Among the heirlooms to be found in the closets of many New England
houses is a curious pattern of China plate. This plate is colored
blue-and-white, and in the bowl of each is a picture. The picture
represents a rural scene in China--a bridge on which are two young
people, a man and a woman; a house, and a tree, and two birds of
beautiful plumage flying away. Mrs. Van Buren had such a plate, and a
platter with the same rural picture, on her dining-room wall.
It was the delight of Lucy to have Sky-High explain to her the meaning
of the pictures on the Chinese vases and on an ornamental Chinese
umbrella which hung in the reception-room. One day when Sky-High was
dusting in the dining-room, Lucy's eye fell on the blue-and-white plate
with the picture of the bridge and birds.
"Oh, Sky-High," said Lucy, "mother has a treasure here--a porcelain
plate of your country, see!"
Sky-High looked up to the old porcelain. He had seen such a plate a
thousand times; so often, in so many places, that Mrs. Van Buren's had
not drawn his eye.
"It is a mandarin plate," he explained to Lucy. "It has a magic power;
it brings good luck. My people keep those plates for good fortune."
"A magic plate?" Lucy was all curiosity, now. "Tell me the story of the
magic plate," she said. "Sit down and tell me. Who are the young people
on the bridge? Begin."
"They are the same as the birds flying away. The birds and the young
people are one."
Lucy's interest in the magic plate grew. Sky-High promised to tell her
its legend at some time when her mother should be present.