The Legend of the Dragon
Paula Sun, Group 4: Fiction, St. Margaret's Co-educational English Secondary & Primary School
he Great Wall of China, what is the first word that pops in your mind when you hear these words? For
me, it’s the word “Dragon”. For those who have seen the great wall, you’d get what I mean. The fact
that the Great wall winds across China from the east to the west and that the end of the Great wall
looks like an old dragon’s head, makes me realize how strangely similar it looks compared to a dragon.
Well, I’ve heard of a legend that explains why the great wall looks as if it’s an enormous
dragon. It all started during the Qin dynasty, with a young boy called Ming and his best friend, Mei Li.
Ming wasn’t just your average ordinary teenage boy; he had a strange mark on his right arm in the
shape of a sword, which he got since birth. And to add on to that, for some reason, he always thought that he
never really fitted in with anyone in his village, anyone except for Mei Li. Mei Li, on the other hand, was a
normal teenage girl who was very independent and full of confidence. She was very pretty as well. Rumor has it,
that at that time, she was so attractive that nearly all the boys would fawn over her and attempted to win her
heart. However, she rejected all of them, which made many hold a grudge against her. Both of them lived in a
typical traditional village nearby an unknown forest in Beijing. Little did they know that they would become
one of China’s greatest legendary heroes.
It began when Ming was going to do the household chores in the local farm along with Mei Li. It was
such a quiet peaceful day that Ming couldn’t help asking Mei Li, what could go wrong on such a beautiful day?
Just as he said it, a group of slightly older boys started coming their way. Well, let’s just say that these boys
were not one of the friendliest in the neighborhood.
Now, since Ming didn’t quite fit in with the local citizens in the village, this gang of boys often bullied
him. They’d call him an outsider or, because of his birthmark, a “sword man”. At times, when the gang of boys
felt especially violent, they’d even beat him up. When this happens, although Ming never liked it, Mei Li would
always stick up for Ming and scolded the gang of boys. Since all of the boys loathed Mei Li, they’d just walk
away and call her a pain in the head.
To Ming’s relief, this time the bullies weren’t too offensive, they only shouted out a few insults to Mei
Li and Ming.
By the time the bullies left, Mei Li had an idea. Despite the many chores that had to be done, Mei Li
wasn’t in the mood for doing boring chores. So, she asked Ming whether he would like to go to the woods with
her. Although it was restricted to enter the woods, probably for safety reasons, both of them have always
wondered what magical treasures the lush, green forest hid, or perhaps, what dark secrets were kept hidden. At
first, Ming was hesitant, but then his curiosity got the better of him, so off they went into the woods.
To avoid any suspicions, they secretly exited from their village grounds and entered the woods. As they
got deeper and deeper into the forest, it was already past sunset. Later on, they decided that there wasn’t really
much to see in the woods except for trees. So, they decided to go back home. Unfortunately, the more they tried
to get out of the woods, the more they actually got deeper and deeper into the woods. Much later, Mei Li told
Ming that she felt like they’re going in circles and she also mentioned whether they have seen that same bush 5
minutes ago. Ming also noticed that, so far, they didn’t see a single soul in the forest, not even a tiny firefly.
That was when both of them realized that they were completely and utterly lost in the middle of nowhere.
Surprisingly, just when Ming thought there wasn’t anyone in the forest, a twig behind them snapped.
Then, before any of them could turn around, Mei Li’s loving father, also known as Wu, popped up
behind both of them. It was such a shock to them that Ming nearly fainted!
When Mei Li asked her father how on earth he found them, Wu explained that he actually caught a
glimpse of them entering the woods, so as the protective father he was, he went after them in secret.
Unfortunately, Wu also had a poor sense of direction, so instead of attempting to head back the three of
them agreed to camp out in the woods. As they were gathering firewood for their campsite, Ming found a cave;
he suggested that they used the cave as shelter for the night. The others agreed.
Just as they set foot inside the cave, in an instant, a dragon the size of the titanic attacked them! With
Wu’s martial arts skills, he was able to protect Mei Li and Ming for a while. When Wu started to get weaker, he
shouted at Ming to find weapons while he protected Mei Li. So, Ming ran inside the cave. The cave wasn’t that
deep, so he easily got to the end of the cave. When he went there, he started searching for any form of weapon,
like a sharp piece of wood or something. Finally found a long sharp silver sword, roughly half the length of his
body with a nicely carved handle that felt as if it was particularly designed for his hand. And without even
wondering what it was doing in the cave of a dragon, he held it tightly and began to head outside. All of a
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