Gymnastics, Archery, and Mooncakes

Edamame was completely mortified after his trip to Argentina. He knew he would have to travel quickly and quietly in order to not be seen by his enemy. He rode buses through Brazil until he made it to Rio de Janeiro. He then got himself a plane ticket to London. At Heathrow he stared at the TV monitors, showing which flights were arriving and departing. Where should he go next? Out of the corner of his eye he saw a crowd of people staring at a different TV screen. Several people gasped as they saw Roger Federer lose an early round match in the Olympics. 

The Olympics! Edamame knew that he must make his way to Beijing. With millions of people there, it would be impossible for any of his enemies to find him! He jumped on a plane and contemplated what type of desserts he might find in China. Did cows even exist in China? He’d just have to find out. Perhaps he was about to find an end to his nightmares.

He was amazed by the crowds he saw in Beijing. Everyone was walking down streets wearing jerseys of different colors. Brits, Brazilians, and Americans were cheering at restaurants. As he was rather small, Edamame was able to sneak past the guards into the Birds Nest to watch some of the events. He watched a couple of the martial arts events and felt a sneaking feeling of competitiveness rush through him. He wondered why his sensei had never tried to bring him or his clan here. Surely they would make their sensei proud by bringing him a stack of gold medals! Then Edamame felt embarrassed as he remembered that the clan was meant to do the world good, and not to flex muscles or show off incredible flexibility and talent. Perhaps he should go watch another event, one that wouldn’t make him question his sensei.

He walked into small shops, but could not find desserts. He did find an endless supply of bao, which he enjoyed but did not fulfill his needs. 

Oh no! The enemy he had encountered in Sweden had found him. Edamame ran through the streets until he entered a large building. The enemy was close behind him, holding a giant wheel of cheese. He didn’t even notice the people staring in amazement, he just kept running. As chunks of cheese were hurled at him, Edamame did cartwheels, handsprings, and somersaults to avoid being hit. Finally a large man grabbed him and pulled him to the side. He looked up to notice that he had unwillingly partaken in the men’s gymnastics finals. The athletes stared at him with contempt for having disrupted their event. However, they were also somewhat amazed at having seen a tiny ninja perform some of the most astonishing gymnastics they had ever seen. Edamame tried to explain what had happened, but wound up being banished from Beijing until the Olympics were over. 

He hung his head sadly and wandered through other parts of China. Eventually he arrived at a festival where people were eating delicious looking treats. He looked up to the night sky and saw that he could almost make out a woman’s face in the moon. An old man was telling a story to several children. Edamame listened to the story, happy to discover that he still remembered some of the Chinese he had learned long ago.

“Once upon a time,” the old man began, “the world had not one, but ten suns. Plants could not grow and people suffered from the heat. The emperor summoned all of the land’s archers to shoot down all but one of the suns. One archer succeeded and brought happiness to the land. The emperor rewarded him with an elixir to immortal life. He brought it home and shared his good news with his wife. However, he forbade her from having any of the elixir. Angrily, she drank it and floated up to the moon, where she has remained forever. Some say that some of the elixir spilled and reached the mouths of a frog and rabbit. Sometimes you can see either her face, or that of the frog or rabbit in the moon. Every year we hold the mooncake festival to celebrate the archer’s success.” 

Edamame loved the story and tried a mooncake.

They were beautiful and didn’t contain any dairy! Maybe this would be the dessert he could come to love more than ice cream. 

Unfortunately for Edamame, the mooncake festival would end in a few days, meaning that all mooncake recipes would be stored away for another year. He would have to continue on his journey. At least he could try to come back to China once a year, for another taste.