A golden dragon (symbol)
“A golden dragon” is a symbol of power and authority. So beautiful and fierce is this beast that “only kings and emperors” are allowed to wear this symbol. If you see a person who claims to be a king, look if he wears “a golden dragon.” That is how Minli’s friends know that the man who tries to boss him around is just a liar. The latter doesn’t have even a tiny dragon image on his clothes when “everyone knows” that it should be “always” there. To meet a real dragon, one has to be an exceptional human being. The most interesting thing is that Minli doesn’t only manage to meet one but make friends with him.
A black mountain
“A black mountain” is an allegory of a mystery. The people who live in Minli’s village are exhausted; hard work, taxes that they have to pay no matter what, and lack of food are the main constituents of their lives. They are always in the fields, always working to survive. “Far away” from there, “following the Jade River,” there is “a black mountain” that cuts “into the sky like a jagged piece of rough metal.” Though the soil in the village is absolutely fruitless, the villagers don’t even try to leave that place and go to that mountain. They start calling it “Fruitless Mountain,” for there are old villagers who still remember that their land used to be blooming once. That black, bare mountain is the mystery that they have to solve.
Looking for good fortune (motif)
Minli’s parents are extremely poor. Their house is so small that there is “barely enough room for three people to sit around the table.” The land around the village is “hard and poor,” so fields have to be “flooded with water.” The villagers tramp in the mud, “bending and stooping and planting day after day.” Though Minli is a carefree girl, she knows that her mother is deeply unhappy. Minli can’t even remember a time when her Mother doesn’t sigh. Her wish to change their “poor” fortune is the main reason why she runs away.
