Tales of a Chinese Grandmother

by Frances Carpenter

  "The Old Man of the North took up his writing brush, and with careful strokes he changed the figure one into a nine, so that the length of Tong's years read ninety-nine instead of nineteen. The young man's heart was filled with happiness. He fell to his knees and kowtowed again and again to the Old Man of the North. As he was taking his leave, the Old Man spoke to him thus: 'Say to that fortuneteller, Kwan Lo, that he did wrong to tell you how long you should live. Bid him take care not to give away our secrets again. The time set by heaven should not be known upon earth. Either it gives too much joy or it gives too much sadness. And you, young gentleman, keep what we have done for you to yourself. We do not want every man, woman, and child rushing up our mountainside to beg us to change the figures beside their names in the Book of Life.'"

  When the Old Old One had ended her story, little Yu Lang rose from her seat and toddled on her bound feet to the side of her grandmother's chair. She put her small hand timidly upon the silver gray silk of the Old Old One's gown and she looked up into her face.

  "I shall pray to the Old Man of the North that he will let you live also for ninety-nine years, Lao Lao," she said. Tears filled her soft black eyes as she remembered the smooth wooden coffin which her grandmother kept so carefully, ready, in one of the rooms of her apartment. The little girl and her brother and the other children inside the bright red gate of the Lings truly hoped that their Lao Lao would live for a long time. They could not imagine what their days would be like if they had no Old Old One to love them and teach them and tell them splendid stories about wonderful things that happened long, long ago.

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