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| REVIEW STORE: Did you enjoy Su Chang-Wu's short story? Please tell her so. We know she will appreciate your feedback. CLICK HERE to write a review of "A Coat of Many Colors". NEW REVIEWS: I am familiar with this fable memorialized in a tower to Meng Jiangnu at the Shanhaiguan Pass, the most famous Pass of The Great Wall. Su Chang's retelling is a wonderful read of a wonderful story. ****__Barbara A. Sabo A short but lovely fable that I was not familiar with. So it was a most enjoyable read. I did not realize the Chinese used human labor as fodder for The Great Wall. ****__Captain Apple Jack This is a sad fable that I had the pleasure of discovering here and reading, and my heart is moved with the beauty and sadness of the two lovers separated in life and reunited in death. ****__Melissa Mendelson This story was filled with love from beginning to end. Even the love of the gourd speaks loudly of the characters of the two men. It's a faerie tale of sorts with a romantic and somewhat sad twist. I found it to be a delightful read. There were no wasted words and it flowed gently. The ending has a sad but poignantly beautiful message for all lovers.***** __Marcia Miller-Twiford This story is charming. It absorbs mind and heart and rests them for a while in a golden long ago that is still somewhere in us all. *****__Richard L. Sassoon A REVIEW OF "A Coat of Many Colors": This fable is a sad one. The message is clear; be ready to share with your neighbor what ever you have like Meng did. Also, love is the greatest gift to man: its powers can break any wall!****__Chika Victor Onyenezi. |
| “A Coat of Many Colors” By Su Chang-Wu Sunday, July 20, 2008 Rated "G" by the Author. A Lowlander Travels to the Great Wall in Search of Her Husband. There was once an old man named Meng who lived in the southern part of the country. One spring, Meng sowed a seed of bottle gourd in his yard. The bottle gourd grew up bit by bit and its vines climbed over the wall and entered his neighbor Jiang's yard. Like Meng, Jiang had no children and so he became very fond of the plant. He watered and took care of the plant. With tender care of both men, the plant grew bigger and bigger and gave a beautiful bottle gourd in autumn. Jiang plucked it off the vine, and the two old men decided to cut the gourd and divide it by half. To their surprise when they cut the gourd a pretty and lovely girl was lying inside! They felt happy to have a child and both loved her very much, so they decided to bring the child up together. They named the girl Meng Jiangnu, which means Meng and Jiang's daughter. Time passed and Meng Jiangnu became a beautiful young woman. She was very smart and industrious. She took care of old Meng and Jiang, washing their clothes and doing the housework. People knew that Meng Jiangnu was a good girl and liked her very much. One day while playing in the yard, Meng Jiangnu saw a young man hiding in the garden. She called out to her parents and the young man, Fan Qiliang, came out. Meng and Jiang liked this good-looking, honest, and good-mannered young man. They decided to wed their daughter to him. Both Fan Qiliang and Meng Jiangnu accepted happily, and the couple was married several days later. At the time, Emperor Qin Shihuang (the first emperor of Qin) announced to build The Great Wall, so lots of men were caught by the federal officials. Three days after their marriage, officials suddenly broke in the house of Meng-Jiang and took Fan Qiliang away to build The Great Wall in the north of China. It was a hard time for Meng Jiangnu after her husband was taken away. She missed her husband and cried nearly every day. She sewed a warm coat for Fan Qiliang and decided to set off to look for him. Saying farewell to her parents, she packed her luggage and started her long journey. She climbed over mountains and went through the rivers. She walked day and night, slipping and falling many times, but finally she reached the foot of The Great Wall at the present Shanhaiguan Pass. Upon her arrival, she asked about her husband. But bad news came to her. Fan Qiliang had died of exhaustion and his body was used as fodder for The Great Wall. Meng Jiangnu could not stop crying. She sat on the ground and cried and cried. Suddenly with a tremendous noise, a 400 kilometer-long (248-mile-long) section of The Great Wall collapsed over her bitter wails revealing the bones of Fan Qiliang. Meng Jiangnu wrapped her husband’s bones in the warm coat and climbed to the top of The Great Wall. When she reached the summit, the coat had taken on many bright colors. Knowing this was a loving message from her husband, Meng Jiangnu pressed the coat of many colors to her breast and threw herself from the summit into the Bohai Sea whereupon she was reunited in love with Fan Qiliang. ©2008 Su Chang-Wu [All Rights Reserved] |
