Traditional Chinese legend, retold in simple Mandarin
The Magic Brocade
一幅壮锦
The Magic Brocade (一幅壮锦, Yì fú zhuàngjǐn) is a Chinese folk tale, retold in simple Mandarin as a 4-chapter story with audio for learners at about HSK 2 (Elementary).
Retold from a Zhuang folk tale of Guangxi: a mother weaves her dream village into a brocade, the wind steals it away, and her youngest son rides a stone horse through fire and ice to bring it home.
Meet the voices
- Narrator · 旁白 — A warm storyteller who opens the tale.
- Mama · 妈妈 — A widowed Zhuang weaver who puts her dream into a brocade.
- Big Brother · 大哥 — The proud eldest son who prefers gold to danger.
- Second Brother · 二哥 — The cheerful second son who is always thinking about food.
- A San · 阿三 — The youngest son, small but brave and honest.
- The Old Woman · 老奶奶 — A wise granny who guards the stone horse and tests every traveler.
- The Stone Horse · 石马 — A magic horse of stone that carries the brave through fire and ice.
- Huigu · 惠姑 — A kind young fairy weaver who falls in love with the dream village.
- The Eldest Fairy · 大仙女 — The stern head of the fairy weavers of Sun Mountain.
4 chapters, one journey
Chapter 1: The Dream Village
梦里的村子
A mother weaves her dream village into a brocade for three years. The morning after she finishes, a great wind snatches it away toward Sun Mountain.
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Chapter 2: The Stone Horse
石马
Two brothers meet an old woman and a stone horse on the road east. One takes gold and goes home. Then A San arrives, and the horse begins to speak.
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Chapter 3: Fire and the Cold Sea
火山和冷海
A San rides the stone horse through a mountain of fire and across a freezing sea. On Sun Mountain, a fairy finds him hiding, and the eldest fairy senses a human.
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Chapter 4: The Village Comes Alive
村子活了
The eldest fairy softens, a young fairy weaves herself into the brocade, and A San rides home. When he unrolls it on the hillside, the dream village springs to life.
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Key words in The Magic Brocade
Behind the story
The Magic Brocade is a folk tale of the Zhuang people, China's largest ethnic minority, who live mostly in Guangxi in the south. Zhuang women have long been famous weavers, and the tale honors their patience and skill.
In Chinese the story is called 一幅壮锦, and Chinese families still tell it to children. Zhuang brocade is woven on wooden looms with cotton and silk thread in bright patterns, and it is a treasured craft in Guangxi today.
Did you know?
- Zhuang brocade is woven on wooden looms, and one small piece can take weeks to finish.
- The Zhuang are one of the fifty-five recognized ethnic minority groups in China, and the largest of them.
- In the tale, the youngest son wins because he is brave and honest, not because he is the strongest.