Legend of Spring Festival
(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-01-19 16:35

The old woman was surprised to hear this. She looked at him unbelievingly only to find that, with white hair and ruddy complexion, the old man had a bearing out of the ordinary. She went on to persuade him to take flight. But he only smiled without reply. Thereupon the grandmother could not help but leave her home and flee to the mountains.

Around midnight the monster Year rushed into the villages. He found the atmosphere was quite different from that of the previous year. The house of the grandmother in the east end of the village was brilliantly illuminated, with bright red paper stuck on the doors. Greatly shocked, the monster gave a strange loud cry.

The monster Year stared angrily at the house for a moment. And then howling furiously, he made a pounce on it. As he approached the door, there came all of a sudden the exploding sounds of bang-bong. Trembling all over, the monster dared not make a step forward.

It turned out that the red color; flame and exploding were what Year feared the most. And when the door of the grandmother's house was thrown open and an old man in a red robe burst out laughing in the courtyard, the monster Year was scared out of his wits and fled helter-skelter.

The next day was the 1st of the first lunar month. When people came back from their hideouts and found everything safe and sound, they were quite surprised. The old woman suddenly realized what had happened and told the villagers about the old beggar's promise.

The villagers swarmed into the grandmother's house, only to find that the doors were struck with red paper , the ember of a pile of bamboo were still giving out exploding sound of bang-bong in the courtyard, and a few candles were still glowing in the room...
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