Blackberry Blue

by Jamila Gavin

  Chi was taken aback. What kind of place was this? he wondered. He stood up, but his feet didn’t touch the ground, and he drifted gently. He seemed to be at the bottom of the lake; yet there before him was a wood, with sunlight streaming through the branches.

  ‘Get on with it,’ shrieked the crone.

  ‘Of course,’ cried Chi and, despite feeling he had nearly drowned, obeyed courteously. Without a grumble, he scooped up the sacks that lay at her feet. But when he entered the wood he saw, set in amongst all the apple, damson and plum trees, many jewels – enough to turn a poor farm boy into a prince. Emeralds hung from the trees, rubies festooned the flowering shrubs, pearls were scattered across his path. Yet Chi forced his eyes away from them and began to pick the fruit, as he had been asked. He picked and picked until his fingers were raw and his shoulders ached. And when at last the job was done, he staggered over to the crone and laid the sacks at her feet.

  ‘Now climb on my back and I’ll carry you up to your shore,’ she told him.

  Chi didn’t think this was possible. But he did as she said. It was like being on the back of an ox, she was so strong.

  Up and up they floated through the green waters . . .

  Of course, Lu had got home first, not caring whether Chi were alive or dead. He gave his father the piece of jade, telling him triumphantly that he now knew Chi’s secret and could get more of it.

  ‘And where is Chi?’ asked his father.

  Lu shrugged. ‘We had a fight; he ran away – the coward.’ He didn’t tell him that he had attacked Chi and left him to drown in the lake. ‘But what does it matter if he doesn’t come home? Good riddance!’ cried the wicked boy. ‘And anyway, isn’t this a bigger piece of jade than anything Chi brought back?’

  A cry of anguish came from Chi’s mother in the kitchen.

  Suddenly, the door flew open and Chi stepped inside. His skin was shining green, and his black hair dripped water from the lake which fell from him as diamonds, and his pockets, hands and neck were brimming with jewels. He began to sing:

  ‘East the Blue Dragon,

  West the White Tiger,

  North the Black Tortoise,

  South the Gold Fish.’

  And as he sang, all kinds of glittering jewels tumbled from his mouth, scattering across the floor.

  His mother ran forward with a cry of joy. ‘Why, Chi, you’ve come home!’ She threw her arms around him. But even as she did so, he seemed to dissolve away, and all that was left on the floor was a pool of green water.

  Lu and his father didn’t care that Chi had vanished. They were too busy scrabbling around on the floor, gathering up the precious stones, and immediately began to plan how to spend their new fortune.

  But Chi’s mother was desperate to find her son. That night she rose from her bed and silently left the house. She walked down through the woods to the lake in the valley. Little white flowers gleamed in the darkness as if to light her way, and a full moon hung low over the water, turning it to silver.

  With a breaking heart, Chi’s mother began to chant:

  ‘East the Blue Dragon,

  West the White Tiger,

  North the Black Tortoise,

  South the Gold Fish –

  Find my son.’

  Suddenly, coming towards her, its scales gleaming silver and gold swam the giant carp. She gazed into its eyes, and it was like looking into the soul of her dead husband.

  ‘Dear one,’ she sighed. ‘Where is my son? Without him, what is there to live for?’

  The giant carp opened its mouth, and out fell four pieces of jade – blue, white, black and golden. She thrust her hands into the wavering water to catch them as they sank. Then the fish spoke to her:

  ‘Dearest good wife, go back home and carve these pieces of jade: the blue should be a dragon, the white a tiger, the black a tortoise, and the golden one a fish. Bring them to me, and all will be well.’

  So, full of hope, Chi’s mother climbed back up the hillside. She went to her husband’s old workshop and immediately set about her task.

  Meanwhile, day by day, her second husband and his son, Lu, used the jewels Chi had brought them to buy fine clothes and boots and belts and swords. They bought another carriage with two white horses, and held feasts for all their friends, with plenty of wine and the very best food; very soon, there was hardly any money left at all.

