closed. “Doesn’t the Moon Lady make wishes come true or something?”
“They say the Moon Lady can hear your most secret wish and grant it,” Madame Chang said. “It may be a wish so secret that you don’t even know you have it.”
“Is your secret wish to turn back into a rabbit?” Mr. Shan said playfully to the toad, the coins tinkling as he rattled them. “You’ll have to go to the moon!”
But there is no moon now
, Rendi thought.
Without it, can the Moon Lady still grant wishes? Does she wish the sky would stop crying and the moon would come back? Would she grant my wish of leaving the Village of Clear Sky?
CHAPTER
16
Rendi walked down the shady side of a twisted street; even the scant protection of shadows was welcome in the searing sun.
I’ll just get some water at the Half-Moon Well, and then I’ll pack up my things at the inn and leave
, he thought. The swinging sound of his mended buckets on his new carrying stick echoed against the crumbling stones of the empty ruins.
However, the ruins were not completely empty. In front of him, Rendi saw a figure at the Half-Moon Well. As hedrew closer, he recognized Mr. Shan. He was on his knees, gazing into the well.
“Mr.
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