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Updated Monday, May 18, 2009 9:54 am TWN, By Joe Hung, The China Post

King of Ducks II

Zhu Yigui woke up from a siesta under the cool shade of the riverside banyan tree. It was still very hot in southern Taiwan, which in fact is in the tropical zone. He got up and tried to cool himself by washing his face with the crystal-clear stream water. When he squatted and was about to dip his hands into the water, he saw an image reflected. What he saw wasn't himself, however. The man on the very slowly flowing water wore a crown and a robe emblazoned with two golden dragons. In imperial China, only an emperor could wear dragon-emblazoned robe.

The duck farmer couldn't believe his eyes. He turned his head back but found no one behind him. The image on the water looked exactly like an emperor he had seen on outdoor stage, where a Chinese history play was presented in worship of a local deity. Taking a closer look, he found the man appearing like an emperor was nobody other than himself.

“It's me all right,” he convinced himself. But, he thought, he had to try to find if it were just a dream.

He knew whatever a true emperor ordered would be always obeyed. So he picked up the bamboo pole, which he used to prod his ducks, and wielded it, while giving the birds his first order. “Fall in,” he ordered his ducks. “In one line!” The birds, though cackling, fell in as were ordered. With more confidence, he shouted: “Come ashore, in two files!” All the birds waddled up from the stream in two files, as he wielded the bamboo pole like a marshal's baton again. “My goodness,” he told himself, “they are my troops, obedient and ready to do what I order. My wishing is their orders!”

Of course, the snooper saw all this. He returned to his neighbors to tell his story. Tongues began to wag in the village that Zhu Yigui was a real king, if not an emperor. He was called the King of Ducks.

But unknown to the villagers, the King of Ducks found a miracle on his farm. Right after the day he drilled his ducks, he found every duck on the farm laid two eggs each. The villagers then wondered why his egg production was doubled, though his flock did not increase. Some snooping villagers kept a vigil in front of his duck farm only to find each of his bird actually laid two eggs in the morning.

Villagers in Neimen and those in the neighboring villages were now convinced that the King of Ducks was a true “Son of Heaven.” More people joined the Tryad he led. It was the supreme mission of the secret society to overthrow the Manchu Qing Dynasty and put a descendent of Zhu Yuanzhang (朱元璋) to the throne in Beijing. Zhu Yuanzhang, a Han Chinese, founded the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) after overthrowing the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, which at its height created the world's largest empire.

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