  And it was just then that the king issued a proclamation from the palace:

  ‘Any man who wishes to be considered as a husband for my daughter must present themselves at court in three days’ time. Each suitor must bring a gift fit for the princess, and then she will make her choice.’

  Lu’s father thought, If I can get more jewels like the ones Chi brought home, I’ll be rich enough to offer my son as a husband to the princess. Why, I’ll be as rich as the King of Xanadu.

  ‘You get yourself down to this lake again tomorrow,’ he ordered Lu, ‘and see what you can find. And take a net with you. If you can catch that golden carp, it might keep us in wealth for ever.’

  So the next day Lu set off for the lake, taking a large net with him.

  He was lazy at the best of times, but the wealth he now enjoyed had made him even lazier, and he grumbled at having to trek all the way down through the woods to the lake in the valley. When he got to the water’s edge, he collected up some sharp stones for his catapult and, finding a rock jutting out over the water, positioned himself with his net at the ready, looking for any sign of the giant carp.

  At last he saw a flash of gold beneath the surface. Quickly fitting a stone into his catapult, he took aim and let fly. The first stone, and then the second, fell short, and the fish circled just out of reach. Lu fitted a third: it seemed to hit its mark. The fish floundered in the water, and with a shout of delight, the boy took up the net and brought it down over the golden creature. He began to haul it in when, all at once, the fish twisted in the net and dived down into the depths, dragging the boy off the rock – down, down, down.

  Lu hung onto the net – until, suddenly, the fish arced up out of the water like a golden bow, and freed itself; while Lu sank to the bottom, where he found before him the ugliest, loathliest old woman, sitting still as a boulder.

  ‘Hey, you! Where am I?’ he called, but all that came out of his mouth was a stream of bubbles. He stood up, yet he was floating; he seemed to be at the bottom of the lake, but there before him was a wood, with sunlight streaming down through the branches.

  ‘Young master!’ The loathly woman called out in a cackling voice. ‘You look fit and strong. Go and fill these sacks for me: a sack of red apples, purple damsons and yellow plums for my winter store.’

  ‘Go and do it yourself,’ he answered back rudely. ‘What do you think I am, a donkey?’

  The crone looked at him with eyes like lightning. ‘You will do as you’re told, or you’ll never go home. Get on with it,’ she shrieked.

  Feeling a little afraid at her words, Lu grumpily gathered up the sacks and went into the wood. What a sight met his eyes! Not only was it full of apple, damson and plum trees; emeralds hung from the branches, rubies festooned the flowering shrubs, and pearls were scattered across his path. So this was where Chi had got all his jewels! Lu ignored the fruit and the instructions the old woman had given him, and plunged greedily into the undergrowth, stuffing the sacks and his pockets with precious stones.

  When at last he couldn’t squeeze in one pearl more, without even looking for the ghastly creature, he began to swim up, and up, and up.

  ‘Master!’ It was the hag calling out to him. ‘Give me my sacks of fruit.’

  But Lu ignored her. ‘Silly old woman. Pick them yourself!’ he called, and he continued rising up through the water, dragging the sacks behind him and thinking how pleased and proud his father would be. He had done as well as Chi, and surely there was enough here to impress a princess.

  But the sacks were heavy, and the precious stones stuffed in his pockets weighed him down, and
when he surfaced, the lake suddenly looked as big as an ocean, and the shore a long way off. His body was chilled and every muscle ached. He swam more and more slowly. He clasped the sacks of jewels to his chest. Nothing would make him let go – though a white mist had now descended, and hovered over the surface so that he could no longer see the shore.

  Then it seemed to him that a giant golden carp was swimming around him in great circles, and a strange figure, as gold and green and gleaming as jade – was it Chi, or a fish? – glided alongside him, and Lu felt himself being towed towards the shore.

  Without even turning to thank his rescuer, he scrambled away from the lake, shivering and laughing at his lucky escape, and struggled up the hillside with the precious sacks. When he got home, bedraggled and exhausted, his father demanded, ‘Well? Did you find any treasure?’

