My Own Fairy Tales

The Wish upon a Star

The Wish upon a Star

Long, long ago, in a small Chinese village, there were two children, a boy named Jie and a girl named Lei. They were brother and sister; Jie was eight years old and Lei was six years old. It was night time and they were supposed to be asleep but Jie wasn't asleep; he was staring up at the stars in the night sky from his bedroom window.

"Jie I can't sleep" said Lei, who was still awake.

"I can't sleep either" said Jie "I can't stop looking out at the stars. Whenever I look at the stars it reminds me of how our wish came true, and how you and I now live a happier life". It was true; Jie and Lei used to live an unhappy life before.

Their story began a week ago, at that time they lived with their Aunt Mei-Zhen. Their parents died when they were still young and they had lived their aunt ever since. But they lived a miserable life with her. Mei-Zhen was not a very nice woman; she never treated Jie and Lei with kindness. She made them do all the cleaning and would abuse them if they misbehaved. Worst of all she made them sleep in the cold cellar, with only one blanket for them to share between them. Jie and Lei were unhappy living with their aunt; they missed their parents and would often wish that they were still alive. Jie remembered that their parents really loved them, not like their aunt who hated them.

One night Jie could not sleep, he had dropped a bucket of water onto the floor and he had been beaten by Mei-Zhen and it hurt him very much. He was staring at the stars from the cellar window; it made him wonder if his parents in heaven could see the same stars. Then he saw a very bright star, he remembered when his mother was alive she would tell him that a very bright star is known as the wishing star. Jie wasn't sure if that was true, but he got onto his knees and made a wish upon the star.

"Wishing star I wish that my sister and I had a happier life than the life we are living now" he said.

Next morning Mei-Zhen told Jie and Lei to clean the house while she was at the market. "If this house isn't clean by the time I get back" she said "you will get no dinner and sleep outside tonight". Then she left. Jie and Lei got to work straight away; Jie washed the windows and chopped the wood, while Lei washed the floors and cleaned Mei-Zhen's room. By splitting the work between them, Jie and Lei got all the house work done in no time at all.

They were just about to go have a rest after all that cleaning, when they both heard a yelping noise from outside.

"That sounds like an animal that's in pain" said Lei.

"You're right it does sound like that" said Jie "come on let's find out".

When they got out the door they saw two big black dogs lying on the ground. They were a male and female and both looked exhausted and in pain. "We have to do something Jie" said Lei "we can't leave them like this". "You're right" said Jie "but we can't let our aunt see them. I know we will put them in our room. She never goes in there". Lei went into the cellar and spread the blanket out onto the floor, for the dogs to lie down on. While Jie picked the dogs up and carried them to the cellar (one at a time). Lei filled two bowls with water for the dogs to drink and found some spare bread for them to eat.

"What do you suppose happened to them?" asked Lei.

"I don't know, but my guess is they were abused by their owners" answered Jie.

It was at that moment when Mei-Zhen returned home. "Oh no aunt is back" said Jie "we must not tell her about the dogs, okay?" Lei nodded yes in return. They ran out of the cellar and welcomed their aunt home. "I take it you did what I told you to do?" Mei-Zhen asked. "Yes aunt all the rooms are neat and tidy" answered Jie. "Fine" replied Mei-Zhen "well now you two can go wash yourselves. I don't want you two to make this place smell. I'll have your meal ready when you're done". Their meal was really just a tiny portion of rice each; Mei-Zhen hardly ever fed them with enough food, while she had more than them.