I read a Chinese folk tale to my students titled “Ma Lien and the Magic Brush.”  It’s a story about a poor peasant farmer named Ma Lien who’s greatest dream was to be an artist.  Being so poor, he did not have even enough money to buy a paint brush.  He would use a stone to scratch on a flat rock or his fingers to draw in the wet sand of the riverbank.  One night, as he lay in his bed looking at all the pictures he had drawn on his clay walls, there was a flash of light and an old wizard appeared.  The wizard told Ma Lien that he had worked very hard and earned a brush.  His only words were to use it wisely because it had great power. As the story unfolded, others saw Ma Lien’s drawings come to life and they wanted to use his brush.  However, their creations didn’t come to life. My students realized that Ma Lein painted only things that would help others, while the other people painted things only to help themselves.

I asked my students what they would paint if they were given a magical paint brush.  Look at their responses…