Lin and the Half-Magic Brush

Lin, a girl in a canal-side village, loved painting with Grandmother's old brush. One night, moonlight touched its tip. When Lin painted a paper lantern, half the lantern floated out of the page while the other half remained lines of ink.

Lin painted a bridge across an irrigation ditch for the gardeners. A half-solid wooden frame appeared, but no one could cross it. A carpenter added real wood by following the painted plan, and soon everyone shared a sturdy bridge.

Later, the gardens dried when a water channel broke. Lin painted a waterwheel, and half a set of paddles became real. Children gathered bamboo, adults tied rope, and gardeners guided the water until the wheel turned and every plot received a share.

A greedy merchant heard of the brush and ordered Lin to paint a chest of gold. Lin drew half an empty chest and said, “This brush makes only a beginning. The other half must come from what we do.” The merchant could not gain gold by sitting and waiting.

Lin hung a long paper scroll in the village pavilion. Everyone drew something they hoped to improve, then chose one picture at a time to build together. The brush remained only half magic—and that was just enough, because the other half lived in everyone's hands.

Imagination lets us see what is possible, while action and cooperation make an idea real.