The New Tales of Old Shanghai German Swiss International School , Dujari , Payaas – 8
O ld Shanghai , China a wonderfully calm and peaceful city , with walls all around and where people were happy and joyfully lived their lives .
Once long ago , there was a man named Tang Bao . He was a kind person who worked for the Emperor of Old Shanghai in the early 1800s . He lived in a small village next to the palace and he worked hard for many years . Sadly nobody noticed his efforts . Eventually he got sick of working very hard for the Emperor . So he built a huge wall between the Emperor ’ s palace his village so that the Emperor couldn ’ t ask the villagers for money for when he had a building project . The construction of the huge wall took a year but with the help of wonderful carvers , the wall was a beautiful sight . People could hardly believe their eyes at the structure .
On the other hand the Emperor liked the looks of the wall but didn ’ t like the placement . He had to make a decision between breaking the wall or keeping it . He decided to break the wall .
After the wall was broken , Tang Bao got extremely angry and couldn ’ t see the Emperor live . He started plotting to kill the Emperor by a sword fight . He would poison his blade if the emperor touched it even by the smallest amount he would die .
The next day Tang Bao challenged the Emperor to a duel . He held the poisoned sword in his right hand and the sword that the Emperor was going to fight with , in his left . He handed the sword to the Emperor and said sharply “ I Challenge you to a duel !”. The Emperor took the sword and accepted the challenge . They went to the fighting ring and then Tang Bao said “ It is a custom in the village that a challenger ’ s sword must touch the opponent before the battle starts .”
First the Emperor ’ s blade touched Tang Bao on the shoulder . Then Tang Bao made a cut in the Emperor ’ s skin . A few minutes later the battle started .
Both the competitors fought ferociously . Soon the Emperor started feeling tired because the poison had started taking effect . The next moment he staggered around . Then with a powerful “ EN GARDE ” Tang Bao stabbed the Emperor . The Emperor cried in pain and fell to the ground .
There was a loud applause for Tang Bao and he was declared Emperor in honour of defeating their greedy dead Emperor . Nobody in the world wanted to kill the Emperor because he was a mighty leader and had many secrets . These secrets were shared between Tang Bao and his followers . From then on Tang Bao ruled wisely and cunningly ever after . Until he died that is .
THE END