New Tales of the Gobi Desert
Ying Wa Primary School, Wong Chi Ngai Genper, Fiction: Group 2
A
young man was awoken up by the sunlight which was slanting into his cozy hub.
Surrounding him were lots of different hand-made furniture which were made of
wood. The man, Gobi, yawned and got up from his own uncomfortable bed – he had
been using it for many years.
He put on his leather gown and a pair of boots. He strolled out of his house, starring at the
sun. His hair had not being cut for donkey’s years which was so long and curly. He did not shave
his beard because he had no razor. A bad smell came and spread out of his dirty mouth. His teeth
were almost fallen out, just left some yellowish ones. He headed back to his house and took a
tiny painting from the table’s drawer. There was a long screechy, horrible sound that broke the
silence while he was opening it. In the old picture, there was a well-dressed woman standing on a
mountain peak with a man – he was Gobi. Gobi firstly sighed, and then he gave out a loud wail.
In the matter of fact, the woman was his wife; however she was lost a year ago. To Gobi, she was
the most important woman in his life since they had met each other.
He missed her so much and dreamt of seeing her every night. In Gobi’s eyes, it was a hardly
opportunity or even a miracle to see her in reality again.
Eventually, He decided to set off to find his wife. He didn’t want to be miserable anymore. He
carried a small bundle including some food, such as rolls, some pork chops and his wife’s only
painting. He walked for miles and miles, rest at nights, continued walking in the mornings and
finally he spotted a trail of smoke in the distance. Some banana trees were peculiarly planted
there where a tiny stone hub was built. He was so tired and also excited that he would see some
people at last. He rushed towards there and saw a woman holding a basket fetching some fruit
from the orchards. He knew who she was, he recognized her face and appearance, his eyes welled
up with tears and the crystal balls rolled down his cheeks. She overheard the cry and turned
around, what she saw was a man having messy hair, wearing a shirt full of holes and a pair of
worn boots. The woman also recognized him at once! Although they had not seen each other just
for a year, to them, it seemed like they had not seen each other for a century. They lost for words
and just looking at each other for a moment. That night, Gobi’s wife cooked plenty of food and
made Gobi some new clothes. He was so starving and gobbled all the food. They chatted for a
whole day talking about how they spent their time when they did not see each other.
Every day, they were having a simply life indeed. They went to get some wood and make
them into furniture and fuel. The forest became smaller and smaller and finally was turned
to a wasteland. Due to their innocent, they did not know how to grow more trees with their
saplings. They started to walk further to find another forest. Many years after, almost all trees
were chopped down and the habitats were all destroyed that just left some chickens, cows, sheep
and pigs in their farm. Their food became less and there were no more trees near their house.
Therefore, they had to move their house to another place. They continued chopping trees, hunting
animals… they expanded the entire region into more and more wastelands. To survive, they
knocked down their orchards and the hub to get more materials. They recreated a temporary base
at fast as they could. Gobi’s wife passed away under the great hunger and Gobi finally regretted
of chopping trees. He wrote a book to record all his innocent and regret. After a few days, he also
