Today’s post is on a shorter fairy tale, one that I absolutely adore. It’s a Chinese story called Hok Lee and the Dwarfs.
Once upon a time in a small town in China, there lived a man named Hok Lee. Hok Lee’s neighbors heaped much praise upon him, for he was an industrious man who worked hard at his trade. He had no wife, so Hok Lee also did all of his own housework. Because of how hard-working he was, the town held him in high esteem.
What they did not know was that Hok Lee was, in fact, a criminal! At night he joined up with a band of robbers and stole from the rich houses in town. Of course, no one would ever suspect Hok Lee of doing such a thing, so he was able to get away with his misdeeds for quite some time.
One morning Hok Lee woke up and went to the marketplace. While there, a neighbor commented on his face - one side of it was quite swollen! Hok Lee was surprised, but went home and bound his cheek in the hope of curing the swelling.
It was to no avail. The swelling became larger and larger each day, until one of Hok Lee’s cheeks was nearly as big as his entire head! Nothing could cure him!
Hok Lee’s cheek throbbed and ached, and the neighbors that had once respected him now laughed whenever they saw him. When a traveling doctor came to town, Hok Lee jumped at the chance to see him, hoping that he would have a cure.
The doctor Hok Lee saw specialized in charms as well as in medicines. After examining Hok Lee, he slowly said that he thought he knew what was wrong. The doctor was convinced that Hok Lee had done something wrong, something that had angered the spirits. It was they who had given Hok Lee his affliction; because of this, no medicine would cure him. The doctor did know of something that might help, but he would not part with it cheaply.
Hok Lee bargained for a time, but was still forced to give over much of his stolen money to the doctor in exchange for his secret. The doctor then told him of a tree nearby. On the night of the full moon, Hok Lee was to go to this tree and watch. Dwarfs and spirits would come out and dance; if Hok Lee joined them and danced well, they might be convinced to cure him.
However, the doctor warned, if Hok Lee danced poorly, they might make his affliction worse!
It was nearly the full moon, so Hok Lee didn’t have to wait long to test the cure. He set out before moonrise and found the tree, then climbed up into its branches. Not long after a large number of dwarfs appeared, dancing and capering about beneath the tree! Hok Lee was amazed to see them, and crept further out onto his branch to watch. Unfortunately, in his eagerness he went too far, and the tree branch gave a loud crack! beneath him.
The dwarfs immediately stopped dancing, and Hok Lee held very still. One of the dwarfs looked up and demanded that whoever was in the tree come down - or they would come up and get him!
Well, Hok Lee was very nervous at that statement. He immediately climbed out of the tree, but slipped and wound up rolling out in front of the dwarfs. He picked himself up and bowed before them, still shaking in fear.
The dwarfs demanded to know who he was and why he had come. Hok Lee explained what had happened to him, and begged the dwarfs to cure his face. They nodded their understanding, but demanded that he first dance for them. If he danced well, they might be willing to cure him - but, if he danced poorly, they would punish him!
Hok Lee found himself surrounded by a circle of dwarfs, all of them waiting and watching. They began to yell at him to dance. Poor Hok Lee tried, he really did, but he was so scared and shaking that he quite bungled every move he made.
When he had finished, the dwarfs were quite angry. They vowed that he should have two matching, swollen cheeks, and then disappeared.
The road home seemed very long to Hok Lee, who was quite nervous about the dwarfs’ statement.
Sure enough, the following morning Hok Lee awoke to find both of his cheeks swollen. The swelling squeezed his eyes mostly shut, leaving him mostly unable to see His neighbors laughed uproariously when they saw him. The doctor who had told him of the dwarfs had long since departed the town, so Hok Lee decided to wait until the next full moon and then try once more to convince the dwarfs to help him.
A month passed in abject misery, and then the night of the full moon was at hand. Hok Lee left early for the forest, and settled beneath the tree as soon as he found it. Not long after the dwarfs appeared, looking around uneasily as they approached. They sensed the presence of a human and said as much.
At this Hok Lee stood and bowed before the dwarfs, who cracked up at his silly appearance. They asked him what he wanted this time, and Hok Lee explained everything that had befallen him. He begged for one last chance to dance for their amusement. The dwarfs readily agreed, for they thought it would be amusing to see him try.
Hok Lee summoned as much cheer as he could and began a slow dance. Little by little he sped up, dancing as gracefully as he knew how. Soon he was leaping and bounding, creating new steps that the dwarfs delighted to see.
They clapped for him, and begged him to dance more. Hok Lee continued for as long as he could before collapsing in exhaustion, vowing that he could dance no more.
The dwarfs were well pleased with Hok Lee and told him that they would cure him in exchange for the dance he had given them. They vanished into thin air. A surprised Hok Lee put his hand to his face and found that his cheeks were no longer swollen! Overjoyed, he returned home.
The next day, the town was understandably curious as to how Hok Lee had been cured. He smiled at the questions, but refused to tell anyone what had happened - only that he had discovered a wonderful cure for any disease.
Hok Lee stopped his practice of robbing - but he soon found a new source of income. After a while one of Hok Lee’s neighbors, one who had been ill for many years, came to Hok Lee and begged him to tell him how he had been cured. The neighbor was very rich, and offered Hok Lee quite a sum of money in exchange for the information. After making him vow to remain silent, Hok Lee agreed and told him about the dwarfs and their moonlit dances.
The neighbor left and was cured by the dwarfs after dancing for them. Soon more friends began to come to Hok Lee, also swearing to secrecy and parting with a large sum in exchange for the information. This happened often enough that Hok Lee was soon a very wealthy man, and remained so for the rest of his days.
I hope you liked the story! I saw the picture before I ever read the tale, and I had to know what was happening. What did you think? Please comment below or email me!
As I said in my last post, this is my last fairy tale post for a time. (Until I find a George MacDonald book, at least!) For now, I’m going to be switching back to mythology. Next week’s post will be about Cupid and Psyche, as promised back in this post! Then I’ll be jumping around mythologies for a few weeks before finally doing a series on Celtic mythology.
Oh - and I've now gotten pageviews from 18 different countries! Welcome, everyone! Thanks a ton for being here! I hope you stick around.
I’ll see you guys next Monday!
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