  ‘Far more than anything Chi brought home!’ he cried triumphantly, and emptied the sacks, scattering jewels across the floor. ‘Surely this is a gift to impress the most royal of princesses.’

  At last the day came when the princess would choose her husband. The town was full of all kinds of suitors bearing gifts: warriors and knights, merchants and bankers, adventurers and seafarers. They were not to be chosen for their wealth, but for the special and rare quality of their gifts.

  Lu and his father ordered a coach of silver and gold, with four white horses. They wore clothes made of velvet and lace, and boots of the best Spanish leather, and their footmen were clad in scarlet livery. How confidently they got into their coach, with Lu holding on his lap a silver casket filled with jade, and set off for the palace. The princess’s choice was to be announced at midnight.

  Chi’s mother watched them go, then quietly gathered together the four pieces of jade she had been carving day and night –

  a blue dragon,

  a white tiger,

  a black tortoise

  and a golden yellow fish

  – and wrapped them into a bundle.

  She made her way down through the woods to the secret lake at the bottom of the valley. Far in the distance, she could hear bands playing in the castle, and fireworks arced into the sky, scattering the darkness with millions of sparks.

  When she got to the shore she chanted softly:

  ‘East the Blue Dragon,

  West the White Tiger,

  North the Black Tortoise,

  South the Gold Fish.’

  Coming towards her through the moonlit water, she saw a huge gleaming shape, with scales of silver and green, red and gold reflecting scattering sparks from the fireworks. The giant fish looked up at her, its eyes brimming with love. ‘Come, wife,’ it said. ‘Let me carry you over the water.’

  She lay across the carp’s back as if on a couch, while it bore her over to the far shore. As she slid off among the reeds, she heard singing in the distance.

  ‘Go now,’ said the fish. ‘Follow the path and give your jade creatures to Chi.’ Then, with a whisk of its golden tail, it disappeared under the waters.

  Chi’s mother followed a path through a wood glinting with shining jade of every hue. She walked among the silver birch trees, carrying the animals she had carved, and found herself at the steps of the king’s palace, which shone as golden as a rising sun. At the top of the steps, as if waiting for her, was Chi. Heaven itself couldn’t have made her smile more joyfully, even though his skin was green from the lake, and his clothes hung from his body like weeds.

  ‘Here is your gift for the princess,’ she said, embracing his ice-cold body.

  The ball was in full swing. The musicians were playing wildly, and the dancers whirled and twirled as, one by one, the suitors lined up before a royal throne with their gifts. Lu stood there confidently, with his silver casket full of jewels, while his father hovered behind him, watching with arrogant pride. He was certain that no one’s gift could be better than his son’s.

  A trumpet sounded to announce the arrival of the princess.

  She entered, and a shocked silence descended over the assembled suitors. Instead of the beautiful young princess they had all been expecting, the ugliest, loathliest creature hobbled forward and wriggled herself up onto a throne next to the king and queen.

  Some suitors fled immediately, fearing that they had been tricked. Lu gasped in horror at seeing the hag from the lake. He too would have fled, but his father gripped his arm. ‘What does it matter? Even if she were a serpent, you must marry her,’ he hissed. ‘Think of all the wealth you will have. Think of me. Go!’

  Feeling his father’s steely fingers prodding his back, Lu stepped forward with his casket of jewels. He bowed before the king and queen and held out his gift for the princess. As she opened the casket, everyone heard a sizzling, like fire on ice; a bubbling like a witch’s cauldron; a squelching, slurping, rumbling, tumbling, as of a landslide . . . and out flowed a torrent of mud and knobbly stones. Lu howled in horror and disbelief, and from his open mouth spewed slimy, straggling weeds, wriggling worms and leaping toads.

  ‘Get him away!’ screamed the dreadful creature, and Lu was dragged out by the palace guards, while his father fled in utter humiliation.

  Suddenly, the palace doors flew open. There was a low chanting and murmuring of summer winds and lapping waters and rustling reeds.

