The Remarkable Adventure of Princess Fu Xiao

By Ronald Combs

Fu Xiao was adopted from China as a baby. One afternoon, on a trip to the zoo, she is confronted by a stranger who tells her that he is her older brother. He explains that she is actually a princess in a mysterious kingdom called Le Yuan and that she has a twin sister.

The kingdom is in terrible trouble, and only she can save it. She agrees to try, and this results in a wild ride to China on the back of a dragon and a series of thrilling confrontations with an evil witch and a scheming courtier. To save the kingdom, she must free her sister and overcome the magical powers of the witch.

The result is a delightful adventure that will keep you turning pages until the very end.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Feb 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9781662413360

Book preview

Chapter One

Fu Xiao Meets a Dragon

Fu Xiao¹ lived high in a tall building in a big city by a lake. From her apartment windows, she could see the park, the city streets, and the beautiful waves of the lake washing up against the stone barrier at the edge of the park. In the summertime, there were many boats on the lake. Fu Xiao loved to look out of the windows of her apartment and see the people and the cars and boats come and go below.

She had not always lived in this tall building. When she was a little baby, she had lived halfway around the world in the country of China. Her mother had gone all the way to China in an airplane and brought Fu Xiao to the city when she was very young.

Fu Xiao went to school, where she learned many interesting things. She also had art lessons, music lessons, and dancing lessons. Fu Xiao loved to dance. Her mother was a singer in the big opera house in the city, and while Fu Xiao was still a little girl of two or three, she used to make up dances to the songs her mother sang when she practiced. Fu Xiao loved her art lessons and her music lessons, but she loved to dance best of all.

Fu Xiao knew she had once lived in China, but she didn’t remember much about it now. She was used to the city by the lake and the tall building where she lived. It was her home, and she liked it.

Sometimes, her mother would take her to the big opera house and let her listen to the music. Once, Fu Xiao was chosen to be an extra² in an opera called The Magic Flute. She really enjoyed this and kept hoping that there would be another opera that needed a little girl as an extra.

One Saturday, Fu Xiao and her mother had a visitor, an aunt of Fu Xiao’s mother, and they decided to go for a picnic. There was a wonderful big zoo near the place where they lived, and Fu Xiao had gone there several times with her mother. She thought Aunt Esther would be very interested in all the strange animals and wanted to show her the elephants, which Fu Xiao particularly liked.

So Fu Xiao and her mother and Aunt Esther got into her mother’s car and drove to the zoo. They had a fine time, and at noon, they ate lunch out of doors under a big tree. Fu Xiao saved some crumbs from her sandwich to feed the birds that were singing hopefully in the tree.

After lunch, Aunt Esther (who was getting old) asked Fu Xiao’s mother to take her back to the car. She said she needed to nap for a while after lunch, and then she wanted to go and see the elephants with Fu Xiao. Fu Xiao didn’t want to sleep. She wanted to watch the monkeys playing.

Well, said Fu Xiao’s mother, you stay here and watch the monkeys, and I will take Aunt Esther back to the car. Will you be all right here by yourself for ten minutes?

Of course, I will! said Fu Xiao. I’m a big girl now!

All right, said Fu Xiao’s mother. Don’t talk to strangers and don’t wander away. I’ll take Aunt Esther to the car for a nap, and I’ll be back in ten minutes.

So Fu Xiao sat on a stone bench to watch the monkeys. It was very funny the way they chased one another and swung up and down with their hands and tails. Fu Xiao wished she had brought some peanuts to feed them.

She opened the sketch pad she had brought to the zoo and began to draw a picture of a monkey. It was hard because the monkeys wouldn’t sit still.

Suddenly, she looked up from her drawing and noticed a boy sitting on the other end of the stone bench. He looked as if he might be from China also, and Fu Xiao thought he was only a few years older than she was. The boy was looking at her with an anxious expression as if he wanted to speak to her but didn’t know how to begin, so Fu Xiao thought it would be polite to speak to him.

Hello, said Fu Xiao.

Hello, Fu Xiao, said the boy.

How do you know my name? said Fu Xiao, very surprised.

Oh, I know you very well, although you don’t know me. Looking cautiously around, the boy slid along the bench so that he could whisper in Fu Xiao’s ear. You see, I am your half brother!

