Lulu Bell and the Moon Dragon (4 page)

Lulu and Molly followed Miss Stevens into the kindy classroom. The children had been reading in groups with parent helpers. The parents were just packing up the readers while the students returned to their desks.

‘Now KS,' began Miss Stevens, ‘we have two very special guests in our
classroom today. Molly is Sam's big sister and Lulu is their friend. I have asked Lulu and Molly to talk to us about an important celebration, which is happening next week.'

The kindy children looked at the girls, then at Sam. Lulu and Molly glanced at each other in surprise.

The Moon Festival is certainly creating a lot of interest,
thought Lulu.

Molly and Lulu talked about the festival and the costumes they had made. Several of the parents stayed to listen.

‘I wondered if you might be able to tell us anything else about dragons, Molly?' asked Miss Stevens.

Molly thought for a moment.

‘What about the story of how the Vietnamese people were born?' suggested
Sam. He peered at Molly through his round glasses.

‘Good idea, Sam,' said Molly.

Molly looked around at all the students. Lulu sat down on a spare seat. She had never heard Molly tell this story before.

‘Many thousands of years ago,' began Molly, ‘there was a powerful dragon king called Lac Long Quan. “
Long
” means “dragon” in Vietnamese.'

The kindy students all sat up straighter and listened carefully.

‘The mighty sea dragon fell in love with a beautiful fairy princess called Au Co,' explained Molly. ‘The fairy princess lived in the mountains with her fairy family. The sea dragon lived in a vast underwater palace.'

Lulu imagined a beautiful underwater palace built of coral and pearls.

‘The sea dragon king transformed himself into human form. He tried to woo the fairy princess,' continued Molly. ‘She fell in love with him and they were happily married. A year later, the fairy laid one hundred eggs.'

The kindy children giggled at the thought of a fairy princess laying eggs. Lulu giggled too.

‘Then the eggs hatched,' said Molly.
‘Out popped one hundred human babies.'

The children all laughed. Lulu noticed that Sam was sitting next to Oliver, the boy who had teased him. Oliver leaned over and whispered something to Sam. Sam grinned.

‘The problem was that the dragon king lived in his underwater palace.
The fairy had to live on land,' said Molly. ‘She became lonely and homesick. Queen Au Co longed to return to the mountains where she had grown up.

‘In the end, half their children stayed with their father living by the sea,' said
Molly. ‘The other half returned to the mountains with their mother. These one hundred children became the first people of Vietnam.'

Molly looked around at the attentive kindy children.

‘So, all the Vietnamese people are like brothers and sisters,' explained Molly. ‘Some live in the mountains and some live by the sea. But they are all descended from the dragon king and the fairy princess.'

Molly smiled. Everyone clapped. A few of the children leaned over to whisper to Sam. Sam nodded and sat up proudly.

‘Thank you so much, Molly and Lulu,' said Miss Stevens. ‘I think our class might make some lanterns next week as well.'

The parents stood up to leave.

‘That was a lovely story,' said one of the mothers. ‘When is your Moon Festival happening?'

‘On Monday,' replied Molly.

The girls walked back to their own classroom.

‘You told that story really well,' said Lulu. ‘Sam was so proud of you. I think even Oliver was being nice to him.'

Molly smiled. ‘Thanks, Lulu. It's easier to talk in front of people when you are excited about something.'

Finally it was Monday afternoon – the day of the full moon. It had rained during recess. And during lunchtime. Lulu had been frightened that the weather would be terrible all day and ruin the Moon Festival.

But in the afternoon, the clouds lifted and the sun came out.

Lulu went to Molly's house to help bake a huge batch of mooncakes for the feast.

Sam proudly showed Lulu his lantern on its bamboo pole. It was decorated with moons and dragons. Sam had drawn the fiery dragons, cut them out and stuck them on with glue.

‘We made them in class today,' explained Sam. ‘Everyone made one.'

‘I love the dragons,' said Lulu. ‘Your lantern's really cool.'

Molly's mother Tien had been making food all day in the tiny kitchen.

‘I had a few phone calls today,' said Tien. She sounded puzzled. ‘Some mothers from school rang and asked me about the Moon Festival. They were curious about where we were going.'

Lulu and Molly exchanged a glance.

‘I told them we were starting here and walking down to the beach to have our picnic. I don't know how they all
knew about it,' Tien finished.

‘It must be because we talked about it at school last week,' suggested Molly.

‘Maybe we'd better make some extra mooncakes,' said Tien. ‘Just in case someone drops by to watch.'

