Le Xin To The Rescue At The Great Wall
Fontaine Gibbs, Group 2: Fiction, German Swiss International School
he mighty emperor stood upon the great wall, “You! Go get a thousand more bricks!”
He
pow
“
You, you and you! Go build another three levels of wall!”
“
Oh! And you! Go get my chariot so that I can get back to my palace
!
Hurry!”
Things went well at the building site of the great wall for Emperor Qin and he was greatly pleased.
clapped his hands in glee and chuckled to himself: “Soon, no enemy will be able to invade my
erful nation!”
His youngest and most beautiful daughter, Le Xin, who was fifteen years old, heard what her father said
from behind the door. She sighed as she walked back to her room. Le Xin was very disappointed about her
father’s pride, but she knew there was little she could do about it.
Often on a sunny afternoon, Le Xin liked to walk around the palace garden with her pet tortoise Lu Lu feebly
trudging behind her. She was glad to be away from her four bossy sisters, who were vain and always giving
boorish orders. Only she was kind and considerate like her Mother had been. Suddenly, she heard lots of
worried shouts and the clip-clopping of hooves - thousands of hooves! She looked up anxiously.
She heard her father yelling, “We need another group of chariots! We need another group of chariots! Just
another one and it’ll be enough! Just ONE person! Anyone available? It’s for the MASTER builders!”
T
“
Your Majesty! Every chariot rider has gone!” replied the servants.
Le Xin hurried up to her father and asked, “Your Majesty! What’s wrong?” Emperor Qin sadly answered,
“
My Royal Weather Watcher reports that a harsh hailstorm is coming, worse than all the ones in the history of
this nation! We must gather all my master builders to safety! Or else, what will become of the great wall?
Thousands of builders but no masters or architects! What a shame that would be.”
Le Xin thought very hard to find a solution. Suddenly, a brainwave erupted! “Your Majesty! Your Majesty! I
have an idea!
I can
take the next group of chariots. It might sound crazy, but it’s the only thing we can do!”
“
Hmm…,” Emperor Qin thought. “Well, I guess it’s the only thing we can do. You are brave, Le Xin. Get
Ma Li, your servant to help you.”
Le Xin called for her maid, Ma Li. Ma Li hurried into the horse stall and watched her gather ten horses. She
helped Le Xin attach chariots to each of them.
“
Ride Hei Ma, your horse. You know how to control him – he’s your horse,” instructed Ma Li. Le Xin
attached a chariot to Hei Ma and put a wooden tub of water in the chariot.
“
I know you wouldn’t stand it if I left you here,” laughed Le Xin to Lu Lu as she gently put her in the tub.
When everything was prepared, Ma Li said, “Le Xin, you must not go by yourself! The thought of it
worries me terribly. I shall go with you.” Le Xin smiled and agreed.
The master builders I have to rescue are probably not very far out,
Le Xin thought.
That’s probably
because the first groups of chariots went the furthest, since they were the earliest to go. And also – don’t the
master builders wear special sashes? That’ll make them easy to recognize.
Soon, Le Xin noticed two builders. “Hello! Hurry and grab a seat, the hail storm is coming soon!” She
invited.
“
Yes, we know,” groaned the first builder, “I was beginning to think I would be left behind!” The second
builder took a good look at Le Xin and noticed her royal ribbon.
“
Aren’t you one of the Emperor’s daughters? You’re wearing the royal colours,” he said.
“
Yes, I’m Le Xin, the youngest daughter,” she replied.
After Le Xin had travelled just a quarter of the way, she and Ma Li had successfully rescued twenty
builders.
Just as she hurried back to the palace leading the group of chariots, the storm started. Le Xin urged the
horses on faster than ever! Luckily this was only the start of the storm and the hail was not strong enough to do
damage. However, hailstones kept falling with more and more force. Lu Lu escaped inside of his shell but hail
bounced off him and hit the master builders and Le Xin!
Finally, they arrived back at the palace!
“
Le Xin,” trembled Emperor Qin, “are you alright? Was everything successful? You’re still soaked! I’m
glad Ma Li went with you – thank you, Ma Li, consider yourself an honourable servant!”
“
Le Xin, thanks to you and your bravery, all my master builders are safe! I shall reward you with a new
shawl of fine silk!” declared Emperor Xin. “You! Go buy the finest blue silk shawl you can find…”
All Le Xin could do was laugh. So no wonder Le Xin means a happy heart in Chinese!
* * *