Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

If you make happy those that are near, those that are far will come.

Whenever I see her, we laugh enough to last for the month. She's my best friend, and someday when we're old enough I'm going to talk her into staying here forever.

She's my friend, the boy said simply. That's who she is and that's enough for me. As Minli looked at the buffalo boy, aglow with happiness against his poor surroundings, she saw it was enough for him. More than enough, as the smile that kept curling up on his face told her.

Yes," Ba said sadly, "it is impossible. But it is not ridiculous.

You only lose what you cling to.

Bringing fortune to our house! Making Fruitless Mountain bloom! You're always wishing to do impossible things! Stop believing stories and stop wasting your time.

That is a question you have to ask the Old Man of the Moon.

Fortune was not a house full of gold and jade, but something much more.

Stories are not a waste of time

Impossible?" the goldfish man said. "Don't you see? Even fates written in the Book of Fortunes can be changed. How can anything be impossible?

For even in the misty light, the goldfish man could see her smiling a secret smile up to the sky to where the mountain meets the moon.

Minli suddenly thought of Ma and Ba. A wave of longing washed through her and a dryness caught in her throat that the tea could not moisten. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon.

Do you remember the story I told you about the paper of happiness? And the secret, which was one word written over and over again? … I have thought a long time about what that word could have been,” Ba said. “Was it wisdom or honor? Love or truth? For a long time I liked to think that the word was kindness.” Ma’s face remained hidden in Minli’s bed, but her sobs had stopped and Ba knew she was listening. “But now,” Ba said, “I think, perhaps, the word was faith.