Remyth Project: Little Girl With An Inner Dragon [original]

[tielan]

TITLE: Little Girl With An Inner Dragon
SUMMARY: The other girls were happy to be fairies for the class performance.
NOTES: For The Remyth Project, kicked off by yeloson.

Little Girl With An Inner Dragon

The other girls wanted to be fairies for the class performance. Pastels pinks and greens and yellows and blues with fluffy wings and satiny skirts that showed off their pale skin and hair of yellow and brown and red.

Teacher turned from Hannah and flashed the big smiling smile. "What colour do you want, Mei-Lin?"

She wanted red. Strong red like the colour of joy - like the colour of her blood when she fell out of the tree, which gong-gong said was the colour of everyone's blood and she shouldn't be ashamed because they were different on the outside. It is in the spirit - in the heart of our beings that we are the same, Mei-Lin.

"Well, we don't have any red," said Teacher, getting the funny look she sometimes did when Mei-Lin asked the questions Sara said were stupid. "Because everyone knows that!" Except Mei-Lin didn't, and so she asked so she would know. "There's some yellow left. You could be a yellow fairy."

"But I don't want to be a fairy at all," she explained, careful to pronounce the words as Teacher did, as the other children did. "I want to be a dragon."

In the classroom behind her, someone sniggered. Teacher went still, and a line creased her brow. "We don't have dragons in this performance, Mei-Lin. You'll just have to be a fairy like the other girls."

She walked back to her chair with the yellow wings and sat down.

Two seats away, Sara leaned over to Michelle and whispered loudly, "What kind of person wants to be a dragon, anyway? Dragons are evil and ugly."

Michelle giggled. "So it's perfect for her!"

Mei-Lin stared at her hands, at her skin which the other children said was yellow and thought of the dragon dancing in the street in the New Year, chasing the pearl of prosperity. She thought of the Four Dragons of the Eastern Sea, bringing rain to the parched villagers when the Jade Emperor had turned his face from the earth. She thought of her birthday, in the Year of the Dragon.

Her gong-gong always said she had a dragon inside her - luck-bringer, rain-giver, prosperous, fortunate, and blessed.

But the class performance had no dragons, and so the little black-haired fairy donned her yellow wings and dutifully sang and recited with the others and went home that night with her hand firmly holding her gong-gong's to dream of a day when the dragon might spread its wings and be recognised in all its glory.

It never came.

--

Comments

[rhianona]

This is so sad... but very beautiful. You illustrate beautifully the difficulties of being a minority in a classroom setting.

[yeloson.livejournal.com]

People always ask why I say stories matter. And it's cause that's what hits us as kids and shapes so much of us before we even know what's happening. Who are our heroes, who are our villains, where is the space for us and our stories to fit in?

[beatrice_otter]

Very nice--thank you for writing it. I don't usually read original fic unless I know the author; I'm glad I read this one.

The icon is cool, too.

[mahoni.livejournal.com]

That's heartbreaking, and beautifully written. Thank you.

[thelana.livejournal.com]

Her gong-gong always said she had a dragon inside her - luck-bringer, rain-giver, prosperous, fortunate, and blessed.

Very beautiful.

I want that girl in the story to get her own illustrated children's book about the adventures of her and her dragon.

[yappichick]

Love the honesty to this story. Very well-written.

[zillah975]

This is beautiful, and very sad. I want to echo what yeloson said, too. Thank you for posting this.

[asugar.livejournal.com]

Beautiful. This deserves some accompanying art.

[ladyjax.livejournal.com]

I read this out loud to a friend of mine last night. It's that awesome.

[tielan]

Thanks. Growing up, I was usually the only Chinese girl in a classroom of whites, too.

[tielan]

Who are our heroes, who are our villains, where is the space for us and our stories to fit in?

It's amazing how people will happily dismiss the need for 'heroes like me' simply because stories are full of people already like them.

It's easy to say 'anyone can be President' when the only people who've been president have been people like the person who's talking.

[tielan]

Thanks. :)

[tielan]

You're welcome!

[tielan]

The thing is, she does. But it's not something that 'other people' ever learn about.

[tielan]

Thank you! I'm glad it touched you.

[tielan]

Thanks for responding to it.

[tielan]

Thank you! Know of anyone who'd oblige? :)

[tielan]

Thanks, hon.

[asugar.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately no.

