An Unexpected Guest

There was a sudden breath of mist in the air where Bai had stood, and a large white snake slowly uncoiled itself on the rocks. Xiaoqing made an exasperated sound and slipped into the water; the green scales of the little snake flashed in the sun before she disappeared under the surface.

The undergrowth parted slowly and an old woman appeared, carrying a basket on her back to hold her findings. Her hands were crumpled with arthritis and her face was darkened and roughened from the sun, but she was humming softly to herself as she made her way laboriously over the rocky ground, poking at the roots of the bushes, a small knife in hand. For a while, she searched the area slowly and methodically, peering several times eagerly at damp, shadowy corners or rotten logs, only to turn away in disappointment.

"Shouldn't have come up here," she muttered. "What bad ground for my poor legs, and not a mushroom in sight. I better make my way back down slowly to the level ground."

As she made to turn around, a chance ray of sunlight happened to filter through the tree branches and lit up the snake coiled silently above her in a rocky ledge with a soft white glow.

The white glimmer caught the old woman's eye and she looked up. A few glistening coils of smooth snake skin could be seen above the rough ledge, and one dark eye watching her quietly above them.

"Oh, it's you, Madame White! Goodness. To think I'd bump into you up here. I thought you like to sit on your big flat rock over by the river, and bask in the sun?"

Not at all disconcerted, the old woman chuckled. "Must be a lucky day for me, since I've seen Madame White. Why not sit down and have a little lunch then before going back down."

Laboriously, she unloaded her basket and sat down, taking a small cloth-wrapped package out from her tunic. She found a soft spot among a pile of leaves and sat down, unfolding the faded handkerchief to reveal three homemade mantos, small plain steamed rolls.

She held up one respectfully towards the white snake. "Please accept a humble offering from me, Madame White, and bless me and my son Yuanzhen."

The white snake raised its head ever so slightly, and silently watched her as she started to eat.

Xiaoqing's head emerged from the water and she slithered onto an overhanging branch, the better to observe what was going on.

The old woman gnawed at the mantos with her few teeth, cheerfully. She talked on incessantly to the white snake. "You know, Madame White, my arthritis has gotten a bit better since the last time I saw you. Nothing I did seemed to help last winter, but that young physician Xuxian gave me some medicated oil he made himself, and it relieved my pain so much! Yuanzheng almost wouldn't let me go searching for mushrooms on the mountains when my hands and legs were so bad; but poor boy, what choice do we have, I told him? He can't earn that much as a woodcutter, can he? Ah, thanks to that kind physician my good boy needn't worry so much. Madame White," she continued chattily, "just between us women I want to tell you something else I need help with. My Yuanzheng is a good boy. Oh, such a good son. He works hard, and he's kind to me, and he never hurt anyone in his life. It's not his fault that no woman would look at him. But how is he going to find a wife? Madame White, you have to help me with this one, all right?"

She unexpectedly sighed. "I'm an old woman, Madame White. I won't be around for many winters more. Who is going to keep him company when I'm gone?"

Folding up the handkerchief, she got to her feet slowly, wincing, and looked up at the white snake. "Well, I'll be on my way now, Madame White. Take care and remember, you're going to help me find a wife for my Yuanzheng."

Hoisting the basket onto her back, she picked up her knife and started to make her way down the mountain.

The old woman had barely disappeared when Xiaoqing returned to her human form. "What a strange old woman, sister! Are you really going to eat that smelly manto?" She wrinkled her nose in disgust.

Bai materialized, picking her way gracefully down the rocky ledge. "Why not? She is a kind old soul. We often chat whenever she comes across me while she gathers mushrooms. She tells me all about her son and almost always leaves something for me in return; last New Year, she even brought me a fried fish, and some wine." She smiled, an unexpected tenderness in the curve of her lips.

Before she reached where the manto lay on the leaves, Xiaoqing impatiently snatched it up and hurled it into the grotto. "It's already cold and hard as a rock, I don't believe it would taste any different if you ate it two days later! Come on, Sister. I'll take you for fresh baos with pork inside!"

She caught Bai's arm, with a sudden winning smile that had mischief as its chief charm.