February 18 - "Water Names"

“Water Names”
by Lan Samantha Chang
New Sudden Fiction (2007)

* * * (Good) Fable

Three young girls take a moment from sisterly squabble to listen to their grandmother regale them with a tale brought forth from memory by the prairie crickets chirping beyond the cramped front porch.

I get the feeling that I’m missing something, like there’s a deeper meaning hidden in the text that I simply don’t see. That bothers me – makes me feel as though I’m not smart enough, not good enough as a reader. I did enjoy the story: the fable the grandmother tells to the young sisters. Ancient Chinese myths and tales have always interested me. They are a bit different from the fairy tales and folklore of America and Western Europe. From out of that uniqueness comes their charm, and my fascination. The promise of greener grass - in this case an undersea prince and marriage into his kingdom – is a common story trope, but it doesn’t feel tired here due to the flow of the sentences, and the set up to the myth sharing. Instead, you become as enraptured in the story, and thus as frustrated with its open ending, as the three sisters sitting at their grandmother’s feet.