BoundYOUNG XING XING IS BOUND. Bound to her father's second wife and daughter after Xing Xing's father has passed away. Bound to a life of servitude as a young girl in ancient China, where the life of a woman is valued less than that of livestock. Bound to be alone and unmarried, with no parents to arrange for a suitable husband. Dubbed "Lazy One" by her stepmother, Xing Xing spends her days taking care of her half sister, Wei Ping, who cannot walk because of her foot bindings, the painful but compulsory tradition for girls who are fit to be married. Even so, Xing Xing is content, for now, to practice her gift for poetry and calligraphy, to tend to the mysterious but beautiful carp in her garden, and to dream of a life unbound by the laws of family and society. But all of this is about to change as the time for the village's annual festival draws near, and Stepmother, who has spent nearly all of the family's money, grows desperate to find a husband for Wei Ping. Xing Xing soon realizes that this greed and desperation may threaten not only her memories of the past, but also her dreams for the future. In this searing story, Donna Jo Napoli, acclaimed author of Beast and Breath, delves into the roots of the Cinderella myth and unearths a tale as powerful as it is familiar. |
Contents
Section 14 | 118 |
Section 15 | 124 |
Section 16 | 136 |
Section 17 | 141 |
Section 18 | 145 |
Section 19 | 150 |
Section 20 | 155 |
Section 21 | 165 |
Section 9 | 78 |
Section 10 | 88 |
Section 11 | 97 |
Section 12 | 105 |
Section 13 | 111 |
Section 22 | 170 |
Section 23 | 174 |
Section 24 | 185 |
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Common terms and phrases
ancestors arms asked Wei Ping bamboo beautiful fish birds boat bowl breath calligraphy captain carp cave festival chamber pot cheek cloth crate daughter demons dragon dress egret eyes face Father fed the fish fingers fish mother foot binding frog girl going gold shoes green dates half sister Han River hands head hurry husband I'm your teacher inside jujube tree kang knees laughed Lazy legs looked at Xing Master Tang Master Tang's slave Mei Zi never nose opened pail painted picked poem pool prince raccoon rice river sack screaming Sheng side smiled spirit Stepmother and Wei Stepmother's stood stopped storeroom sure talk tell things told took turned village voice walked Wang's wanted watched Wei Ping's feet white fish woman words Xing Xing bowed Xing Xing knew Xing Xing looked Xing Xing ran Xiu Mei Yao Wang zhong