The Night Tiger

by Yangsze Choo

“The body must be made whole again when you die. Anything added must be removed, and anything missing replaced—otherwise your soul won’t rest in peace.”

It was the character for zhi, or knowledge, one of the five Confucian Virtues. The others were benevolence, righteousness, order, and integrity. Chinese are particularly fond of matched sets and the Five Virtues were the sum of qualities that made up a perfect man. So it was a bit odd that a girl like me should be named for knowledge.

“No, the dream-eater is a ghost animal. If you have nightmares, you can call it three times to eat the bad dreams. But you have to be careful. If you call it too often it will also gobble up your hopes and ambitions.”

The worst part about death is forgetting the image of the beloved. It’s the final robbery, the last betrayal.

ren being the greatest of the five Confucian Virtues. It means human-heartedness: the benevolence that distinguishes man from beast.

We were a chocolate-box family, I thought. Brightly wrapped on the outside and oozing sticky darkness within.

Do you know that the Chinese believe that boy and girl twins were husband and wife in a former life? And that they couldn’t bear to be separated, so they were reborn together?”