Where The Mountain Meets The Moon: Overview

Every story told in this story is a backstory that fills in the holes and explains it as one big puzzle being solved bit by bit.

If you finished the book a little bit confused...

(MAJOR spoils ahead - and it's for people who have already read this book, so you aren't going to understand any of it if you haven't finished the book because I skip over important things that people already know. But it will also spoil it for you, so you won't understand it but have it spoiled anyway which is a terrible strategy.)

If you're not quite ready to spoil the book for yourself, but want to read more about it, check out "Stories as Scaffolding" on Story Sleuths, it's a great breakdown and does a good job of talking about the book without giving anything away.

It starts, first of all, with Jade Dragon having a fight with her children because she won't give humans water, so they turn themselves into water so that the humans will be saved. Overcome with grief and mad at herself for her stupidity and stubbornness, she falls from the sky and her broken heart turns into a mountain that is barren and dry, hoping to be reunited with her children one day. This mountain is fruitless so it is called Fruitless Mountain and the rumor is that if she's reunited with one of her children, it will become fruitful - but that's just a myth isn't it. And myths aren't real, are they.

Anyway.

So while Jade is being turned into a mountain of grief (not a pool), Wang Lee is a man who goes after his fortune wholeheartedly, leaving behind a little more of his life as he goes (first his parents, then his brothers, then his wife and children as he moves on to pursue ambitious success) and eventually runs into the Old Man of the Moon (OMOTM) who takes him and tries to teach him everything he needs to know (because he asks the OMOTM to teach him) but Wang Lee is still not satisfied so the OMOTM takes him to a tree and tells him that as soon as he chops down that tree, he will have achieved the best of his life or something along those lines, so Wang Lee starts cutting...

Jump forward a few decades, and you have this scene: a famous painter goes to a mountain (Fruitless Mountain), gets a stone, and turns it into an inkstone to hold his paint. Then he goes back home and makes a painting of a dragon, but does not give it eyes. This painting is for Magistrate Tiger.

Magistrate Tiger has a run-in with the OMOTM (at the side of the road) concerning his son's wife. Magistrate Tiger is mad, rips the paper, orders the girl to be killed. The ripped paper is the Borrowed Line (1 out of 2).

He goes in search of a family's happiness by ordering them to give it to him. It gets lost, he gets furious. The family goes up the mountain to enjoy family time before the Magistrate Tiger has them executed (he's on his way), and then they, after loosing their kites (aka wishes) up to the moon, turn around and go back down, only this time the mountain has turned into the Mountain That Meets The Moon (which is important). So they come back to their house and the Magistrate, who's back by the normal mountain they USED to live by, can't find them and is confused, embarrassed, and still furious. So he goes home. When he gets home, he hears that the girl got away. Sucks for him.

After a few years, Magistrate Tiger gets a painting as a gift to lower the taxes in the painter dude's village, but he sees that the dragon has no eyes and says he'll double them - but the servant brings a pot of ink and he decides he'll fix them himself. So he fills them in (probably didn't get a discount, but he's rich so he shouldn't care). That makes the dragon come alive bc he was painted using the inkstone made from Fruitless Mountain, AND he's a dragon, which means this dragon, now alive, tho not Jade Dragon, is made from her - meaning he IS related to her so yay, he comes alive and runs off, straight through the wall. (this is the part where I break free gif)

He runs off, and stays in one location, watching a peach pit grow into a tree and then a grove. Can't say he hasn't led a productive life. Then monkeys come and claim the territory so when he goes back for second helpings the monkeys decide to put an end to this and tie him up.

Since he's a painting - and a dragon to boot - he's basically immortal. Think of Prometheus without the pain. Add a T to the pain, and that's Dragon down to a T. Ha-ha-ha. Anyway.

So while all that's going on, and the dragon is working on creating a river to drown himself in,
(cry me a river gif)
a fish is being born who wants to swim all the seas of the world in hopes to find Dragon's Gate and she starts on her journey around when the Dragon starts on his river. Don't know if she swam in that one, but it probably wasn't entered in Google Maps as an official river so she skipped it. Besides, when you look for Dragon's Gate, it won't be by a river made by a dragon, right? ofc not, naturally.

