I got this story in one of Taiwanese Children Books that I brought back to US. They are actually Japanese children stories translated into Mandarin. As Meeilei is in New York City helping out the new parent for our first grand-daughter, I got the luxury to read those children stories and I love all of them. Here is one of the transcription--Ice Angel.
When we think of angels, they are all good looking boys or girls with the wings attached to their shoulders. Well, Ice Angel is quite a different kind of angel. In fact, he is an ugly-looking boy dressed in not-fitted shirt and pant with a sandal even in a cold, winter days. Actually, ice angel is not afraid of cold. He is made of ice. The only thing he is afraid of is fire. Because fire can melt ice angels down.
Ice Angel does not have any friend of his age. Rude city kids often pick up on him, laugh at him, even throw stone at him. Sometimes, they even beat ice angels simply because Ice Angel looks different from the other kid and Ice Angel has no parent. He is indeed an orphan.
But Ice Angel is not the only target of rude city kids. They were also rude to a middle age O-Ji-San who lived alone far away from the city. O-Ji-San lives in the countryside. He is a master of making masks, all kinds of masks. One a while, O-Ji-San will take his masks to the city to sell here and there. At the end of the day, he would buy a bottle of wine and a bag of rice and few vegetable to bring home.
One day, when he was about to go home, he saw a group of city kids harassing Ice Angels. O-Ji-San came forward to ask them to stop.
"Ma-Te, Stop". O-Ji-san yelled.
The kids retreated a little bit but then continue to harass Ice Angel. One kid even threw stone at O-Ji-san. O-Ji-san shifted his body to avoid being hit. The stone hit the wine bottle. A bottle of wine was then gone.
"Ma-Te, Stop". This time, O-Ji-San shouted even louder. The kids finally went away, leaving Ice Angel alone.
O-Ji-San came close to Ice Angel and holding his hands.
"What is your name? Do you have a place to go tonight?" O-Ji-San asked.
"My name is A-Kai. I have no place to go tonight." Ice Angel said.
"Then come to my hut tonight." O-Ji-San holding A-Kai's hands. They both came to the hut in the country side. It was getting dark and cold.
O-Ji-San gathered wood, tree branches, and paper on the mud floor and lighted a fire using a match box. With an initial fire, O-Ji-San blew the wind over carefully with a hand-fan. The fire then gathered force and burning at the center of the house.
"Come close to the fire to keep your body warm." O-Ji-San said to Ice Angel.
"That is OK. I would rather be cold." Ice Angel did not tell O-Ji-San his secret.
O-Ji-San left A-Kai alone and start working on his masks. Ice Angel turned out to be a good singer. He sang one song after another keeping O-Ji-San entertaining.
Since Ice Angel does not have other places to go, O-Ji-San decided to allow A-Kai to stay as long as he wanted. They turned to be a good company. O-Ji-San provided shelter and protection to Ice Angel while Ice Angel sang songs to entertain O-Ji-San. They happily lived together days and months.
One day, O-Ji-San said the A-Kai that he needed to go to town alone to buy few supply for the house and asking Ice Angel to watch the house. The moment O-Ji-San stepped out of the door, the sky became dark. Winds and snow followed. Then it was ice. It was a really bad snow storm rarely seen in this part of Japan.
Hours passed, and A-Kai did not see O-Ji-San returned. He got worried and decided to search for O-Ji-San in the storm.
Ice Angel followed the trail that O-Ji-San usually took to walk into town. After hours of trekking in the snow storm, Ice Angel found a man laying on the snow ground. It was O-Ji-San who had lost consciousness. Ice Angel took O-Ji-San in his back and took him into the hut. O-Ji-San still did not show any sign of life.
Ice Angel then thought about the fire. He has seen many times how O-Ji-San made fire in the past. He gathered wood, tree branched and paper. He lighted a fire with a match box then blew the wind over using a fan. He finally got the fire.
After a while, O-Ji-San finally woke up. The fire was still burning. Snow storm was gone. It was a beautiful day.
"What a dream." said O-Ji-San. Then suddenly, he found something is different. Ice Angel was gone. Actually, Ice Angel has melted away and would never return.
O-Ji-San was sad. But then, he turned sadness into work. He made thousand of Ice Angel face masks (an ugly-looking boy face masks) and gave masks free to everyone he met. He then told the story of how Ice Angel gave his life to save him.
Today, most Japanese family hang proudly this face mask on their wall to remember the life of Ice Angel. If you have one, treasure the mask because the story of Ice Angel is touching.
No comments:
Post a Comment