Little Sky-High | Page 8

stepped behind; and the Donkey very quickly, in a pretty
short time, showed him the secret of his power. He kicked the poor
foolish Tiger in the head, breaking his nose, and stunning him. Then
leaving him in the path for dead, he made good his escape.
"Any one can be great," said he, "if he knows how to use his power!"
He was a philosopher.
When the poor Tiger came to his senses he rubbed his nose with his
paw, and began to reflect on the lesson that he should learn from his
association with a Donkey.
He reflected long and well--and never said anything about it to anyone.
"In my country," added little Sky-High, "we think that when one allows
himself to get kicked by a donkey a long silence befits him--he can best
show his wisdom in that way. Do you not think so, O Mandarin
Americans?"
The "Mandarin Americans" quite agreed with the conclusion drawn by
Sky-High.
It was about this time that little Lucy began to wonder if Sky-High
were not a wang indeed. No common young Chinese could possess so
many kinds of wisdom. He was able to read to her the labels on
tea-chests, and to explain the odd figures on the many fans that

decorated her playroom.
"How do you know so much, Sky-High?" she asked one day when he
had told her the meaning of the pictures on an old Chinese porcelain in
the upper hall.
"Many of the porcelains in our country are made to be read," he said.
"All educated Chinese people can read porcelains. An American
porcelain has no story."

VI.
THE MANDARIN PLATE.
Among the heirlooms to be found in the closets of many New England
houses is a curious pattern of China plate. This plate is colored
blue-and-white, and in the bowl of each is a picture. The picture
represents a rural scene in China--a bridge on which are two young
people, a man and a woman; a house, and a tree, and two birds of
beautiful plumage flying away. Mrs. Van Buren had such a plate, and a
platter with the same rural picture, on her dining-room wall.
It was the delight of Lucy to have Sky-High explain to her the meaning
of the pictures on the Chinese vases and on an ornamental Chinese
umbrella which hung in the reception-room. One day when Sky-High
was dusting in the dining-room, Lucy's eye fell on the blue-and-white
plate with the picture of the bridge and birds.
"Oh, Sky-High," said Lucy, "mother has a treasure here--a porcelain
plate of your country, see!"
Sky-High looked up to the old porcelain. He had seen such a plate a
thousand times; so often, in so many places, that Mrs. Van Buren's had
not drawn his eye.
"It is a mandarin plate," he explained to Lucy. "It has a magic power; it
brings good luck. My people keep those plates for good fortune."

"A magic plate?" Lucy was all curiosity, now. "Tell me the story of the
magic plate," she said. "Sit down and tell me. Who are the young
people on the bridge? Begin."
"They are the same as the birds flying away. The birds and the young
people are one."
Lucy's interest in the magic plate grew. Sky-High promised to tell her
its legend at some time when her mother should be present.
Lucy went at once to her mother. "Oh, mother, we have a magic plate!"
"We have? Where?"
"It is the blue-and-white one over the sideboard."
"Oh! is that a magic plate? That was your grandmother's plate. Old
families used to value that kind of ware from China--I do not know
why."
"Come with me, and take it down, for Sky-High knows the story of the
picture."
Mrs. Van Buren went in and took the plate down; and little Sky-High
said, "It is the mandarin plate of our country. In the plate you cannot
see the Good Spirit in the air, but it is there. This Good Spirit in the air
changes people into other forms when trouble comes, and they fly
away."
"But what is the story?" asked Lucy.
"There was once a prince," said Sky-High, "whose name was Chang.
He was a good prince; and there he is--the young man in the plate.
"And Prince Chang, the Good, loved a beautiful princess, as good as
she was pretty; and there she is--the young woman in the plate.
"The prince and princess went to live on a beautiful isle, where was an
orange-tree--see--and there was an old mandarin who lived near--see

his house there--and he did not like the good prince and pretty princess
when he saw how happy they were on the Isle of the Orange-tree.
"So he determined to separate them; and one day, when he was