Ma Liang and the Magic Brush
People say that long ago, there was a boy named Ma Liang. His parents had died early, and he survived by gathering firewood and cutting grass. He loved drawing from a young age, but he didn’t even have a single brush!
One day, he passed by the entrance of a school and saw an artist inside holding a brush and painting. Without thinking, he walked in and said to the artist: ‘I really want to learn to draw. Could you lend me a brush?’
The artist glared at him. ‘Pah!’ He spat in Ma Liang’s face and scolded: ‘A poor child wants to hold a brush and learn to paint? Dream on!’
With that, the artist drove Ma Liang out the door.
Ma Liang was a determined child. He said: ‘Why can’t a poor child hold a brush? Why can’t I even learn to draw? I will learn to paint!’
He had no brush, but he persisted in learning to draw.
From then on, Ma Liang resolved to learn painting and practiced diligently every day. When he went to the mountains to gather firewood, he picked up a dry twig and practiced drawing birds in the sandy ground. When he went to the riverside to cut grass, he dipped grass roots in the river water and practiced drawing fish on the rocks along the bank. At night, when he returned home, he took a piece of charcoal and drew everything he had sketched during the day again on the walls of his cave dwelling.
Year after year passed, and Ma Liang never missed a single day of practice. The four walls of his cave were covered with drawings upon drawings, completely filled with pictures. Naturally, he improved quickly – the birds he drew almost seemed ready to sing, and the fish he drew almost seemed ready to swim. Once, he drew a little hen at the village entrance, and hawks circled overhead all day long. Another time, he drew a black wolf behind the mountain, and the cattle and sheep were too scared to graze there. But Ma Liang still didn’t have a brush.
How he wished he could have a brush of his own!
One night, Ma Liang lay in his cave. Because he had worked and practiced all day, he was very tired, and as soon as he lay down, he fell into a drowsy sleep.
He didn’t know when it happened, but the cave lit up with colorful light, and an old man with a white beard appeared and gave him a brush, saying: ‘This is a magic brush. Use it well.’
Ma Liang took it and looked – the brush glittered with golden light and felt heavy in his hand. He was so happy he jumped off the bed: ‘Thank you, grandfather…’
Before Ma Liang could finish speaking, the old man with the white beard had already disappeared.
Ma Liang was startled and woke up, rubbing his eyes. It had been a dream! But then again, it wasn’t just a dream – wasn’t the brush right there in his hand!
He used the brush to draw a bird, and the bird flapped its wings, flew up to the sky, and sang ‘chirp chirp’ to him. He used the brush to draw a fish, and the fish swished its tail, swam into the water, and danced for him with a swaying motion. He was overjoyed and said: ‘This magic brush is wonderful!’
He was so happy that he rushed out of the cave, went door to door knocking, waking up all his friends, and told them: ‘I have a brush now!’ It was only midnight!
With this magic brush, Ma Liang drew for the poor villagers every day: if someone didn’t have a plow, he drew them a plow; if someone didn’t have an ox, he drew them an ox; if someone didn’t have a waterwheel, he drew them a waterwheel; if someone didn’t have a stone mill, he drew them a stone mill…
One day, he drew a white crane without eyes. By accident, a drop of ink splashed on its face, and the crane opened its eyes, spread its wings, and flew up into the sky.
Walls have ears, and news quickly reached a wicked landlord in a nearby estate. This landlord was always greedy and tyrannical, so he sent two servants to capture Ma Liang and force him to paint.
Though Ma Liang was young, he was born with a stubborn nature. He saw through the landlord’s wicked heart and refused to draw gold ingots no matter how the landlord coaxed or threatened him.
The landlord locked Ma Liang in the stable without giving him food, insisting he must draw gold ingots.
At night, snow fell heavily, and a thick layer had already accumulated on the ground. The landlord thought Ma Liang surely couldn’t bear it any longer. He went to check on the stable and saw a red glow coming from inside, and from afar he could smell a fragrant aroma. Puzzled, he crept closer and peeked in – ah! Ma Liang had built a fire with wood, warming himself by the flames while eating hot baked cakes!
The landlord knew the firewood and cakes were drawn by Ma Liang with the magic brush, so he angrily called his servants to come and seize the magic brush from Ma Liang’s hands.
Several fierce servants rushed into the stable, but Ma Liang was gone. They only saw a ladder leaning against the back wall. Ma Liang had climbed the ladder in the darkness of night and escaped over the wall.
The landlord hurriedly ordered his servants to climb the ladder and chase after him. The servants hadn’t climbed three steps before they fell down. It turned out the ladder was drawn by Ma Liang with the magic brush.
Ma Liang escaped from the wicked landlord’s estate. He knew he could no longer stay in the village. He waved goodbye to his village and silently said: ‘Friends, I will return.’
Ma Liang used the magic brush to draw a magnificent horse, jumped on its back, and galloped off down the road.
He hadn’t gone far when he heard a commotion behind him. Looking back, he saw torches blazing brightly – the landlord was riding a fast horse, holding a gleaming steel blade, leading a group of servants in pursuit.
Just as they were about to catch up, Ma Liang calmly used the magic brush to draw a bow and an arrow. As soon as the arrow was on the string, it flew with a ‘whoosh’ and struck the landlord’s horse. The horse stumbled, and the landlord tumbled off. Ma Liang patted his steed, and it flew forward like the wind.