  A mother and her son entered the hall. The woman, once young, now old before her time, stood beside a youth as green as jade, dripping with lake water, his hair tangled with lotus flowers.

  Chi walked towards the hag princess, holding out his bundle; his gift. Two gnarled hands received it. Bony fingers prised open the folds and revealed the jade animals: a blue dragon, a white tiger, a black tortoise and, finally, a golden fish, all made from the palest, most translucent jade, through which the sun gleamed, turning it to gold. And she began to sing:

  ‘East the Blue Dragon,

  West the White Tiger,

  North the Black Tortoise,

  South the Gold Fish.’

  And as she sang, the ugly, wizened, loathliest of creatures was transformed into the beautiful maiden from the lake, in a long, creamy silken gown, her hands covered by floating sleeves, her long, unpinned black hair wafting around her like evening shadows.

  ‘It’s you!’ sighed Chi joyfully.

  Then the king spoke. ‘When our daughter grew into such a beautiful maid, a wise fairy told us that only by turning her into an ugly creature would she know the true worth of any of her suitors. And only when the right man came would she transform back to her beautiful self. It seems you are that young man.’

  The princess lifted up a garland of jade petals and dropped it over Chi’s shoulders. ‘I choose you for my husband, if you will have me.’

  As Chi murmured, ‘I will,’ his rags fell away and jade flowed over his golden skin like fish scales.

  Chi married the princess, and not only lived happily ever after with her, but rescued his family farm, which became prosperous once more. And when his mother had time, she would sit in the workshop as his father had done, and carve precious stones. Once again, the poor were provided for with all the generosity they had known when Chi’s father was alive.

  In due course, Chi’s mother became a grandmother, and she would often wander with the little ones by the lake, and skip pebbles across the surface. Sometimes the golden carp would appear, and whenever she looked into the fish’s eyes she would meet her husband’s gaze, and whisper, ‘Thank you, my dearest one.’

  As for the stepfather and his son, they didn’t return to the farm but disappeared, never to be heard of again. Perhaps they tricked another innocent widow, or perhaps they got the punishment they deserved. Who knows?

  EMEKA THE PATHFINDER

  Evil brings darkness and confusion, yet everyone must learn to find their own way. But if they get lost, then they might need the help of a pathfinder.

  An evil sorcerer called Abiteth flew over the land and saw below him a beautiful palace surrounded by rich lands and a great hunting forest. Just the kind of p
lace I’d like to live in, he thought; and, landing in the form of a large crow, he hopped over the palace walls. With my magic powers I will take over this kingdom and make my sorceress wife queen. With that, he transformed into a coiling, serpent-like creature that was barely human, clutching a black and gold rod.

  Those who could do so fled, but not the king. Defiantly, he stayed seated on his throne with his son, Prince Florian, on one side, and his daughter, Princess Flora, on the other.

  The sorcerer swooped into the throne room with his queen by his side. ‘The throne is now mine,’ he declared. ‘Give it to me and I will spare your son and daughter.’ With one wave of a long-nailed finger, he turned the few remaining guards into worms, which crawled away between the cracks in the walls.

  Realizing that he had no powers to fight this evil being, and desperate to save his children, the king stepped down. ‘It is yours,’ he said. ‘Do what you will with me, but spare my children.’

  Abiteth laughed. ‘I’ll spare you all. Instead of killing you, I banish you into your own forest. Don’t try and find your way back because I have cast the spell of confusion and jumbled up all the paths, so that no path leads anywhere. Only a pathfinder would ever be able to find his way out, and you’re not likely to meet one of those.’

  ‘You can’t do this to us!’ cried Prince Florian, lunging forward to strike the sorcerer.

  ‘I can do what I like. See!’ Abiteth thumped the black and gold rod on the floor. ‘I will turn you into a bear, and your sister into a wolf. Now begone! And if your father is ever unfortunate enough to come across you in the forest, you will tear him to pieces.’

  And with a wave of his hand, the three disappeared in a puff of smoke.

  The king found himself transported deep into the tangled forest with nothing to protect him.