The Master of Grasping the Bird's Tail

Once upon a time, high in the Wu Tang Mountains of Northern China lived a Tai-Chi Master by the name of Huang who enjoyed listening to the birds sing. One day he went to the village market and brought a baby sparrow home. Huang attended to the bird's daily needs and was always caressing the sparrow (grasping bird's tail) between his two hands. Over time, the sparrow grew bigger and began hopping on one leg (golden rooster stands on one leg), trying to jump from its master's palms.

One day the bird grew large enough to be able to spread her wings (white crane spreads wings) and flew out into the open sky reaching the clouds (wave hands like clouds drifting by). The sparrow was so happy that she began singing (playing the fiddle) and dancing (frog kick) in circles.

Master Huang opened the window (open window to view the moon) to wait for the bird to return home. However, to his disapointment, the sparrow did not return home that evening. Worried, Huang decided to go out to look for the bird. He searched about riding on a horse (parting wild horse's mane). When his sparrow came into view, he took out a bow and arrow (shooting the tiger) attached with a net to catch it. The master shot the net and caught the bird. Huang picked the bird up gently by its tail and brought it back home to his mountain retreat (carry tiger back to mountain). Huang was ever after renowned as the "Master of Grasping the Bird's Tail".

created by Chi-hsiu D. Weng, Ph.D.
written by Mark Wong