Ma Liang traveled day and night for several days until he reached a market town. Seeing that he was far from home, he decided to stay there temporarily.
He drew many pictures and took them to the street to sell. Because he was afraid of being discovered, he didn’t let the drawings come to life – everything he drew was either missing a mouth or had broken legs.
This caused a sensation throughout the town. The local officials reported the matter to the emperor. The emperor issued a decree and sent people to bring Ma Liang to the capital to paint for him.
Ma Liang refused to go, but they dragged him there anyway. Ma Liang had heard many stories about this wicked emperor bullying common people and hated him deeply, so why would he paint for the emperor? When the emperor told him to paint a dragon, he painted a big gecko. When the emperor told him to paint a phoenix, he painted a big crow. The ugly gecko and crow crawled and cawed all over the palace, even fighting with each other, making a complete mess of the imperial court.
The emperor was furious and ordered his guards to seize Ma Liang’s magic brush and throw him into prison.
The emperor took the magic brush and tried to paint himself. First he painted a golden mountain. The greedy emperor painted one after another, stack upon stack, many golden mountains. But when he looked at what he had drawn – they weren’t golden mountains at all! They were just piles of big rocks, and because he had stacked too many, they collapsed and nearly crushed his feet.
The emperor still wouldn’t give up. He thought, if golden mountains won’t work, I’ll paint gold bricks. He painted one and thought it was too small, painted another and still thought it was too small, finally painting one long, huge piece. But when he looked at what he had drawn – it wasn’t a gold brick at all! It was a long, huge python with a mouth like a basin of blood, lunging at him. Fortunately, the guards rescued him quickly, or the emperor would have been eaten by the python.
The emperor had no choice but to release Ma Liang. He spoke sweet words to him, promising to give him lots and lots of gold and silver, promising to make him a very, very high official…
Ma Liang’s only thought was to get his magic brush back, so he pretended to agree. The emperor was delighted to see Ma Liang agree and returned the magic brush to him, asking Ma Liang to paint for him.
The emperor thought, golden mountains and gold bricks don’t work, so let me have a money tree! A money tree that grows coins, and with just a gentle shake, lots of coins would fall – how wonderful! So he told Ma Liang to paint a money tree.
Ma Liang had already made up his mind. Without saying a word, he raised the magic brush and with a sweep, a boundless sea appeared before their eyes. The blue waters were perfectly still, without a single ripple, shining bright like a great jade mirror.
The emperor was very displeased. His face hardened as he shouted:
‘I told you to paint a money tree! Who told you to paint a sea!’
Ma Liang painted an island in the middle of the sea, and on the island he painted a tree, saying:
‘Isn’t this a money tree!’
The emperor saw the tree radiating dazzling golden light, swallowed several times, and began to laugh ‘hee hee hee,’ saying eagerly to Ma Liang:
‘Quick, paint a big ship! I want to go to the island and shake the money tree!’
Ma Liang painted a ship, and the emperor boarded it with many soldiers.
Ma Liang painted a few strokes of wind, the sea rippled with dense waves, and the ship began to move.
The emperor’s heart itched with impatience, complaining the ship was too slow. Standing at the bow, he shouted: ‘More wind! More wind!…’ Ma Liang added a few thick strokes of wind. The sea began to churn, the ship’s sails filled completely, and they sped rapidly toward the middle of the sea.
Ma Liang added several more strokes of strong wind. The sea began to roar restlessly, and surging waves rolled in. The ship began to rock.
The emperor became frightened and waved at Ma Liang, shouting loudly:
‘Enough wind! Enough wind!…’
Ma Liang pretended not to hear and kept painting wind without stopping. The sea became angry, and waves crashed onto the ship, which began to tilt, and chaos broke out on board.
Ma Liang still didn’t stop painting wind. The wind grew even stronger, bringing thick dark clouds, thunder rumbling, lightning flashing, and a violent rainstorm pouring down. The waves became fiercer, and the seawater rose like collapsing walls, crashing down on the ship one after another.
The emperor, drenched from head to toe by the seawater, clung to the mast and kept screaming:
‘The wind is too strong! The ship is going to capsize! Stop painting!…’
The ship capsized. The ship shattered. And the wicked emperor? He was nowhere to be seen – he had probably sunk to the bottom of the sea…
The story of ‘Ma Liang and the Magic Brush’ spread far and wide. But what happened to Ma Liang afterward? Nobody knows for sure.
Some say he returned to his hometown and lived together with his farming friends.
Some say he wandered everywhere, painting only for the poor.
2 replies on “Children’s stories: 神笔马良 – Ma Liang and the Magic Brush (The Magic Paintbrush)”
Thank you for this, probably the longest piece I’ve read in Mandarin yet. Thought it was quite tough for an intermediate story, took a few sittings to get through but was worth it. Picked up some new word usage too, like 嫌小 (too small, or disagreeably small maybe).
Awesome that you made it through this – you think this story is better classified as advanced? I often struggle to appropriately categorize these. If you get a moment, please do email me (nihao@chinesereadingpractice.com) and let me know which parts you found hard, and I can add them to the explainer at the beginning of the piece to help the next person.