Children’s Stories from TaiPing Collection
Original work (原作) available at National Museum of Taiwan History archives
A Dream Log
Last night the moon shone particularly bright. Alone in our courtyard, I laid down on a bamboo mat. The cool evening breeze brushed at me, and I slipped into sleep. Suddenly, I was with others and we were in the air. I was sitting in an airplane, looking out at a sea of white. The seat was comfortable. We were crossing a vast ocean, but suddenly we struck the peak of a mountain. I was aware of the sound of the explosion before I realized that the plane was afire and I was atop its hull. I let out a scream of excitement, that very scream which awoke me from my dream.
YuanTong Temple
On Monday, we crowded into the car and headed to YuanTong Temple. When we arrived at the foot of the mountain, we got out of the car and prepared to make our ascent. The path was lined with guava trees and bushes full of tea leaves.
We made our way up the stone steps, and when we entered the temple, we were greeted by a smiling Buddha, eternally frozen in a state of laughter.
After we ate lunch, our teacher brought us to every corner of the temple to see the different viewpoints.
Tomb Sweeping Day
Today is a very odd day indeed. Mom woke me up early. My body dragged itself out of bed. I know what today will bring because the calendar reads: Tomb-Sweeping Day. I quickly dressed myself and got in the car. Mom drove us all the way to NanSong Mountain where we parked and got in a rickshaw. The driver took us all the way to Grandpa’s grave. There we used reeds to sweep his gravestone. We swept until it was clean.
I wanted to go home and watch a movie. I was so tired. But my cousin wanted ice cream and we couldn’t go home until she got what she wanted.