Tale of the Great Wall
Ka Lee Kelly Ko, Group 2: Fiction, Diocesan Preparatory School
his tale happened during my 2008 summer break. My cousin, Michelle, and I paid a visit to
Beijing with our families for the Olympics Games. We also visited different travel points
within Beijing including a trip to the Great Wall of China which was an unforgettable
experience for us.
the
As we neared the Great Wall, Michelle and I were so excited. We ran quickly towards
giant dragon without notifying our parents. We climbed up and down the spine of the
dragon and saw a crowd of birds flying gorgeously in the sky.
T
Suddenly, we spotted a hole near the base of the Great Wall. It was very dark and we couldn’t see
anything inside. However, we still stepped in bit by bit because of our curiosity. After we walked for a
while, we heard a sound and realised that the door behind us had closed.
We screamed out, ‘‘Help! Can anyone help?’ ’
“
What happen? How can we get out of here? ’’ asked Michelle.
I replied, “Don’t worry! Don’t worry! We will soon think of a plan to save ourselves.”
Unfortunately, there was no response. We became very desperate. Suddenly, we saw something
shiny on the floor. It was a piece of a map and it gave us hope. Unluckily, a big yellow bird snatched
the map and flew away. Michelle and I ran quickly after the bird and then it flew into a small cave.
The cave was warm and cosy inside. We thought it was a dragon cave. We walked along a brick path,
even tripping on stones occasionally. We kept walking ahead until we saw a light at the end of the path.
We thought it was the way out. When we got closer, we saw a crowd of big parrots. There were many
kinds of parrots, but among all the parrots, a big yellow bird was shaking its head. We discovered that
he wanted us to ride on its back and it took us to a bird palace.
The palace was filled with birds such as swallows, ducks, parrots and kingfishers. The Olympic
flame lit up the whole place. We found that the place was a paradise for birds. It was filled with corn,
bird seeds with a drinking fountain, and a laboratory for a parrot professor. As we got there, he
welcomed us with a big banquet with lots of home-grown cucumbers and ears of corn. He gave us a
bottle of magical eye drops. We dropped some into our eyes without hesitation. Suddenly, we saw
many tiny elves inside a small mushroom house. We gasped at this amazing scene.
Suddenly, the two birds that we had seen previously flew towards us. But this time, they looked
different. They were surrounded by flames and had long glittering tails; they resembled phoenixes.
They signalled us to ride on their backs.
After that, they took us to an elven village. The King of the elven village, Julius, invited us to
have a talk with him.
We asked, “Are there any famous historical monuments nearby?”
“
As this is top secret, you must promise not to tell anyone?” answered the King.
We nodded our heads. He tapped his fingers twice and within a minute, a huge and beautiful wall
came up.
“
This is the Great Wall,” he emphasised.
We told King Julius about our knowledge of the Great Wall, which was built by the first emperor
of China in the Qin dynasty.
“
No, it was built by us, not the Chinese emperor because he sent his soldiers to attack us. We
needed to hide inside this secret village because we could not fight against his army,” said King Julius.
Although the Chinese Emperor of Qin spread the news that the Great Wall was built by him, it
was built by King Julius and his people. After our chat with King Julius, the yellow and glittering
phoenixes took us back to the world. Then they left us and went back to the Bird Paradise where we
had our first stop.
We were awakened by our parents. Michelle and I looked at each other. Everything returned to
normal. We found that we were not in the elven village anymore and we were back at the hotel with a
special feeling that we would have another unforgettable and exciting journey in a year’s time.
Michelle and I are the only ones who know of this secret. We glanced at each other to show our
promise to the elven king. It was an amazing and unexpected adventure.
* * *