So while Dragon's tied up in business, the OMOTM's granddaughter (don't know how that happened but will assume it's accurate) goes back and forth from weaving at her place to delivering string to his. For like a billion years.

Back home with the Magistrate Tiger, he has a son who grows up, gets married to a girl who covers up a scar. What's the scar from? These guys who tried to kill her when she was two. Lol Magistrate, that's the OMOTM for you. Thankfully she got adopted by the Emperor when her grandmother died and now has wealthy relatives and a nice new spouse. Sweet. So Magistrate Tiger's son grows up and rules the City of Bright Moonlight, with his dad living there. But everybody hates his dad bc he's wreaking havoc on basically everything so the son boots him out and the kingdom's all the better w/o him, Magistrate Tiger - who we'll call MT from now on.

So MT goes off nursing ideas of sweet revenge but dies before he gets a chance. As his spirit gets out of his old, dead body, it's so full of anger that it stays here and turns into a big, Green Tiger (GT is MT, same thing) fsr. Thankfully he is reunited w the One Big Happy Family who have a secret they still haven't shared w him. So he decides to ruin them by killing things unnecessarily w his poison claws.

Now while he's on a rampage, the son rules wisely and well w/ the ripped paper the MT took from the OMOTM (the one that had the grocer's daughter prophesy). Also, the lions outside the city got visited before the MT got kicked out, and they were also given a borrowed line from the OMOTM, only it's one of the granddaughter's ribbons (the OMOTM's gdaughter who delivers them to him). How presh. That ribbon is the Borrowed Line (2 of 2).

While all this is happening, Minli frees a fish who was captured by the goldfish seller. This fish, once frees, tells her that Fish has been trying to swim all the rivers and had one to go when she was captured. Then Minli bought her and put her in the last river, and now she can find Dragon's Gate - which is right by the mountain (Fruitless Mountain) that the Jade Dragon died on/by/with/as. So the fish (Aunt Jin, remember that) thanks Minli by telling her how to reach the OMOTM and goes on her merry way and Minli runs away, meeting up with Dragon who's having an identity crisis. So Minli frees him but they can't go through the grove bc of the monkeys. Thankfully Minli's got a plan to put an end to this monkey business and she makes rice, entices the monkeys w/ it, they stick their hands in, get them full, and can't get them out again, so Minli and Dragon hit the road and go thru the grove, end up at City of Bright Moonlight (C of BM).

Well, a little bit before Minli ran away, a buffalo boy from C of BM goes with his buffalo and stumbles upon girls taking a bath. You see something new every day don't you. He strikes up a friendship with one, after she's decent, and doesn't ask questions but lo and behold, it's the granddaughter of the OMOTM.

So Minli lands in C of BM, meets up with Buffalo Bill the Buffalo Boy and she spends the night in his hut (but so does the buffalo, so nothing suspicious going on) and sees the granddaughter of the OMOTM but it don't quite click yet cuz she got a hecka ton of stuff going on - the granddaughter is just a really pretty girl for all she knows. So the next morning, she sees the king bc she hasn't been eating peaches and she runs after him and gets into the palace. Surprise, mother-? So then the king and Minli have dinner together (aw a date) and talk abt the Borrowed Line he has thanks to his MT dad.

Speaking of MT, he's busy demanding a child for a month of peace. What to do, what to do. The Very Happy family who've named their village the Village of the Moon Rain (V of the MR), has found a recipe of tea that heals the poison from the GT (green tiger, magistrate), thanks to Wang Lee, who's on constant yard work duty up above. Since they live on the OMOTM's mountain, Wang Lee's efforts make it rain on them every night (ig he takes breaks during the day). While they're stressing over the kid-eating tiger, Minli is getting the Borrowed Line (1/2) from the kid-eating revenge-seeking Tiger's son who is not kid-eating or revenge-seeking so he hands it over after reading it (bc you can only read it in the moonlight which is why it's called the C of BM) and after it tells him to hand it over to Minli, in so many words. So she leaves, triumphant, and runs into Dragon right outside the gate.