[rhianona]

*nods* It's funny. I grew up in NYC, and despite there being a lot of Jews here, I was pretty much the only one in my classes until I reached junior high. I always knew my family was different, even though we were secular Jews rather than religious ones, because we didn't to Christmas or Easter. It's always interesting what we take for granted. Or what will always stick with us.

[thelana.livejournal.com]

You mean she does get the adventures or she does get the book?

[I meant to say, this story/premise would make for one hell of a children's book. I have often wondered if there are any children's books that deal specifically with non-white children in an all white environment from their perspective. As opposed to the "we should be nice to outsiders" type of books for the majority children. I have a cousin who adopted two kids from ethiopia, but as much as I love her dearly, I'm just not sure if she is prepared for this aspect of it at all. I'm not sure if it would actually make it better or worse if you never had that culture in the first place as opposed to one having the culture and nobody knowing it]

[delux-vivens.livejournal.com]

It's amazing how people will happily dismiss the need for 'heroes like me' simply because stories are full of people already like them

Truth.

[delux-vivens.livejournal.com]

Beautifully done.

[rhianona]

This is so sad... but very beautiful. You illustrate beautifully the difficulties of being a minority in a classroom setting.

[yeloson.livejournal.com]

People always ask why I say stories matter. And it's cause that's what hits us as kids and shapes so much of us before we even know what's happening. Who are our heroes, who are our villains, where is the space for us and our stories to fit in?

[beatrice_otter]

Very nice--thank you for writing it. I don't usually read original fic unless I know the author; I'm glad I read this one.

The icon is cool, too.

[mahoni.livejournal.com]

That's heartbreaking, and beautifully written. Thank you.

[thelana.livejournal.com]

Her gong-gong always said she had a dragon inside her - luck-bringer, rain-giver, prosperous, fortunate, and blessed.

Very beautiful.

I want that girl in the story to get her own illustrated children's book about the adventures of her and her dragon.

[yappichick]

Love the honesty to this story. Very well-written.

[zillah975]

This is beautiful, and very sad. I want to echo what yeloson said, too. Thank you for posting this.

[asugar.livejournal.com]

Beautiful. This deserves some accompanying art.

[ladyjax.livejournal.com]

I read this out loud to a friend of mine last night. It's that awesome.

[tielan]

Thanks. Growing up, I was usually the only Chinese girl in a classroom of whites, too.

[tielan]

Who are our heroes, who are our villains, where is the space for us and our stories to fit in?

It's amazing how people will happily dismiss the need for 'heroes like me' simply because stories are full of people already like them.

It's easy to say 'anyone can be President' when the only people who've been president have been people like the person who's talking.

[tielan]

Thanks. :)

[tielan]

You're welcome!

[tielan]

The thing is, she does. But it's not something that 'other people' ever learn about.

[tielan]

Thank you! I'm glad it touched you.

[tielan]

Thanks for responding to it.

[tielan]

Thank you! Know of anyone who'd oblige? :)

[tielan]

Thanks, hon.

[asugar.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately no.

[rhianona]

*nods* It's funny. I grew up in NYC, and despite there being a lot of Jews here, I was pretty much the only one in my classes until I reached junior high. I always knew my family was different, even though we were secular Jews rather than religious ones, because we didn't to Christmas or Easter. It's always interesting what we take for granted. Or what will always stick with us.

[thelana.livejournal.com]

You mean she does get the adventures or she does get the book?

[I meant to say, this story/premise would make for one hell of a children's book. I have often wondered if there are any children's books that deal specifically with non-white children in an all white environment from their perspective. As opposed to the "we should be nice to outsiders" type of books for the majority children. I have a cousin who adopted two kids from ethiopia, but as much as I love her dearly, I'm just not sure if she is prepared for this aspect of it at all. I'm not sure if it would actually make it better or worse if you never had that culture in the first place as opposed to one having the culture and nobody knowing it]

[delux-vivens.livejournal.com]

It's amazing how people will happily dismiss the need for 'heroes like me' simply because stories are full of people already like them

Truth.

[delux-vivens.livejournal.com]

Beautifully done.

[wingstodust.livejournal.com]

I can't begin to say how much this story means to me. I just... I don't think I'll forget this one, for a long while.

Thank you for writing this.

[wingstodust.livejournal.com]

I can't begin to say how much this story means to me. I just... I don't think I'll forget this one, for a long while.

Thank you for writing this.