1. “The moon lady! The Moon Lady!” I said, jumping up and down with great delight.
2. “What is a secret wish?”
“It is what you want but cannot ask,” said Amah.
“Why can’t I ask?”
“This is because… because if you ask it…it is no longer a wish but a selfish desire,” said Amah “Haven’t I taught you-that it is wrong to think of your own needs? A girl can never ask, only listen.”
3.“That night, after Popo told me this, I sat by the pond, looking into the water. And because I was so weak I began to cry. Then I saw this turtle swimming to the top and his beak was eating my tears as soon as they touched the water. He ate them quickly, five, six, seven tears, then climbed out of the pond, crawled onto a smooth rock and began to speak.
The turtle said, ‘I have eaten your tears, and this is why I know your misery. But I must warn you. If you cry, your life will always be sad.’
Then the turtle opened his beak and out poured five, six, seven pearly eggs. The eggs broke open and from them emerged seven pearly eggs. The eggs broke open and from them emerged seven birds, who immediately began to chatter and sing. I knew from their snow-white bellies and pretty voices that they were magpies, birds of joy. These birds bent their beaks to the pond and began to drink greedily. And when I reached out my hand to capture one, they all rose up, beat their black wings in my face and flew up into the air, laughing.
‘Now you see’, said the turtle, drifting back into the pond, ‘why it is useless to cry. Your tears do not wash away your sorrows. They feed someone else’s joy. And that is why you must learn to swallow your own tears.’”
4. A psychiatrist does not want you to wake up. He tells you to dream some more, to find the pond and pour more tears into it, and really, he is just another bird drinking from your misery.
5.I brushed my hair ninety-nine times a night to bring luck to your marital bed, in hopes of conceiving a son.
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