The Two Brothers of the Gobi Desert
Renaissance College, Theodore Chow, Fiction: Group 3
“Grandpa, tell us one more story, PLEASE!” Joshua and Joanie were already tucked in bed, but
they did not feel tired at all. Looking at his two cute little grandchildren, Grandpa gave in.
“All right! All right! Just ONE story and you must sleep after this.” The children grinned from
ear to ear. Whenever Mom and Dad were out of town, Grandpa would come to take care of them.
And Grandpa’s story was not to be missed! Now the two children looked at him curiously, waiting
for the story to unfold …
Long long ago, in the Gobi Desert in Northern China lived two Mongolians. They were
brothers born to a family of miners. So, naturally they also became miners when they grew up.
The older brother was tall, fair and kind. The younger brother was very smart, but he was also
very greedy. Like many brothers and sisters, they fought every day. The younger brother loved
to compete with the older sibling, at home, at school, and even at work. Wherever they went,
whatever they did, he needed to find out who was the smartest, the sportiest, the best. The older
brother, however, always let his younger brother win, for he was the only family member he had
left in this world.
One day, as usual, they left home after a quick breakfast and went to the mine. Both brothers
loaded their mining gear on their Bactrian camels, and off they went. Their journey lasted almost
an hour. The desert was like a yellow sea. It was beautiful at first glance. But that day, it was
unbelievably hot, and it was so glaring that they couldn’t even open their eyes. In no time, their
faces were drenched with sweat.
Suddenly, the elder brother saw a glint in the sand, so he stopped his camel. Would it just be
another mirage? He thought to himself. To his surprise, it was not an illusion. It was something
precious. He picked it up and brushed the sand off. The greedy brother saw this and rushed to
snatch the stone out of his brother’s hand. It was truly the most beautiful florescent gemstone he
had ever seen.
Without thinking, the greedy brother knocked the elder one out of the way. “Arghhhh!” The
greedy lad looked back and saw his sibling lying on the sand and groaning in pain. But all he
thought of was the gemstone. He took off with his camel, leaving his brother in a cloud of dust.
Instead of going to work, the greedy brother decided to head to the nearest village, Mongol,
because he wanted to trade this precious stone for gold. Just when he entered the trading shop,
the stone started glowing and became warm. He held it up and saw that it had changed from a
florescent color to gold.
At that exact moment, deep in the mountains on the edge of the desert, a sleeping dragon was
awakening. Its bright yellow eyes pierced through darkness, and it let out a thunderous roar!
From the village of Mongol, everyone could hear that deafening noise. Sensing that danger
might be near, all villagers looked for shelter. The greedy brother followed the others and hid
behind a cart. Another throaty roar was heard. There was an icy draught from nowhere and the
sky suddenly darkened. With a loud thud, a ten-foot tall dragon, with metal-like scales, bat-like
* * *
