(This is a Chinese book by Chjan Tanji -- if I'm writing his name right -- that I'm translating from my Russian edition of it. As far as I know, it's never been published in English. It is a political satire from the early 1900's. My translation may not always be the best, because sometimes I confuse Russian and English expressions in my head, sorry for that.)
In one village lived a poor peasant with his wife. They were both so old that they couldn't even remember how old they were. They spent their whole life without children so when two boys were born at once, the old couple was endlessly happy.
"Now we have children, too!" the peasant rejoiced, "I didn't think I'd live to experience such happiness."
His wife was glad as well.
"We should give our sons good names," she said, not taking her delighted gaze off the infants.
So what should the childrens' names be?
The old man thought and thought, but couldn't think of anything. So he asked a school teacher for a dictionary with tons and tons of words. It would surely provide a good name!
One, two, three!.. He opened the dictionary at random, his gaze fell upon the word "tsai," which means "food". No, that's not a name for a boy -- Food. How would he call them, if need be? "Hey, Food, come here"? People would laugh at him if he called his children such silly names! "Look what the old man's thinking," they'll say, "Wants some lunch, apetizers and sauces like in a restaurant!" Nah, a name like that isn't right for our kind of folk.
And the old man opened the dictionary again. This time he stuck his finger on a line with the word "fei," which means, "fat". As if the first one wasn't bad enough! Never will his sons be fat, they aren't of that kind. And thank god!
For a long time the old man flipped through the dictionary, but the right word never showed up. A whole night he spent with his finger running along the lines of the fat book, got tired, even. And when it started becoming lighter, he took his shovel and went off into the field. Distressed, he was walking along the road, when suddenly he saw a forest, pierced through with the first rays of sunlight.
"There's a name!" said the old man happily, "A prettier name couldn't be thought of!"
And that was what he chose: the firstborn he named Da Ling -- Ling the Elder, and the second -- Siao Ling -- Ling the Younger, because the word "ling" means "forest".
Ten years passed. The old peasant man and his wife were preparing to die. Before their death, they called upon Ling the Elder and Ling the Younger and said:
"We don't have anything left, children. You'll have to earn your bread somewhere else. When we die, take us to the field beyond the village and leave us there: the ravens will take care of our burial. As for you, take everything that you may need and go search for happiness."
The mother and father didn't live for very long after that. Following their parents' will, Ling the Elder and Ling the Younger brought them to the field and lay them on the ground. And immediately a flock of ravens flew down from a tree, flapping their wings loudly. Each raven brought a bit of earth in its beak; and soon a burial hill stood tall at the place where the dead bodies lay.
"Gege*," said Ling the Younger, "let's go quickly. It's better to leave as early as possible, right?"
At the house one of them put a knapsack of rice over his shoulder, the other put their simple few clothes and two clay bowls in a bag, and they said goodbye to their home.
"Where will we go?" asked Ling the Elder.
Only now did the brothers understand how dire all this was. Who will care for them, but their father and mother? They sat down on the road and started crying bitterly.
Around them were fields, forests, mountains. But it all belonged to other people. Where will they find shelter? Where will they go?..
The night was coming. The sun hid behind a mountain and a cresent moon rose. Along with him the stars came out and stayed their shining gaze on the travelers.
Ling the Elder and Ling the Younger cried for so long and sorrowfully that they woke up the sun. It dove out in the East, smiling at them luminously, obviously wondering how could someone cry in such a morning.
Ling the Younger wiped his eyes.
"Are you still crying, gege?" he asked his brother, "Maybe it's enough?"
"I guess it is! Let's go."
But where to go? Of course to wherever their eyes led them. But what if there are so many roads in the world that your eyes can't pick just one? Then it's even simpler -- you walk at random. They walked and walked until their rice ended.
"It's all gone!" said Ling the Elder. "What are we going to do now?"
"I guess we'll rest, and then think of something. Alright?"
The older brother agreed, and they sat in the shadow of a big black hill.
Ling the Elder looked again into the empty knapsack and sighed:
"I wish I were rich! Rich people can do anything -- eat as much as they want, dress in all new clothes, not do anything at all..."
"Really?" Ling the Younger asked in surprise, "Father said that a person must do something."
"That's because he was poor. And a rich person -- why would he need to work? I remember something else: it's all good, father used to say, for those who have their own land."
"Father and mother died in poverty, it's true, but they were good people. And rich people -- well, they're lazy!"
"But they live happily!" argued Ling the Elder, "And what happiness do peasants have? All you do is work, wo..."
But he didn't have the time to finish. There suddenly was a thunderous noise, as if the sky had cracked.
"WO?.. WO -- WHAT? I'M GOING TO TEAR YOU UP AND EAT YOU!"
Ling the Elder and Ling the Younger jumped. The empty knapsack started trembling with fear as well.
Who is yelling? There's not a soul around!
Shaking in terror, Ling the Elder and Ling the Younger grabbed on to one another.
"Did you hear that?" said Ling the Elder, teeth chattering, "Who is that?"
"I don't know."
And then they realized that the black hill at the bottom of which they were standing suddenly moved and started rising as they watched.
"Earthquake! Let's run, quickly!" cried Ling the Younger.
But it was too late to run: the hill rose rapidly and stood like a wall in their way.
Alas, it was not a hill at all, but some bizzarre monster! Humanlike, but not human, animal-like, but not an animal.
And they had sat on it, rested on this Monster, thinking it to be an ordinary hill. Now i t stood in front of them, standing up to its full height. Its eyes, huge like two metal gongs, burned with green fire. Long, grass-covered hands stretched towards Ling the Elder and Ling the Younger, ready to grab them and tear them apart.
That's it, now this Monster will eat them! It will eat them in one gulp!
"We might as well let him eat us!" thought Ling the Elder, "our father and mother are gone, the rice is all eaten, no land, no money... then let the damned Monster eat us!"
But Ling the Younger decided to not give up. It would be pointless to run, of course, he had understood that immediately. The Monster only needs to stretch out his arm, and it could grab you, even if you manage to run a thousand steps away.
The Monster licked its lips at the thought of a good meal and stared at Ling the Elder and Ling the Younger with its huge green eyes.
"Going to try to eat us?" yelled Ling the Younger, trembling from indignation.
"I GUESS I COULD NOT," smirked the Monster, "ON ONE CONDITION: IF YOU PAY ME TRIBUTE - LOTS AND LOTS OF PEARLS."
"Pearls? What's that?"
"HA-HA-HA! YOU DON'T KNOW?.. TOO BAD FOR YOU! THEN GET READY..."
"Run!" whispered Ling the Younger to Ling the Elder.
"He'll catch us anyway."
"Not if we run in different directions, he won't."
One!.. Two!.. Three!.. Ling the Elder started running towards the east, Ling the Younger -- west.
The Monster became confused. At first it went after Ling the Elder, then Ling the Younger, and was left with nothing.
The brothers ran away without taking their sack of belongings. The Monster was starting to get hungry. Annoyed at its bad luck, it grabbed the bag and stuck it into its jaws. But what's edible about a bag! Bad-tasting, overwashed, it got stuck in an aching tooth. Angry, the Monster grabbed a pine tree out of the ground and started picking its teeth with it.
"WELL, TIME TO GO TO BED!" sighed the Monster, finally having spit out the remains of the disgusting bag.
Again the cresent moon rose, thin as a woman's brow.
The Monster stretched, but accidentally caught its hand on the edge of the cresent moon and stratched it up to blood.
"UGH!" it spat angrily, "THIS WHOLE DAY HAS BEEN UNLUCKY! REALLY UNLUCKY!..."
*Gege -- big brother