Well, Dragon's been busy while she's gone, and strikes up a convo w the stone lions guarding the city who give him a ribbon - probably the Borrowed Line, he assumes, b/c it was given by the OMOTM to keep the city together. Thankfully it's still together, no worries, so here you go, Dragon.

Dragon waits and here comes Minli. Swap stories and then they head over to where the Mountain meets the moon, per gdaughter's instructions (since she travels there all the time).

While they're traveling there, Da-A-Fu (A-Fu and Da-Fu respectively) hatch a plan to get the Tiger out of their hair. Also while they're traveling there, they meet a fish who asks if Dragon is her aunt, [Aunt] Jin. Well what do you know. They explain and keep going, after Minli notices how <i>familiar</i> that fish looked.
(you don't say meme)
Also while they're traveling, Ma and Ba have seen the light (thanks, goldfish man) and have decided to wait for her to come home. All the while, Ma is feeling worse and worse to about driving her daughter to discontentment and a desire to pursue better things. Unlike MT, Ma realizes that being wealthy and always wanting more isn't really everything in life - family is everything. Because if you have family, you can help each other no matter what (v deep).

So as she's coming to realize the error of her ways, Minli and Dragon arrive at the mountain. But wait! They meet a green tiger on the way, after Minli and Dragon stay in a cave for the night so Minli comes out  of the cave and BAM, there the tiger. So she screams and -

Chapter switch! Ma looks out the window bc she can here the wind in the trees and it sounds like a scream. The storm starts and Ma wonders if Minli is caught in it. As she and Ba look out the goldfish tells Ba that Ma is willing - so Ba starts to tell a story.

While Ba is telling a story, Minli is waking the Dragon w her screams so he comes out and roars at the tiger - he is much bigger than the tiger (MT) but MT swipes at Dragon and runs off so bye. Relieved, Minli and Dragon go back to the cave - Dragon not feeling too good, so Minli says they'll rest and he drops off to sleep p quickly while she stays up worrying.

Meanwhile Da-A-Fu are tracking down MT. The boy gives the girl some of his pantleg, and then hides behind rocks, tracking as the girls walks up the trail in search of the MT.

Also meanwhile, Ma has found peace and tells Ba she wants to tell him a story. Ba is surprised but, with the encouragement of goldfish, says okay and they sit down to have a storytime.

In the cave, Minli is worried about Dragon - whose breathing is raspy and uneven. The MT's scratches have swollen and turned black, and Dragon won't wake up when Minli calls his name, assuming he's a light sleeper. So she tells him she's going to get help and runs out of the cave after having a quick cry.

As she's going in search of the mountain, A-Fu comes up the mountain.

Minli runs into Da-Fu - literally - and he tells her to be quiet and watch.

A-Fu comes up to the Tiger and explains there is supposed to have been two offerings but a younger tiger ate her bro (sniff sniff) - cue pantleg. MT is curious - what tiger? A-Fu continues. This young tiger claimed to be stronger than MT who is his dad. Young Tiger claims MT is a coward, can't face his son. MT is mad. A-Fu continues. If MT would like to know where he is, she would show him. So she leads him to a well, he sees himself and roars. The reflection does the same, thankfully (we'd have some real questions if it didn't) and the echoes of the mountain help the effects, and A-Fu tells him his son (the son being the current king of the C of BM) is mocking him. Well enough is enough so MT jumps in and that's the end of that. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

So Da-Fu comes out and they celebrate and then Minli says "her friend" was (is) hurt by MT, could they help, and yes ofc they can.

Around this time is when Aunt Jin finds the gate.

They get to the village (V of the MR), she sees that there are a lot of trees, the twins are cheered bc they defeated the MT, and also scolded because they did it alone, and then they introduce Minli and go to the grandpa who can help.

