The Magical Brush

Once upon a time, there was a poor boy named Ma Liang. He was born smart and liked to draw pictures. When he went to the hill to gather wood, he would break off a branch and draw pictures on the hillside. To the river cutting grass, with grass roots dipped in the river in the river painting; When I got home, I took a piece of charcoal and painted in the yard.

Ma Liang kept on painting without a day off. But he often thought how wonderful it would be if he had a paintbrush. One night, in his trance, Maliang felt a burst of colorful light in the cave. Then an old man with a white beard appeared and gave him a golden pen. Maliang woke up happily. It was a dream! But he looked at his hand, and it was amazing that he actually had a pen in his hand. He immediately drew a bird, the bird came alive, spread out its wings and flew up, he drew a fish, the fish also live, live and jump. With this magic brush, Ma Liang drew pictures for the poor and kind families in the village every day.

When a greedy, rich and unkind man in a neighboring village heard about this, he immediately sent his men to take Ma Liang to him and forced him to paint for him. No matter how the rich man coaxed and frightened him, he refused to paint. The rich man shut him up in his stable and gave him no food. It snowed heavily in the evening. The rich man saw a bright red light and smelled a delicious smell under the door of the stable, so he looked inside. Ma Liang had made a big fire and was eating hot cakes while he was baking. Both the stove and the cake were painted by Ma Liang with his magic brush. The rich man was furious and planned to kill Ma Liang and take his magic pen. Then Maliang climbed up a ladder, climbed over the wall and left. The rich man hurried up the ladder to catch up, just climbed two steps, fell down. Originally, this ladder is also maliang with magic brush painting. Before the rich man could get up, Ma Liang was galloping away on a horse drawn with magic brush.

The rich man came after him on horseback and with men. He drew a bow and an arrow with his magic brush. Ma Liang used a bow to shoot an arrow. An arrow hit the rich man's throat. The rich man died immediately. When the emperor knew about this, he sent his men to arrest Ma Liang. The emperor threatened to kill Ma Liang if he did not draw him a money-making tree. Ma Liang waved his magic brush. In the middle of an endless sea, there was an island. On the island there was a tall and large money-making tree. Then Ma Liang drew a big wooden boat. The emperor took his men on board. Maliang painted a few more strokes of wind, and the big wooden boat sailed with the wind. Ma Liang kept on painting the wind. The wind whipped up huge waves. The waves overturned the ship and the emperor sank to the bottom of the sea.

Exactly where Ma Liang went after that is unknown. Some say he went back to his hometown to be with his fellow farmers. Some say he wandered around and painted for the poor.