The Magic Paintbrush

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People say that Liang married a beautiful girl from his village and had a big family, and they were happy all their days. The mountain is on the other side of the sea.” replied Liang. “I’ll show you.” Liang drew the golden mountain on the other side of the sea.

The emperor laughed and asked Ma Liang to draw a boat so they could shake the money tree. So Ma Liang drew a big wooden boat and the emperor and his guards boarded it. The rich man wanted to show off his power so he invited some friends to his house. He drew a lot of pictures, but not one picture became real. The rich man figured there must be some special secret that he didn’t know about, so he sent for Liang. When Liang stood before him he said, “If you draw some pictures for me and they become real, I will let you go free.”He drew a cow and it came to life when he observed how difficult it was for people to till the field. The cow might readily be used to plow the ground. He said to the young man, "If you draw some pictures for me and bring them to life, I will set you free." The Magic Paintbrush Writing Frames - go one step further by having children retell the story in their own words. With the same pictures, they'll write out the tale as they remember it. Alternatively, they can create their own versions, based on the original and the illustrations.

The story is told in rhyme, but it's not the couplet type of rhyme with slightly alternating repetitions encountered in Donaldson/Scheffler books; the Magic Paintbrush offers an altogether more epic story told in a more grown-up way. This is a lovely picture book with some spectacular illustrations. The well rooted morals of the story are easily linked to everyday scenarios. With the elements of magic, adventure and surprise this makes a lovely book for Foundation stage all the way through to lower Key Stage two. The teacher sneered at the shabby boy and replied, “What? A poor kid like you wants to learn to paint? You must be daydreaming! Get out of my sight!” Blooper • Bullet Bills • Chain Chomp • Cheep Cheeps • Dolphins • Dry Bones • Fire Piranha Plants • Goomba • Jumbo Ray • King Bob-omb • Koopa Troopas • Lakitu • Lantern Eel • Magikoopas • Mole Miners • Monsters • Piantas • Screaming Pillars • Shy Guys • Sushi • Toads • Unagi One of my television songs, A SQUASH AND A SQUEEZE, was made into a book in 1993, with illustrations by the wonderful Axel Scheffler. It was great to hold the book in my hand without it vanishing in the air the way the songs did. This prompted me to unearth some plays I’d written for a school reading group, and since then I’ve had 20 plays published. Most children love acting and it’s a tremendous way to improve their reading.

The Moral Lesson of “The Magic Paintbrush”

The Magic Paintbrush is a Chinese folktale that tells the story of Ma Liang, a kind young boy who loves to draw. He's gifted a magic paintbrush in his dream, and uses it to help others around him. Ma Liang quietly walked away, his heart filled with disappointment. However, he remained composed and calm. In his mind, he thought, “I just don’t believe a poor child is not good enough to learn painting.” I thoroughly enjoyed this fable, I loved the magic and hope within it- the teasing out that there is a difference between need and greed and that solidarity is owed more to some than to others. The book simply skims over any sort of internal conflicts (eg the consequences of not producing food- although I guess the point to to value also intellectual and artistic "work"; also e.g. any moral conflict- desire to please the emperor or fear by Shen) to have a simple movement where one thing logically follows the other- although she is imprisoned at one point.

However, the young man sketched a sea first, followed by a golden mountain far away from the water. I have some reservations around a write author appropriating a Chinese story (however beautifully) and not even having a "note to the reader" about where the story came from. I wonder if Edward Said would find this an example of his problematic "Orientalism" and I feel a little uncomfortable with it. I am personally slightly over rhyme but nevertheless enjoyed the way the story unfolded and the nearly dragon (I was almost disappointed but Donaldson immediately threw in a party to distract me- in a good way.The young man smiled quietly and drew a big ship. The rich man jumped into the ship and set off to find the gold but when the ship sailed to the middle of the sea, Ma Liang drew a large wave which destroyed the ship and the rich man was never seen in the village again. He began to use the paintbrush anytime someone needed assistance from that day on. He designed a river and it came to life when he noticed that people didn't have enough water to utilize in the fields.

When he saw it was difficult for people to till lands, he drew a cow and the cow came to life. People could use the cow to till lands very easily. When Liang went into the village he met an old farmer carrying water from the river to his field. It was a long walk and the man was very tired. Liang painted a river beside the field and the river came to life. Now the farmer could easily bring the water to his crops. Soon Liang met another villager who was crying because his cow had died in the night, and there was no milk for his children. Liang drew a cow, and it came to life. The villager was overjoyed and happily began to milk his cow. I’ll draw you a boat to get to the mountain,” said Liang. And he drew a golden dragon boat that was even bigger and more beautiful than the emperor’s boat. The rich man climbed aboard the boat and stood in the bow facing the golden mountain. He said to Liang,” Now draw me a wind to take the boat to the mountain.” Liang began to draw a wind, and the boat set sail. The rich man stretched his arms out to grab the golden mountain. “Make the wind stronger so I can get there faster,” he said to Liang. Liang kept drawing and the wind got stronger. Soon the wind became a terrible gale and the rich man’s beautiful boat sank beneath the sea and took him down with it. My real breakthrough was THE GRUFFALO, again illustrated by Axel. We work separately - he’s in London and I’m in Glasgow - but he sends me letters with lovely funny pictures on the envelopes. There was once a young boy named Ma Liang. He lived in a small village in China. He was poor and friendly, and he loved to draw. His love for painting was too much so he drew paintings all over the place.If you'd like to plan even more lessons exploring this folktale, you'll want to take a look at these activities. As the boat started out slowly towards the island, the emperor demanded that Ma Liang make it go faster. So Ma Liang sketched a few broad strokes in the air and immediately huge gusts of wind started blowing, propelling the boat forward. From that day on, he used the paintbrush whenever people needed help. When he saw that people had no water to use in the fields, he drew a river and the river came to life. People could bring water from the river to the field and save a lot of time and energy. The man had told her not to paint for the rich and only the poor. This relates to the morals within Robin Hood where the poor receive and the rich do not. This...is my magic brush. When I draw with this, all my wishes come true! A strange old man in a white coat gave it to me...” — Bowser Jr., Super Mario Sunshine