Tien gave the girls a simple recipe to follow.

‘The mooncakes my grandmother used to make were very complicated,' explained Tien. ‘They took a month to prepare. Each one had a salty yolk in the centre to represent the full moon.'

‘A whole month?' repeated Lulu. ‘Didn't they go off?'

Tien picked up an egg and rolled it between her fingers.

‘The eggs had to be salted for twenty-eight days – a full lunar cycle,' she explained. ‘The salt preserved them. Then
the cooking took a whole day. This is a much simpler and sweeter recipe. I think you'll like it.'

Lulu read the recipe. It did sound more delicious than salty eggs.

The girls stirred butter, sugar and egg yolks in a large bowl. Then Lulu added the flour and mixed it to make a rich dough.

Molly popped the dough in the fridge for half an hour. When it was chilled, Lulu and Molly rolled spoonfuls of dough in their hands to make round balls.

The final step was to stick their thumb in the middle to make a hole. This was filled with strawberry jam.

‘This time last year, Mum made us mooncakes with red bean paste,' said Molly. ‘But this year we thought some of the kids might prefer jam.'

At last, the girls finished making several trays of round mooncakes.

Tien popped the trays in the oven to cook. The kitchen filled with the delicious sweet smell of baking pastry.

When the cakes were golden brown, Tien pulled them out of the oven. She put them on a rack to cool.

‘Yummo,' cried Lulu. ‘They smell delicious.'

Just then the doorbell rang. Molly opened the door to let in Lulu's mum, Rosie and Gus. As usual, Gus was wearing his Bug Boy outfit.

Mum was carrying a big basket filled with goodies for the feast. She was wearing a long green Vietnamese-style dress over loose-fitting trousers. She had made them herself. Her long blonde hair hung down her back. The finishing touch was a conical cardboard hat. It was tied on with a wide green ribbon.

‘Something smells delicious,' said Mum. She put the basket down on the table. ‘You girls had better get dressed. It's nearly time to go.'

Lulu felt a shiver of excitement.

Rosie was already dressed in Molly's
ao dai
. It was a long, slim tunic of crimson silk over white pantaloons. Mum had painted Rosie's face with swirling black lines and red patterns. She had copied the design from one of Tien's photographs. Rosie looked completely different from her usual self.

Except, of course, she wore her feathery white angel wings. Lulu laughed when she saw them.

‘I don't think Vietnamese fairies wear wings, Rosie,' said Lulu. ‘At least they didn't in the photos we saw.'

Rosie pulled a disgusted face. She
fluttered around like a dainty red bird.

‘Whoever heard of a fairy with no wings?' asked Rosie. ‘I couldn't possibly go without wings.'

Sam emerged from his bedroom. He had changed from his school uniform and was wearing a long blue robe. Over his face he had a bright-pink smiley face mask. He carried a red drum and a pair of cymbals.

‘Are you sure you don't want to dress up as Lord Earth, honey bun?' Mum asked Gus. ‘I made you a lovely mask.'

‘I not Lord Earth,' insisted Gus in disgust. ‘I Bug Boy.'

Sam began to bang on his red drum. He danced around the room, his round mask grinning. The room filled with the pounding, thumping noise.

Gus grinned. He grabbed another
pink mask from the table and slipped it over his face. He picked up the cymbals and banged them together.
Clash. Crash. Clang.

‘I Moonface,' shouted Gus.

Lulu held her hands over her ears. ‘Gussie. Not so loud.'

Mum gently took the cymbals and put them on the table.

‘We might save the cymbals for outside, honey bun,' suggested Mum. ‘We don't want to frighten the spirits away just yet.'

Tien came back. She had slipped away to change into her own dark blue
ao dai
dress. She looked delicate and pretty in the traditional costume. She wore a conical straw hat over her straight black hair.

Now only Lulu and Molly needed to get dressed up. The two girls slipped on their red-and-gold dragon trousers over their leggings.

Molly pulled on the dragon head. Her black eyes peered through the holes in the mask. Lulu lifted up the red cloak and disappeared underneath it. She grasped Molly around the waist and bent over.

The two girls were transformed into
a ferocious, fiery dragon. Lulu and Molly capered and danced. They had practised over the weekend. Now they could move as one creature.

Rosie laughed and clapped her hands. ‘You look wonderful,' she cried.

‘Let's go, honey buns,' said Mum.

‘Yes, let the Moon Festival begin!' Tien cried.