Fiction: Group 3
The Wizard of the Pearl River Delta
Discovery College (Primary), Seo, Justin - 11, Fiction: Group 3
mos watched as the small fire resting on the sticks grew tinier. Eventually it slowly turned into black
ash. His father sank down and heaved another sigh. Lighting a fire was one of the biggest problems
in Emeraldwood, since they had no lighter to create it.
Back in 1973, there in Guangzhou sat a small village called Emeraldwood. Emeraldwood, since it had
only a few huts there, was one of the poorest villages in Guangzhou, and it was placed at the top point of
the Pearl River Delta. In one of the huts set at the edge of the river lived a four year old boy called Amos
and his young father. His father worked in a toy factory not very far from their village. He would set off to
the factory at sunrise, and return home at late night. However, Amos’s hardworking father always returned
from work with only a few coins resting in his worn pocket. Not only was his father working keenly, but
young Amos had to work in the field, harvesting the crops. But nor Amos received at least a handful of
coins a day.
Amos and his father were outside their hut, trying to make a fire to protect themselves from the cold stark
wind. Amos stared at the ash, and concentrated on thinking about an enormous fire appearing on the pile of
sticks. Grow, he thought, grow.
Suddenly, there was a speck of orange, then a prodigious fire leapt up into the air. The father jumped
back in astonishment, but the little boy stood gazing up at the fire in amazement. “Father!” he managed to
splutter out. “In my head, I told the fire to grow, and now look!”
Now Amos’s father turned his eyes onto his son. He stared at him for about a minute, then he took Amos
onto their carriage and rode out of the village to the city, where the wise old man lived in a small tent.
Amos’s father dragged the boy into the front of the wise man, and explained to him about how his son
had lightened the fire with his mind. The old man nodded slowly, looked carefully at Amos, and finally
replied, “Kid, you are a wizard. You have the ability to make anything happen through your mind. But
remember, use your power well.”
The news that Amos was a wizard spread through the whole village like fire. Every person who heard
about it would have their mouths hung open. At first, it was all quiet. But then after a few days, men and
women would rush to Amos and beg him to grow their crops or make a fire using his amazing powers. Of
course, loyal Amos accepted everything. In a few weeks, Emeraldwood had become a well-living village.
Eleven years passed, and now Amos was a fifteen year old boy. He no longer needed his father to
accompany him all the time, so every day he would hike up mountains or even visit other villages alone. He
still supported Emeraldwood with his magical powers, but he wanted to do something big, something that
would make a change to Guangzhou.
Then it was one day. One of the villages in the middle of the Pearl River Delta was completely silent, so
quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Almost all the huts had no people living in it, abandoned. Confused,
Amos approached a young man pushing a wheelbarrow, and questioned, “Sir, why is there so less people
living in this village?”
The man sighed heavily. “I have only heard that an enormous serpent, with knife-like, acute teeth,
deadly black scales, and a prodigious length, is lurking around right there, in the middle of this river. You
just stare right into those blood red eyes of this monster, and you are stone, then in no longer than a minute,
the stone will shatter. The serpent has killed almost all the villagers here! No one would risk slaying that
monster! Its teeth are poison! Don’t even think about going and killing it! It is way too risky for you!”
However, Amos did not listen to the man’s last few words. He had just seen, with his incredible eyesight,
a glimpse of a black, scaly tail, slowly disappearing into the blue water over in the distance. His heart started
to smash against his chest. “It is there.” he whispered to the man. “I am a wizard. A wizard can handle this.”
Once Amos came back to his village, he hauled a small rowboat from the water and started adding
touches of magic to it through his mind. For weeks and weeks, he would not slump back to his hut, but
fixing the rowboat. Amos needed a suitable boat for him to ride to the center of the river, where the serpent
skulked.
Finally Amos completed his rowboat and was ready to slay the serpent. On top of his patched clothes, he
wore the long, emerald robe that his father had let him borrow especially for this journey. He held a sword
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