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Mar 20, 2010
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Chinese Dragon.
Chinese Dragon.Once upon a time, in far away china there lived a mighty Dragon. This was the biggest Dragon that the world had ever seen. The peoples of China respected this Dragon and made it their national symbol. The Emperor of China had all of his letters and every piece of paper that left one of his ministries to be embossed with a picture of the Dragon. The Dragon became well known all over China and later the entire known world in that far off age.
The Emperor next had an idea that all papers and letters that held the stamp of the Dragon should be taxed. It was a new way of getting money into his treasury. He gave orders that even the poor people must pay the tax. This was too much, the poor people had enough work on their hands to pay the ordinary taxes and now this new tax, it was definitely too much. The Emperor then had messages sent to all of the Chinese towns villages and cities. It was either pay the tax or prison.
Things got so bad that the peoples of China decided to overthrow the Emperor. But how were they to get rid of him? He had a huge well-paid army. The army was on his side. High in the mountains south of Beijing a young peasant boy that looked after his father sheep met up with the huge Dragon. The boy had often had adventures with tigers where he defended his father’s sheep so he had no fear of a Dragon. The two both Dragon and farmer’s boy got on really well together and became very good friends.
One day when the boy was out looking after his father’s sheep, a terrible thing happened, the boy’s father was arrested and thrown into the local prison. This was very hard on the family. The farmer’s wife had four children and it was difficult to clothe and feed them all. Now her husband had been thrown into the local jail, because he could not pay the taxes on the Dragon’s picture that was on every document that the family owned.
One-day the farmer’s boy, being peeved about his father being in prison told the Dragon that he the Dragon was to blame for all of the misery in China. The Dragon wanted to know how he was to blame he was not the Emperor. He had never passed a law or a tax in the whole of his long life so why blame him? It was the greedy Emperor who was to blame and the people should rise against the emperor and take over the land for themselves, then they would only have to pay taxes for such things as roads or water works, sewage and all of the things that keep the towns and cities connected with one another.
The boy and the Dragon remained friends and slowly the boy grew into a man. He was a big man that commanded respect, how many men could say that they had fought with tigers and won the fight. The boy was a good organiser and soon his father and all of the others that could not pay taxes were let out of prison and all formed together to go to Beijing to get rid of the Emperor. All had had enough of this greedy man. The boy now a man told his friend the Dragon that he was going away to fight the Emperor. The Dragon decided to go with the new army to see what man had placed his picture on all official documents.
The new army got bigger and bigger, they saw that a real live Dragon was helping the poor people and all decided to go and fight against the laws that were crippling the land. Nothing could go wrong with a Dragon as helper. The Emperor heard the news that a huge army was on the way to get rid of him because of his harsh way of ruling. He became for the first time in his life afraid.
His fear and bad conscience led him to disguise himself and leave the palace by a secret door known only to him self. By the time the peoples led by the boy and the Dragon got to the palace the soldiers had all left their posts and the boy and the Dragon took over the palace and formed a new government. The new government was made up of so many rich people and so many poor people their numbers were even. The Dragon was the new leader of the parliament and a new way of life was born for all of the Chinese peoples. The Dragon is still honoured in China and this Dragon lived for a long time and all was well in that huge land.
The boy went back home his job in the city was over and he went back to tending his father’s sheep. Things got better and better in the whole of China and soon his mother and father were well off not rich but well off.
The Emperor next had an idea that all papers and letters that held the stamp of the Dragon should be taxed. It was a new way of getting money into his treasury. He gave orders that even the poor people must pay the tax. This was too much, the poor people had enough work on their hands to pay the ordinary taxes and now this new tax, it was definitely too much. The Emperor then had messages sent to all of the Chinese towns villages and cities. It was either pay the tax or prison.
Things got so bad that the peoples of China decided to overthrow the Emperor. But how were they to get rid of him? He had a huge well-paid army. The army was on his side. High in the mountains south of Beijing a young peasant boy that looked after his father sheep met up with the huge Dragon. The boy had often had adventures with tigers where he defended his father’s sheep so he had no fear of a Dragon. The two both Dragon and farmer’s boy got on really well together and became very good friends.
One day when the boy was out looking after his father’s sheep, a terrible thing happened, the boy’s father was arrested and thrown into the local prison. This was very hard on the family. The farmer’s wife had four children and it was difficult to clothe and feed them all. Now her husband had been thrown into the local jail, because he could not pay the taxes on the Dragon’s picture that was on every document that the family owned.
One-day the farmer’s boy, being peeved about his father being in prison told the Dragon that he the Dragon was to blame for all of the misery in China. The Dragon wanted to know how he was to blame he was not the Emperor. He had never passed a law or a tax in the whole of his long life so why blame him? It was the greedy Emperor who was to blame and the people should rise against the emperor and take over the land for themselves, then they would only have to pay taxes for such things as roads or water works, sewage and all of the things that keep the towns and cities connected with one another.
The boy and the Dragon remained friends and slowly the boy grew into a man. He was a big man that commanded respect, how many men could say that they had fought with tigers and won the fight. The boy was a good organiser and soon his father and all of the others that could not pay taxes were let out of prison and all formed together to go to Beijing to get rid of the Emperor. All had had enough of this greedy man. The boy now a man told his friend the Dragon that he was going away to fight the Emperor. The Dragon decided to go with the new army to see what man had placed his picture on all official documents.
The new army got bigger and bigger, they saw that a real live Dragon was helping the poor people and all decided to go and fight against the laws that were crippling the land. Nothing could go wrong with a Dragon as helper. The Emperor heard the news that a huge army was on the way to get rid of him because of his harsh way of ruling. He became for the first time in his life afraid.
His fear and bad conscience led him to disguise himself and leave the palace by a secret door known only to him self. By the time the peoples led by the boy and the Dragon got to the palace the soldiers had all left their posts and the boy and the Dragon took over the palace and formed a new government. The new government was made up of so many rich people and so many poor people their numbers were even. The Dragon was the new leader of the parliament and a new way of life was born for all of the Chinese peoples. The Dragon is still honoured in China and this Dragon lived for a long time and all was well in that huge land.
The boy went back home his job in the city was over and he went back to tending his father’s sheep. Things got better and better in the whole of China and soon his mother and father were well off not rich but well off.
— Bernard Shaw, Mar 20, 2010
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