Now Fu Xiao didn’t see how a person could be half of a brother. He didn’t look like half of a boy. In fact, he looked like many other boys Fu Xiao knew, except for his worried expression and his strange clothes.

I don’t have any brothers, said Fu Xiao.

You don’t know it, but you have a half brother—me! You have a sister too—a twin sister!

Fu Xiao knew what twins were. She knew several sets of twins who went to her school. They usually looked exactly alike. Fu Xiao tried to imagine another Fu Xiao just like her. She shook her head.

I don’t have a twin sister either, she said positively. My mother would have told me.

Your mother doesn’t know, said the boy. But it’s true all the same. You and your sister are the princesses of the kingdom of Le Yuan.

I never heard of Le Yuan, said Fu Xiao. Is it in China? I came from China.

Long, long ago, it used to be a part of China, said the boy. But China doesn’t have kings and queens anymore. Le Yuan was hidden from the rest of the world five hundred years ago by a magic spell. The rest of the world has forgotten all about us.

Fu Xiao considered this.

How do I know you are telling me the truth? said Fu Xiao and added, Anyhow, my mother told me not to talk to strangers.

Now the truth was that Fu Xiao felt a little uncomfortable about this. She had been talking to a stranger, and quite a lot too, and she was pretty sure her mother would not approve.

But I’m not really a stranger, said the boy. I’m your half brother. We are related.

You say you are my half brother, but maybe you are telling me a fib. How did you get here from this Le Yuan anyhow?

The boy looked around again anxiously and then whispered into Fu Xiao’s ear, I flew here on the back of a dragon.

Now I know you are fibbing! cried Fu Xiao. Dragons don’t really exist. They are only in stories!

Suddenly, a deep, rough voice spoke from behind Fu Xiao, I’m really surprised to know that. I always thought I was pretty real.

Fu Xiao jumped off the stone bench and turned around. Her eyes grew wide, and her mouth dropped open in astonishment. There, with his front-half poking out from between two mulberry bushes, was an enormous dragon.

He was rainbow-colored with scales that shimmered as he moved. He had a huge head with yellow eyes as big as dinner plates. When his mouth was open (as it was now), you could see two rows of gleaming white teeth as sharp as knives. His tongue was a glowing red almost as if it were on fire, and smoke curled out of his nostrils.

Good day, said the dragon in a husky voice. My name is Lung.

Good morning, said Fu Xiao, a little afraid.

The dragon was easily the size of a large truck only with the addition of a long tail. Even though she was not supposed to talk to strangers, Fu Xiao decided it would be wise to be polite to a dragon big enough to swallow her whole.

You sound as if you have a hoarse throat, said Fu Xiao politely. I hope you’re not catching a cold.

No, no, said Lung sadly. It’s the smoke.

The smoke? said Fu Xiao.

From the fire, said Lung and breathed a sigh that shot flames from his mouth for a distance of five feet. Fu Xiao jumped.

So you see, said the boy, I’m not fibbing. I did fly here on a dragon.

But what do you want with me? asked Fu Xiao.

Princess Fu Xiao, replied the boy earnestly, you have to come back with me to Le Yuan. Only you can save our kingdom. Your sister, Princess Fu Huan, has disappeared. You must come and take her place, or the kingdom will fall under the control of a very wicked man, and we will all be made miserable forever. You must come with me right away!

I don’t think my mother would like it, said Fu Xiao uncertainly, shaking her head.

You could leave her a note, said the boy, hopefully.

Well, my mother always tells me I must try to help people who are in trouble, said Fu Xiao thoughtfully. I am supposed to do mitzvahs.

Mitzvahs? asked the boy.

Good deeds, replied Fu Xiao. Anyhow, I’m sure my mother wouldn’t want the people of Le Yuan to be miserable if I can help them. I’ll come, but I can only stay for a little while. I have school on Monday and a dance class on Tuesday. I’ll write my mother a note.

So Fu Xiao tore a piece of paper from the sketch pad she had brought to the zoo to draw pictures of the animals, and wrote her mother the following note:

Dear Mother,

I have gone with my half brother to the kingdom of Le Yuan on the back of