Bi Shuixiu

Once she crossed this river, she would be home. Xiuxiu looked at the clusters of campfires on the far bank and lost herself for a moment. She did not often see her home from this side. Over there was the old well at the entrance to the village. There should be the path that led to her door. And there... that was the stretch of riverbank where she used to wait for her father to come home. Back then, when her father came to the south bank to cut wheat, she would sit there and wait for him. If she got scared being there alone, she would sing the tune he had taught her. When he heard it, he would sing back while he worked. "Who planted the tree up in heaven? Who carved out the Yellow River below?" It was on that same stretch of riverbank, on the night they fled, that she sang the song again. The sound of hoofbeats and crying had not yet died away. She did not know where she was supposed to go, or what she could still do. Looking at the wheat fields across the river, she found herself humming that familiar tune. The water still answered it. The wind still answered it too. But the father who used to sing back from the other side would never come back again. "The Queen Mother planted the tree in heaven. The Dragon King carved the Yellow River below." Then, not far away, a faint voice picked up the song. Was it her father? But her father... Xiuxiu followed the sound and found only a child who had been separated from his family. It was only after hearing the song that the child realized Xiuxiu was no invader, but someone from home. That night, Xiuxiu's singing rose and fell along the riverbank, broken and unsteady. More and more people recognized the tune and slowly gathered around her. "Let's head for the camp!" In the moonlight, Xiuxiu looked at the familiar faces finding one another through the song. The fear in her chest eased, and in its place came something like courage. The tune drifted from the north bank to the south. In the camp, more people listened, and more people joined in. Children who had been startled awake by hoofbeats and could not fall asleep again. Fighters laid up with wounds from battles against the invaders. Aunties helping her boil soup for everyone. "Sing loud and keep walking." Xiuxiu thought again of the words her father always liked to say when he came back from the wheat fields. That song did more than drive away her fear. It helped lead many people out through that long, endless night. Some heard the song, stopped to rest, found their footing again, and kept heading south. Others sang along, clapped out the beat, drank their fill, found strength in their hands again, and turned north. Later still... She looked at the people standing beside her now. They had come from all over, and soon they would cross the river and take back her homeland inch by inch. They listened quietly as she sang. "Who keeps watch beyond the passes..." Father, I have met so many great heroes. With them beside me, I can kill the invaders too. I am going north with them, to avenge you, and to avenge our family. "Who left home and never came back..." Father, when I reach the north bank and go home, I will rebuild our house bit by bit. Then I will plant a row of wheat by the door. When you smell the wheat and hear this song, you will be able to find your way home.