The Little Peasant & The Big Rain

Heavy rainfall and strong winds had caused the Little Peasant’s paddy field to rot. She watched with furrowed eyes as months of potential harvest went to waste.

Her dog Bi-Xi-Qi looked at her expectantly. “Where is my potato porridge?” he barked. Little Peasant thought for awhile, “We’ll be eating berries and roots for now. Tomorrow I shall take the wagon and sell wild flowers in town.”

“Golly! I shall be skinny soon! How shall we survive this rainfall?” asked Bi-Xi-Qi with his entitled black beaned eyes. “Oh don’t you worry my precious,” replied the Little Peasant cheerfully. “I will find a way.”

The Little Peasant spent her days picking wild flowers, selling them and keeping her little hut clean. In the afternoons she studied old Chinese texts and in the evenings she wrote long poems and practiced Tai Chi. She was often seen standing on a log in the pose of a crane at sunset.

Sunshine came soon after and some of her paddy fields were salvaged. When province officials visited affected villagers, Little Peasant was as articulate as a singing bird for she had read so much. She received the most stipend in her village and bought better seedlings for her paddy field.

Not long after, her field turned a glorious gold and she and Bi-Xi-Qi danced with joy as harvest turned to treasured rice. Soon she was making Bi-Xi-Qi big bowls of potato porridge.

“There is a Chinese proverb my little Bi-Xi-Qi,” said the Little Peasant to her indulgent dog. “It says - If your mind is strong, all difficult things become easy, and if your mind is weak, all easy things become difficult. Remember that you little pest!”

Bi-Xi-Qi yawned loudly and curled up next to her.