Once upon a time there lived a boy named Maliang in a small village. He was a very good boy, but he lost his parents when he was eight. He was poor and his life was hard. But he wanted to learn painting and he never lost his heart.
He didn’t have a paintbrush, so he practiced painting with a stick, he painted swimming fish on a rock, he painted birds on the ground. Everyday he tried so hard.
Afterwards he had a paintbrush, it was magic. He painted a bird on the wall, then the bird flew away. He painted a fish,then the fish was real. Maliang was a good boy, he helped people with his magic paintbrush. There was an old woman, she didn’t have food. Maliang painted food, then the food was real. There were some poor children, they had no new clothes. Maliang painted new clothes for them.
A bad man knew it. He was greedy and never helped people. He took Maliang’s paintebrush and painted gold. But it didn’t make gold, it made a snake. The bad man was angry,. The magic paintbrush din’t help him, it only helped Maliang. So he took Maliang away. “I want lots and lots of gold” said the bad man,“You paint it!”
So Maliang painted a gold hill in the sea and a big ship for the bad man. The ship was real. Then the bad man went to sea in his ship. Maliang painted strong wind on the sea, there came a storm and the bad man didn’t come back. From then on, Maliang helped the poor villagers with his magic paintbrush and they lived happily.
