A/N: This is a short work which I wrote for a creative presentation final in a World Literature class this past semester. The original story is named "The Mural," by Pu Song Ling. It was written around the 1650s and is a magical realist short story. I highly recommend you go read that one first before you read this, though it isn't necessary. Enjoy!
Little Gentleman
Fifty-eight years.
Chu has his youngest grandson, Tai, walk him up the steps to the monastery. The building is old now. The wood looks soft and fragile and some windows are missing. But that doesn't matter. Chu has waited fifty-eight years to return and his memory of the place is enough to not be disappointed at its current state.
"Yeye," Tai complains.
Chu shakes his head and urges forward as quickly as his old bones will carry him. Tai reluctantly follows. The shrine-hall looks remarkably untouched by the wear of long years.
And there it is.
Chu holds onto Tai tighter.
There she is.
Chu takes a deep breath to collect himself and takes a tentative step closer to the painted wall. The mural looks as mysterious and life-like as ever. His maiden, the one with the long, flowing tresses and later soft cloudlike chignon, has not changed. Her soft smile now gazes down upon a small boy who now holds her flowers. Chu gasps and reaches his old, withered hand to caress her face.
Illusion is born in the mind.
Those words followed him for a very long time. Chu often thought of his experience here as an illusion. That is why he waited so long to come back. Meng forgot about the whole thing not two days after they left and never mentioned it again until he passed.
You remember that monastery where you disappeared?
Chu didn't say anything.
You remember.
Chu only nods, a little confused.
Will you go back to see it sometime?
Now it's been three years since Meng died and Chu is finally here.
"Yeye, I am afraid that this building will collapse on us." Tai says, his eyes darting around warily.
Chu only hears part of this. He is dizzy and has to touch the wall to keep his balance.
He hears the laugh of a young child and Chu looks around. He is inside the mural again. Before him is his maiden and she looks very happy to see him. The laugh belongs to the small boy holding the flowers.
"Meet your son," she says, tugging on the small boy and walking over.
Chu watches the small boy with amazement and feels that he will die now. A quick glance at his feet and he realizes his old bones don't hurt him anymore. He looks up at the girl and finds her smiling. The small boy hands Chu a flower and runs away when the other girls call him over.
Chu is glad to see her again.
"Fifty-eight years," he tells her. But Chu isn't an old man anymore. He feels his strong youthful limbs and never wants them to go away.
The girl shakes her head. "Not here."
Chu smiles. They talk and Chu plays with the small boy, who calls him ba and Chu smiles because it has been a very long time since he has had any of his children call him that.
Tai is on the other side of the mural and is panicked to see his grandfather gone. He touches the mural like Chu did but nothing happens. He looks around the mural and sees his grandfather, though much younger, next to the woman with a tall chignon and they are smiling. Tai runs his hand over the mural and calls for his grandfather.
Chu, again an old man, slips from the mural and struggles to maintain his balance, groaning at his old bones.
"What happened?" Tai asks desperately, yet relieved to see him in one piece.
"Illusion is born in the mind," Chu smiles.
Tai looks at him in confusion and Chu only leads the way out of the monastery.
The mural behind them now shows the girl turned into a woman, with her hair streaked with gray and the small boy is now a young man.