So they head back to the cave w the gfather and are surprised when her friend turns out to be a dragon. So gdad gives him tea and bathes his arm in it. Tea? Yes - there are seeds that fall from the sky every morning (night?) and the villagers plant them, making them trees whose blossoms help the sickness. So, despite being moved from one place to the mountain after being pursued for their happiness by the MT, they still have good things to do even if they live on rocky soil and are still pursued. So Dragon's better and they go back to the village while Ma and Ba wait patiently at home w a goldfish.

Then Minli, once her wants are known, gets help. So the villagers give her a jacket as a goobye-thanks-for-coming present as she and Dragon (with the escort of Da-A-Fu) head for the top of the mountain and, ultimately, home. As they leave, she waves and a sea of ruined sleeves wave back to her lol

Finally they arrive and Minli and Dragon pull out the paper and ribbon. How to get across the gap to the mountain? Well, Da-A-Fu suggest, do it the way their ancestors got their wishes across to the OMOTM (when he was still accepting more than...well, anyway, spoiler). So now, brill, Minli ties the ribbon to the paper (somehow) - the two borrowed ones - and throws it in the air, assuming she'd just let go when the ribbon ran out. Then Minli asks her escorts, Da-A-Fu, if there is anything they want asked so they can change their luck? They laugh - what would they want to change? They have everything they want. So she and Dragon say thank you and goodbye, and as they turn towards home, the ribbon stretches and stretches - and lo and behold, it doesn't run out. Instead it stretches and becomes a bridge. So, with the help of Dragon, Minli secures the bridge with her two chopsticks. Then she and Dragon start across but wait! Unfortunately the bridge isn't strong enough for Dragon, so he tells her to go on and just ask his question for him.

So Minli makes it there, a china rabbit greets her, and they start towards the room. On the way, Minli notices a man trying to cut down a tree. But all he's doing is loosing a storm of seeds into a pond that looked like it had stars in it, it was so deep and black. And then Minli realizes he's the one who supplies the seeds for the Village of the Moon Rain.
(who knew right gif)

And since this is Minli, she wants to know the story so China Rabbit tells her the story of Wang as they continue to the room - and there he is, sitting in a jumble of dolls, w red threads tying them to each other (wonder who Minli's tied to). That is all the gdaughter's work but the book doesn't dwell on that. Then the OMOTM taps the floor and the dolls shift so Minli can walk over to him. She gets there and sees he has the Book of Fortune open and the borrowed line has been returned w a faint scar where it was ripped. The OMOTM tells her he only allows 1 question per 99 years, now, so make it quick. Oh dear.

So Minli has an internal struggle, but in the end, the image of Dragon waiting patiently only to be shattered made her decision - how do you give Dragon the ability to fly?

┉┉┉┉┉┉┉┉

— pg 248-250 —

Minli felt like a fish gasping for air. What was she going to do? The memories of the hard work in the rice fields, her father's careworn hands, the plain rice in the dinner bowls, and Ma's sighs washed upon her like the splashes of of water from the lake. She had to change her fortune; she must ask how to do that.
But when Minli thought about Dragon, waiting for her patiently, it was as if she had been struck. And like seeds falling from Wu Kang's tree, images of the Dragon rained upon her - their laughter as they passed the monkeys, his awkward struggles walking in the woods, his echoing roar as he flung the Green Tiger into the air, the kind hand he put on her shoulder when she cried, and the hopeful look in his eyes as she left. Dragon is my friend, Minli said to herself, What should I do?
Minli's thoughts bubbled faster and faster like boiling rice; every step she took seemed to throb and Minli wasn't sure if the pounding was her heart or Wu Kang's axe in the distance. As she passed the clay statues, she thought she could see figures of the goldfish man, the buffalo boy, the king, and Da-A-Fu silently watching her. Minli's feet seemed to ignore her pleas for slowness; like the kite being pulled in, she was being drawn toward the Old Man of the Moon without delay. Before she could decide whose question to ask, Minli found herself facing him.
The Old Man of the Moon looked at her expectantly, his black eyes as unreadable as the night sky. Minli looked down into the open book on his lap. She recognized the open page as the king's borrowed line - the smoothed-out folds and the holes she had made in it when she had turned it into a kite were still there. Yet, now the paper was invisibly fastened in the book, with only a thin line, like a scar, showing it had ever been removed.
And the words had changed again. There was a single line of words running down the entire page. As she looked, Minli realized for the first time, she could read the words - or really the word. For the line was only made of one word, written over and over again. And the word was Thankfulness.
And suddenly, like a light when the clouds move away from the moon, Minli knew clearly what question to ask.
"There is a Dragon waiting at the bridge," she said, "Why can he not fly?"

