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There was one dose of the elixir of immortality, and it was only enough for one person. When a man came through the door for it, Chang E swallowed it, and her feet left the ground. She was given a life without death, and it cost her every dinner she would ever have missed.

He had already passed the imperial examination, and he was forty years old. He still stood outside his teacher’s gate, in the snow, because the teacher was sitting in stillness and he would not knock. This is the Chinese idiom 程门立雪, from the History of Song.

He was the most famous man in the empire who refused to take a job. For close to twenty years he lived on a mountain in the southeast, sailing and writing poems. Then his family needed him, and he came down. This is the Chinese idiom 东山再起, from the Book of Jin.

On the last night of his life, the greatest warrior of his age heard his own village songs rising from the enemy camps on all four sides. He understood at once that the home he meant to return to no longer existed. This is the Chinese idiom 四面楚歌, from the Records of the Grand Historian.

In a Chu courtyard, several men raced to draw a snake on the ground for a single jug of wine. The fastest hand finished first, took the jug, and then kept drawing, adding feet to a creature that has none. He lost the wine. This is the Chinese idiom 画蛇添足, from the Intrigues of the Warring States.

A small state stood between a great power and the land it wanted, and made its living by holding the gate. A minister warned his ruler that the two neighbours shared a single fate. The ruler took the horses and the jade, and lent the road. This is the Chinese idiom 唇亡齿寒, from the Zuo Commentary.

A gentle Chinese bedtime story about a tiny silkworm among the mulberry leaves. He eats and eats, changes his skin four times, then spins himself a small white house and goes to sleep for a long, long time. Short sentences, warm daylight, and the old Chinese art of keeping silkworms.

A gentle Chinese bedtime story about New Year night. Mother folds eight old coins into red paper and slips the packet under her child’s pillow. Then she tells him the old tale of the small shadow called Sui, the red light, and a long peaceful sleep. Short sentences and the old Chinese custom of the lucky money.

A gentle Chinese bedtime story about a small kitten at the river. A dragonfly and a butterfly keep flying past, and his bucket stays empty. Then he sits very still, and the float goes under. Short sentences, a warm fish soup, and the old Chinese tale of the kitten who went fishing.

A gentle Chinese bedtime story about the biggest radish in the yard. The old man pulls. The old woman pulls. The granddaughter, the dog, the cat and the tiny mouse all pull too. Short repeated lines, a warm soup at the end, and the old Chinese children’s song about pulling the radish.