This book has been on my MtTBR since, erk, August 2007 when my mother brought it with her from a holiday in China.

The association challenge finally prompted me to read it, since I imagine angora as some sort of fluffy wool that made me think of clouds.

I spent some time hunting through my bookshelves to find it, and then when I was about to start reading I remembered that it was only a loan and thus I could not register it. But when I asked my mother today she said it had been a present, after all, and that I could keep it, so yay! :)

This book collects a number of folk tales of the Nakhi (pronounced Na-he), one of China's minority group whose language doesn't contain the word "father" because traditionally, marriages are rare and women alone raise the children. As a result, all of the characters (the sun and the moon, the sheep and the goat, the hen and the eagle) are female, some of them good (honest, hardworking, modest), some of them bad (deceitful, lazy, arrogant).

Now I've read my fair share of fairy tales but I found these particularly delightful. Though the morals are sometimes a bit obvious (see above), the "explanations" for some types of animals typical behaviour are witty and original, and the "punishment" for bad characters' behaviour is funny, creative and entirely self-inflicted. The only story I didn't like was the one about the sheep and the goat because I didn't understand why it would cause the goat to be grumpy and the sheep to be meek. I loved all the others!

And of course the pictures are simply and without a question utterly, and I'm sorry there are no better words for it, beautiful, delightful, wonderful. Mr. Li Ji is truly an artist to watch!

Left on a table at my office as a free give away and pocketed by one of my colleagues. Enjoy!

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CONGRATULATIONS!
You've found a wandering book! Please leave a short (or not so short ;) ) journal entry, so I know that the book's well and safe in your hands. For example, you could write where you found it, how you like it, or what you are planning to do with it.

Thanks a lot!
erinacea

PS: While I enjoy writing these texts in English, there's no obligation for you to do the same. If you like, you could make an entry in German, or whatever your mothertongue may be.
(Einträge auf deutsch sind auch erlaubt. ;) )