┉┉┉┉┉┉┉┉

Back at the other end, there's Dragon - patient, loyal, strong Dragon, waiting as Minli grows bigger and bigger, climbing back down to him. So how do I fly, did you ask him? Dragon asks. Minli laughs, climbs on his back...and (spoiler) yanks off the golden ball on top of his head (spoiler done). He says ouch but he feels much lighter and in no time at all they're on their way home, passing over Village of the Moon Rain - don't stop here! Go home! they all say, so Dragon doesn't pause, and soon they're passing over City of Bright Moonlight, fast asleep and bathed in bright moonlight. Passing over Buffalo Bill's hut, Minli doesn't see him, and figures that he's either sleeping or talking to the granddaughter.

Soon they pass the peach grove where the monkeys are still fighting and Dragons says, so what about you? Did you get your answer?

Minli is quiet.

Dragon, dismayed, says ...you didn't ask? No, she didn't.

But it's ok, Minli says, I already know the answer. Because she does - and so does her Ma.

And that would a sweet way to end the story, but it's not completely wrapped up just yet.

Well, speaking of Ma, right at that moment they come upon their beautifully ugly mountain. Home sweet home. But as they fly there, the Dragon comes upon...another Dragon? "Hello," she says and Minli thinks she looks an awful lot like the goldfish she set free in the last river. Well what do you know. So Dragon is going into a tailspin bc he just saw another real live dragon (tho this one ain't too legit either) and wants to get Minli home ASAP. So they land and he says, you go on, I want to stay here. Minli, worried, says you sure? and he says he has this weird feeling of coming home... because he was made from the inkstand which was made by the mountain which was made by Jade falling from the sky. So Minli, unaware, shrugs and asks if he wants the ball that she tore off of his head. "No, that's ok, you keep it," he says (why would he want such a heavyweight?) so she shakes her head because of his strange behavior and his overall light-headed-ness (though the ball IS gone) and she turns for home after saying goodbye to the distracted Dragon.

Slipping quietly into her house - "Shh, your parents are sleeping" - she's surprised to find a goldfish there. But she nods and goes into her bedroom, leaving her stuff on the table.

In the morning her parents are overjoyed to see Minli and laugh and talk and hug and cry. But as Ba goes into the other room to make tea, he notices something - it's a dragon's pearl! The one she pulled off of the dragon was an extremely rare pearl made by dragons. Who'da thunk ittt.

So as they're gaping at the dragon's pearl - shining luminously now that Ba has rubbed the dirt off - they hear the villagers...the mountain is blooming! Instead of Fruitless Mountain, it's fruitful! Why? Because Dragon/inkstone/mountain rock has been reunited with Jade, the river, by coming home and meeting up with Aunt Jade who has finally swam in Jade River and turned into a dragon.

Two years later, goldfish man is back and hears the end to this delightful puzzle: Ma and Ba and Minli gave the king of the City of Bright Moonlight - the MT's son - the dragon's pearl, asking nothing in return so ofc he gives them something in return - a gigantic amount of farming equipment so they can make use of the fruits of the mountain.

So Minli and her parents find their fortunes after all, fortunes for the whole village, and two dragons together leaping in the sky, where the mountain meets the moon. The end!

Disclaimer: this is fiction. Running away from home doesn't give you good fortune.