A Piece of Zhuang-stlye Brocade
This is a famous folk story among the Zhuang ethnic group.
Once upon a time,there lived an old mother and her three sons at the foot of the mountain.The old woman was good at weaving Zhuang-stlye brocade (Zhuang Jin in Chinese) and earned a living by it.
One day the old woman found a beautiful painting in the market,in which there were fields,houses,gardens,ponds and flocks of chickens,ducks,cows and sheep.Being interested in it,the old woman bought the painting.She decided to weave the beautiful village in the picture into a magnificent brocade.
The old mother had been weaving day and night for three years,and the beautiful brocade was finally finished.How happy the old woman was! Suddenly,a gust of wind swept the brocade into the sky to the east.(https://www.daowen.com)
The old mother sent her eldest son and the second son to look for the embroidery,but they were afraid of difficulties and squandered the money.
The old mother was as thin as a lath and cried herself blind.The third son was determined to get the embroidery back.He experienced all kinds of difficulties and dangers and finally reached the sun mountain across the sea.The third son saw the fairies weaving a piece of brocade,and his mother’s magnificent brocade was in the center as an example.The third son explained his purpose,and the fairies promised to return it to him as soon as they finished.
The third son got back his mother’s magnificent brocade and hurried back immediately.A lady in red dress,fond of the beautiful scenery in the brocade,weaved her own image into it.When the third son came home,his mother was dying.When a gust of fragrant wind blew,the thatched cottage where the old mother lived changed into a manor,in which there were fields,houses,gardens,ponds and flocks of chickens,ducks,cows and sheep.The fairy in red dress was in the garden too.The third son married the beautiful fairy,and they lived happy life with his mother.