Extrait du livre Liang and the dragon
Liang and the dragon Pascale Vignali Illustrated by Justine Cunha Le Regard Sonore Editions
Once upon a time, there was a country hidden like a secret behind the greatest wall in the world... China. After centuries of battles, when China finally became one vast kingdom, its emperors decided to protect it with a wall stretching thousands of kilometers, like the tail of a gigantic lying dragon. This wall is still there today...
Liang's house perched on a hill, not far from the Great Wall. Every morning he did his Qigong exercises with his grandmother, Naï-Naï, admiring the sunrise in the east, behind the mountains. At night, he watched the sun set in the west, striking the wall on the horizon ablaze like a long tongue of fire...
Every night Naï-Naï told him bedtime stories. Lying on his mat, Liang let the old lady’s voice lead him through the gates of dreams… LIANG : Nay-Nay, tell me about the dragons, please…
NAY-NAY: Again? Well, there is the dragon of the sky, who carries the palaces of the gods on his back, the dragon of the wind: he makes it rain by stepping on the clouds... the dragon of the earth who guards the forbidden treasures... LIANG : And the dragon of the sun?
NAY-NAY: Ah, this one, my little Panda, is said to be lying somewhere behind the Great Wall... every evening he swallows the sun to let it rise again the next day. LIANG : Tell me truly, dragons don’t exist., do they? NAY-NAY: Who knows… If you believe in them, they exist for you. Isn’t that so?
One day, Liang said very seriously: LIANG : You know, Naï-Naï, I must go behind the wall and see if the dragon of the sun exists. It is not that far… and I am a big boy now! His grandmother nodded with a smile: NAY-NAY: I always knew that someday you would make this journey. Go, my little Panda. Here, take our cricket with you, it will bring you luck..